I know we've had a hundred of these already but there's always room for more. I'm writing up team previews for all SEC teams for my blog. I kicked off with Auburn. Despite the fact I'm a Bammer I took the liberty of being as objective as possible in my write-up. Also, let's not turn this into another pissing match between Bama and Aubie fans. That last thread resulted in me getting so ticked I got a warning out of it. Anyway here goes:

2009 College Football SEC Preview: Auburn Tigers « Give 'Em Hell Alabama

The 2009 SEC football season is only a little over 2 months away and with that, it’s time to preview the teams heading into the 2009 season. I will try, as best I can, to give an objective analysis on each team in the SEC over the next two months. We begin with the Auburn Tigers.
Head Coach: Gene Chizik (0-0, 5-19)
Key Players: Mario Fannin, Whoever wins the QB battle


Schedule:
9/5 Louisiana Tech
9/12 Miss State
9/19 West Virginia
9/26 Ball State
10/3 at Tennessee
10/10 at Arkansas
10/17 Kentucky
10/24 at LSU
10/31 Ole Miss
11/7 Furman
11/14 at Georgia
11/21 OPEN DATE
11/28 Alabama

The Auburn Tigers are coming off one of the worst seasons in recent years. After dropping 6 of their last 7 games in 2008 and losing 36-0 in the Iron Bowl, the powers at Auburn pushed out Coach Tommy Tuberville. After a seemingly exhaustive coaching search, the Tigers turned to former assistant and then Iowa State head coach, Gene Chizik. In his tenure as a head coach at Iowa State, Chizik went 5-19 including a 2008 result of 2-10. What’s worse is the fact that Coach Chizik’s Cyclones, playing in the Big 12 North, didn’t even face Texas, Oklahoma, or Texas Tech, arguably the three best schools in the Big 12 last year. The hiring of Chizik left many in the state of Alabama scratching their heads wondering how this was an improvement over Tommy Tuberville, who was only 4 years removed from taking the Tigers to an undefeated 2004 campaign and an SEC title. That is only one of the many question marks heading into the 2009 season for the Auburn tigers.


Another issue is the quarterback battle which is currently, as of this writing, still ongoing. While Kodi Burns and Neil Caudle seem to be the frontrunners for the starting job, there are as many as 7 QB’s competing including true freshmen Tyrik Rollison, whom many in Auburn feel will be their team’s future. Last season Auburn under Tuberville’s direction, switched to a spread format. This resulted in the firing of new Offensive Coordinator Tony Franklin (an expert on the offensive scheme) because the format wasn’t working. Things, of course, only got worse after that. Many argued that Auburn lacked the talent at the skill positions to run the spread. Kodi Burns did not adapt well to the system and neither did their other players. Perhaps after a couple of years of recruiting speedsters at the skill positions and a QB who could work with the complex offensive system, they could have run a formidable spread system. Instead, it was an experiment in disaster. Now, with new coaches, the competing QB’s must learn a new system under a new coach. Who will rise to the top? My money is on Neil Caudle, but only time will tell.


Auburn faces one of the toughest SEC schedules of the season. Many of their toughest games will be on the road including visits to Tennessee, Arkansas, Georgia, and LSU. On top of that they must contend with SEC west pre-season darling Ole Miss and, of course, their biggest rival, the Alabama Crimson Tide, coming off yet another top recruiting class. When you also look at their non-conference schedule there’s even more reason to be concerned. Louisiana Tech is coming off of an 8-5 season and a bowl win. They’re a team that has proven they can beat a less-than average SEC opponent after stunning Mississippi State last season. This is a very winnable matchup against an unproven Auburn coach with question marks at the QB position. They also have to contend with West Virginia who, while no longer having the services of Pat White, should still be a formidable opponent for the Tigers.


For Auburn to have any success against this monster of a schedule, they’re going to need great play from their everyman Mario Fannin. He should be lining up as a wide receiver, h-back, and kick/punt returner. Fannin is entering his junior year and has displayed moments of brilliance on the field while still yet not having the breakout campaign everyone seems to think he’s capable of. Fannin needs to have a great season for Auburn to have a chance at winning most of their games.
Defensively, Auburn should be fine. This is a team that, like most SEC top-calbre schools, has a good defense. They’ll need to rely heavily on the defense to keep them in most of their games until the offense can get in sync.


So, is this the year Auburn can turn things around? Coach Chizik has a long way to go. With Saban returning cross-state rival to the top of college football in the state, he’ll have his work cut out for him. Look for this to be a rebuilding year with Auburn finishing at or near the bottom of the SEC West standings.


Fearless prediction: Auburn finishes 3-9 with surprising losses to Louisiana Tech and MSU.

It's hard for me to pick the games that they'll definitely win. Louisiana Tech is a good team with a good coach. Auburn obviously had the better talent, but so did MSU last year. It all depends on whether or not Gene Chizik can coach. If he can find something that's working. he should stick with it. With the game being at home, if things start to head south, Chizik needs to do everything he can to pull out the win. Otherwise, Jordan Hare might be oddly quiet when MSU rolls in.

West Virginia is beatable, and there are plenty of SEC tossups: MSU, Kentucky, Tennessee. It'll be interesting.

Are you sure you put your feelings for Auburn aside?I don't think they'll have a great season,but 3 wins is really not what I was thinking.

MSU wouldn't be surprising.

I think they have two for sure wins against Furman and Ball State. They're likely to beat LA Tech. They're underdogs against Ole Miss, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, and LSU. State, Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia are tossups imo.

I think it'd take a major collapse (or Chizik being as bad as some believe) for them to get to that worst case 3-win scenario.

This team has potential to be a spoiler this year.Their defense should be good and Malzahn will put motion and other wrinkles in the offense that will give opponents fits.Malzahn will play to the strengths of his offense and isn't married to the pass.I look for this team to go to a bowl mainly because of their defense.

I think Auburn gets a big upset this year. Msu also beats them

Yup. The Auburn offense was completely anemic last year. Nothing suggests to me that it's improved at all. The fact that they're even debating on Kodi Burns taking snaps tells me they haven't resolved that. If Neil Caudle can't beat Burns outright then it's pretty scary. I think Auburn will eventually bounce back. They're too big of a problem not to. I just think this year will be a major rebuilding year for them. LA Tech has definite upset potential. They can spoil a down SEC team like Auburn. MSU could surprise them too. For me, the only for sure wins on that schedule are Ball State and Furman. I think they sneak out at least one SEC win as well probably against Kentucky. Their schedule isn't doing them any favors either.

what an insightful read

I think once you remove your auburn colored glasses, you'll see it's pretty much right on point too.

Why don't you take off those crimson. Hell will freeze over before we only win 3 games.

Wins:
LT
MSU
Ball St
UK
Furman

Loses:
LSU
UGA
OM
other bama team

T/U:
Tenn
Ark
WVU

So at worst 5-7 but I'm going to say 7-5.

yes, I'll give you 5 wins

What on earth makes you think you're capable of winning more? Your QB situation is worse than ours (much worse I might add), your players are learning a new system, Chizik has proven nothing as a coach at a big school having lost 10 games last year and they didn't even play Texas, Oklahoma, or TT, the schedule is brutal with road games in Georgia, LSU, and Tennessee. I've reasonably laid out all my arguments on why I think they'll have a horrible year. You Auburn fans haven't done anything other than say you'll win a lot of games without backing it up. What makes you think you can have a winning season or even win more than 3 games?

What made you think that Bama would have a good year last year? I don't remember any except BP. We won 5 games last year in a worse situation last year than this year. Our RB's were terrible in that system and so was our OL. We still have a top 5 defense in the SEC and our WR's have improved. We do have a bad QB situation but it'll be better than last year since Todd was playing. 5-7 at the worst.

People forget how much talent we have. How we had so many injuries on defense. How we fired our OC over half way through the season. We did all these things and yet still won 5 games and almost beat Ark, OM, UGA, and WVU. So what's going to happen this year? We'll win some of those close ones. How is it that we beat MSU and Tenn last year but all of a sudden they're better? They're not! Ben Tate is going to have a monster season. Fannin will have a good season. Our defense might actually be better this year. We have a top LB crew in the SEC. The best punter, one of the best starting 5 at OL. This is a team built to win not lose.

Go ahead bring up Chizik but I'll say this one more time. He's a better fit than Muschamp. The coach so many people wanted. Chizik has already recruited better than CTT. It's a fresh start for the Tigers and because Chizik isn't a big name means we're going to suck? The fact is that no one can predict the SEC. Not you, me, BP, WE73, Krieger, RebelFan, or even Phil freaking Steele.