Spring had sprung, and Auburn was in the gun.

And stayed in it. All day.

The spread is really here.

Really. Can you feel it?

Tony Franklin can.

His fingerprints are all over Auburn’s offense now. Kind of like the pollen on my car.

Sure, Franklin had his mitts on it during the Chick-fil-A Bowl, implementing a lot of his system in the month leading up to the win over Clemson.

But now?

Now, the gloves are off.

“It’s not in its infancy,” Franklin said after Saturday’s A-Day game. “It was in infancy (when I first got here). But it’s not there now. It’s developing a personality.

“And we’re trying to figure out exactly what we can do.”

With an entire spring to put in his pass first, second and third offense, these aren’t your daddy’s Tigers. They’re not even your older brother’s.

Auburn’s no-huddle, no-rest, no-time-for-mistakes offense is in full effect.

And the effects are well received.

“I like this offense,” head coach Tommy Tuberville said. “It uses our talent better than what we have in the past.”

On the first touchdown drive of the day, Auburn’s offense went 60 yards on eight plays and it took less than three minutes.

Eight plays and 60 yards took about three days in the Tigers’ old offense.

But not Saturday.

Auburn moved the ball, racking up 556 yards of offense and scoring 30 points, running 131 plays in four, 12-minute quarters.

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“You learn about things a little more as you go along,” said Tuberville, who has changed his mind from the kick-and-play-defense philosophy. “There’s nobody in our conference that can do it the way we do it.”

Ahh, the conference. The SEC. The “you can’t win if you can’t run” conference.

How will the spread fair then?

Finesse is nice, but power is king.

There’s got to be 3 yards and a cloud of dust somewhere in Franklin’s playbook. Right?

He does coach at Auburn, after all.

Case and point during Saturday’s game: Auburn had it first-and-goal from the 1-yard line just before halftime. Three plays later, the Tigers kicked a 41-yard field goal. The offense lost 23 yards by spreading it out, instead of packing it in.

The first play was an inside handoff out of the shotgun that lost a yard. Then two consecutive sacks (granted, it was two-hand touch on the quarterbacks) for a loss of 22 more.

That won’t work next year.

“We’re going to be a little bit more physical,” Tuberville said. “When we get the ball on the 1-yard line, obviously, we’re going to line up in a three-point stance and come off the ball, as we will in the middle of the field next year.”

Just not in the spring. Just not Saturday.

“We’ve got three running backs right now that aren’t playing very much at all,” Franklin said. “I wanted to put pressure on the quarterbacks. I wanted to do some things with them.

“But trust me, we get down on the 1-yard line (during the season) … we might not be under the center, but we’ll be running the football.”

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MIKE SZVETTIZ is sports editor of the Opelika-Auburn News. He may be reached at or 737-2513.