Auburn University beat reporter

(Sorry for the delay. I’m sure you’ve likely checked some other blogs on the WWW by now. FAB was in a minor car accident. No injuries, not much damage to the automobile and FAB is not taking any responsibility.)

Tommy Tuberville made it abruptly clear in his opening statement to the liberal media and bloggers that Tuesday would be an uneventful day of quote-seeking and information processing.

The Tigers aren’t really thinking about the No. 1 Crimson Tide this week. It’s a luxury they can afford, considering that the two teams don’t meet until Nov. 29. That’s a long time in college football, and it’s time Auburn will use to fix it’s own problems before even thinking about the problems Terrence Cody, Andre Smith and Javier Arenas will bring to the table at the 73rd installment of the game simply known in these parts as the Iron Bowl.

Next few days we’re going to work more on ourselves than we’re going to work on the next game. We’re going to go back to fundamentals and try to have shorter, crisper practices.

You don’t want to do too much. You want to make sure you keep them fresh and sharp and don’t overplay it. You don’t want to play the game before we get there a week from Saturday.

But can’t we just talk about it a little? OK, said the coach, talk to my players about it.

The players made available by Tuberville and the Auburn media relations staff said what you’d pretty much expect them to say. Here are some snippets.

Jason Bosley
I don’t think records really matter in this game. It doesn’t matter who’s ranked, who’s not ranked. You’ve seen in the past...you can throw records out the window, it’s going to be a good game. This game is all about heart and pride in both schools. Both teams have got a lot of friends and family that are affiliated with both schools. It’s a fistfight and it’s going to be a classic.

Antonio Coleman
This is what you come to Auburn for. There’s not too much thinking about it right now. We have an off week, so we’re just trying to get ourselves better so we can compete next week.

Walter McFadden, a Floridian
It’s not any different. I’ve been hearing about this game so much since I’ve been here. Like Jerraud Powers, my roommate, he lives for this game. That’s all he talks about it, so it even got to the point that it made be living for this game. Me, being from Florida, it was like Florida State-Miami, or Florida State-Florida. This is a very big game. Every day he’s yelling about Alabama. Right now, this is very critical for me.

What’s he yelling?
You don’t really want to know.

On to the hard news of the day, which is another hard one to take. Tight end Tommy Trott will undergo season-ending surgery on his knee and could miss out on a good amount of spring practice. He’ll be in good hands, though, as the Dr. James Andrews will be performing the procedure. In light of all the work Auburn has provided the world-famous surgeon—approximately a dozen according to Tuberville—spring practice could get pushed back a bit.

Also, Coleman, who led the SEC in sacks and tackles for loss for a good amount of time this season before becoming bogged down with injuries, said he has not thought about forgoing his senior season and taking a crack at the NFL—not yet at least. It’s tough to recommend or stop any player to skip their senior season, but I think Coleman could definitely do himself a favor if he stays. If he puts a completely healthy year at the top of his game under his belt, his draft stock will soar. 

And here’s some good blog fodder for you. In the middle of his meeting with the media, Tuberville’s phone buzzed. It was his wife, Suzanne.

“Those that have said my wife has left me, I promise she ain’t,” he said. “She’s still calling. Let me text her and I’ll tell her I’ll call her back.”

Auburn University beat reporter

OK, so I promised hard-hitting analysis right after yesterday’s women’s basketball home opener at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum.

I lied.

I’m a die-hard Browns fan who was called to duty last night when somehow, someway they were not getting blown out of Orchard Park by the Buffalo Bills. Like your Auburn Tigers, they tried to lose. Really, they did. They were on the verge of NFL history in becoming the first team EVER to blow 13-point or higher leads in three consecutive games. It didn’t happen, though, because, well, Buffalo has some noted history of botching 47-yard field goals to the right.

Bad karma vs. Worse karma.

Anyways, here’s what I saw from last night’s 95-76 win over a tough Temple team.

- Auburn has the ability to score a lot of points. Duh. Even when it struggled as much as it did in the first half (14-of-44), Auburn was still on top, 37-34, thanks largely to a defense that never rests and toughness on the glass. Once the shots started to fall in the second half, Temple didn’t have a chance.
- DeWanna Bonner is very good. Like the rest of her team, her shot wasn’t falling in the first half, but she still escaped with 15 points in the first 20 minutes. It took her 16 shots to get there, but they weren’t bad looks, which is encouraging because those will eventually fall. In the second half, when her teammates’ shots started to fall, her looks at the basket were even easier. If she can make her outside shot on a consistent basis, she should have no problem racking up that many (29) points on a regular basis.
- Whitney Boddie drives the Tigers’ fast-paced offense. I was very impressed with freshman point guard Morgan Jennings as well, who chased down a couple balls that looked uncatchable.
- It’s early, very early, but the Tigers looked like a tournament team last night.

Sports Writer/Designer

here’s today’s column.

In other old news, Greg Robinson was fired at Syracuse on Sunday, putting six teams already in the coaching sweepstakes.

It’s kind of sad to see the state of Syracuse this decade. Other than a random 10-3 season in 2001 it’s been slim pickings for success since Donovan McNabb left down.

And, honestly, previous coach Paul Pasqualoni didn’t have a tremendous amount of success during his time there other than the McNabb years and his first two years there.

And this week features two pretty good midweek games in tomorrow’s Central Michigan-Ball State tilt and Thursday’s visit by Miami to Georgia Tech. And Friday’s San Jose St-Fresno State tilt isn’t bad either.

Northern Illinois at Kent State doesn’t exactly catch my fancy tonight.