Soft schedule gives Auburn chance to regroup

By Lee Roberts  |   Thursday, September 25, 2008  |  Comments( 0 )

Auburn Tigers
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Auburn suffered through its usual heavyweight collision with LSU last week, coming out on the wrong end of a 26-21 final. The final knockout blow was dealt with 1:03 remaining in the game, when LSU quarterback Jarrett Lee found wide receiver Brandon LaFell for the 18-yard winning touchdown pass. Although last Saturday's defeat was a heartbreaker for Auburn, the next six weeks should provide the Tigers ample time to regroup.

Before the season, Auburn’s schedule appeared to be littered with potholes. Everyone knew the LSU game would be huge, but no one predicted that the schedule would open up after that for Auburn.

This Saturday, Auburn plays at home versus Tennessee, which is coming off a 30-6 loss to Florida that wasn’t as close as the score. The only win for UT was against UAB, and it lost to UCLA, which proceeded to drop a 59-0 decision to BYU. Thus, Auburn's matchup with the Vols is not as daunting as it once appeared.

For the Tigers, the toughest game between now and Nov. 15 might be next week's roadie at Vanderbilt. The Commodores are undefeated, but they haven’t really played anyone of significance. With a bye this weekend, Vandy should be fired up and ready to give Auburn all it can handle.

If the Tigers can get out of Nashville unscathed, no team on the schedule looks to be much of a challenge until that date with Georgia in November. Initially, the game at West Virginia was going to be one of the marquee nonconference matchups of the year. However, with WVU suffering losses to East Carolina and Colorado, the Mountaineers are missing Rich Rodriguez more than they care to admit.

The other opponents for Auburn are Arkansas, Ole Miss and Tennessee-Martin. Don't expect any of those teams to scare the Tigers. What this means is that Auburn can use the next six weeks to fine-tune its offense and pile up wins while the rest of the SEC big dogs beat up on each other. Since 2004, Auburn has only lost back-to-back games once, going 8-1 in games after a defeat. If history holds, Auburn will be 9-1 going into the matchup with Georgia, which will have already had to play Alabama, Florida and LSU in the meantime.

So, there’s no reason to give up if you're an Auburn fan. LSU is certainly in the driver’s seat at the moment, but Auburn must show the resiliency it’s famous for over the next few weeks. Despite the loss, there is plenty of time for the Tigers to play their way into the SEC title game.
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About Lee Roberts

Born in Richmond, Va, I moved south to UNC-Chapel Hill for college and received a degree in Journalism and Mass Communication. I currently live in Charlotte, NC and cover Auburn, LSU and the ACC.
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