2010 Auburn Football Predictions
Written by Jason Lowry
The Auburn Tigers bounced back from a rare losing season with a solid 8-5 campaign in 2009, including a thrilling overtime win over Northwestern in the Outback Bowl game. Despite the solid record the Tigers went just 3-5 in conference play in 2009. Gene Chizik enters his second season as head coach, and you have to figure things are going to run a little more smoothly now that he has had a year running the show.
Many Tiger fans enter the 2010 season thinking that this team not only has enough talent to win the SEC West, they believe that this team is good enough to win the entire SEC and possibly play for a National Championship game. With 15 returning starters the Tigers figure to be a very good football team, but coming out on top in the SEC is no easy challenge, considering the last four BCS National Champions have came out of this conference. Here is a look at what Auburn will bring to the table on both sides of the ball in 2010, plus my prediction on where they finish up in the SEC.
Offense: The Tigers have seven starters back on this side of the ball, but will have to replace their starting quarterback and leading rusher from last year. Junior college transfer Cameron Newton figures to have the early edge on the starting quarterback job, but figures to get a strong push from senior Neil Caudle. The rushing attack doesn’t figure to have to much of a drop off next season with senior Mario Fannin taking over the majority of the carries. Fannin averaged an amazing 8.4 yards per carry in 34 attempts last season. Whoever winds up starting at quarterback will have a lot of fun throwing the ball to junior Darvin Adams, who hauled in 60 catches for 997 yards and 10 touchdowns last season. The offensive line should be very solid in 2010 with four of five starters back.
Defense: The Tigers have a lot of improvement to make on this side of the ball, as this unit gave up nearly 28 points a game in 2009. The Tigers had 14-0 leads against both Georgia and Alabama at the end of the season and wound up losing both those games giving up nearly 30 points in each. Up front the Tigers must find a way to replace the production of the departed Antonio Coleman (10 sacks, 16.5 tfl). Senior Michael Goggans is expected to step in at the open defensive end spot, while junior Nick Fairley is slated to join senior Mike Blanc in the middle. The Tigers have all three starters back at linebacker, led by seniors Craig Stevens and Josh Bynes, and this group figures to be much improved. The only replacement in the secondary is senior Demond Washington stepping in for the departed Walter McFadden. On the other side junior Neiko Thorpe is one of the best corners the SEC has to offer, and there is plenty of experience at safety with junior Mike McNeil and senior Zac Etheridge.
SEC Prediction – 3rd West: Even though the Tigers only real road challenge in conference play is at Alabama to finish up the regular season, I don’t think this team is going to be good enough to win the SEC West, and I have them finishing just behind Arkansas for third. I just don’t think the defense is going to be good enough to make it through the SEC season unbeaten.
Find out where I have every team finishing the season at in my 2010 SEC Football Predictions. If you are looking to make some money betting the college football odds this season, be sure to stop back when the season gets underway for our expert college football picks.
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If you had said Auburn would only win the west, I would still be posting a comment. Saying they’re going to come in 3rd in the west is just laughable. If you need some help getting that foot out of your mouth in December, head over to Toomers.
Here, have some fun with numbers…
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/412808-does-the-auburn-football-team-have-a-potentially-overlooked-advantage