Repetition the key for Auburn

By Robert Rousseau  |   Wednesday, October 22, 2008  |  Comments( 0 )

Auburn Tigers
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When the 2008 college football season began, Auburn Tigers fans likely circled Thursday night’s game against the West Virginia Mountaineers on the calendar with the idea that it might have national championship implications. Now they’re just hoping to get the offense on track. Of course, nothing gets fixed without a plan. And their plan, to use repetition and get rid of what doesn't work, is of the simple variety.

"We ran a screen (Sunday) and we didn't complete it and that play's kicked out," Auburn wide receiver Rod Smith recently noted. "If it's not going to work out, it's gone."

Those decisions are being made by Steve Ensminger these days. Where many players noted unproductive confusion during the first two months of this season on offense under Tony Franklin, most are feeling much less apprehensive regarding Ensminger’s new approach. After all, beyond dropping some plays out of the playbook, the team has taken a practice-makes-perfect approach recently. In other words, the Tigers have been running the same plays over and over again during practice in the hopes of perfecting the nuances.

"The big issue is everybody knowing what they're supposed to do,” said tailback Tristan Davis. “Sometimes, how things were, we were guessing. We really weren't 100 percent sure. You can't play football thinking. You have to be there mentally. You have to know what you have and go do it."

Dropping the bad and continually practicing the good, if you will. Of course, whether this approach is going to help the team win games and score points is still left to be determined. But there is not question that you have to know what you’re doing to win games.

Let’s see if the Tigers look like they know what they’re doing on Thursday against the Mountaineers. To be frank, it might be only the second game all season if they do.

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About Robert Rousseau

Robert Rousseau is a sports writer that has been published in a variety of print and online venues. He’s been writing for RealFootball365.com for almost three years now. When Rousseau isn’t writing about college football he tends to be penning mixed martial arts pieces for MMAFighting.com or ...
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