The Auburn Tigers have climbed back among football's elite. Maybe this time they can handle it.

Picked to win the national championship in 2003 by The Sporting News, Auburn lost its first two games in dreadful fashion and disappeared from the top 10. Now, it's 6-0 and ranked fourth nationally.

"We learned a lot from last year," Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville said during his Sunday teleconference. "I think the entire team has grown up quite a bit.

"It's encouraging that people have noticed what we've done. We've made improvement. We've been more consistent and a little bit more poised."

The Tigers have beaten nationally ranked Tennessee and LSU, and have outscored their opponents 203-43.

Spurrier Speculation: Lexington Herald-Leader sports columnist Mark Story asked Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart about the possibility of coaching changes if the Wildcats continue to falter.

"I'm not going into it," Barnhart said after Saturday's 45-17 loss to Alabama dropped Kentucky to 1-4 in Rich Brooks' second season as head coach. "I don't think it's fair to do that."

Story then wrote: "Because I get at least five emails a week asking if I've heard that Steve Spurrier has bought property in Lexington (presumably purchased from the estate of Al McGuire), I asked the UK AD if he and Spurrier had talked.

" 'C'mon,' Barnhardt said, the look on his face suggesting I had asked if he believed in the tooth fairy."

Gators Fade Again: See if this sounds familiar.

"We were in a situation where we could win the game and we fooled around and didn't do it. We didn't get off the field when we needed to and we didn't keep drives going."

That's coach Ron Zook describing the Gators' latest last-minute loss, 24-21 to LSU on Saturday night in Gainesville.

Florida, which lost to Tennessee on a last-second field goal, is two plays removed from an unbeaten season. It's also three losses away from its third consecutive five-loss season.

Who Were Those Guys?: Based on the postgame comments of running back Danny Ware, someone stole Georgia's uniforms and ran around Sanford Stadium in them all Saturday afternoon.

"I don't know who that was," Ware said after the Bulldogs made numerous mistakes in a 19-14 loss to Tennessee. "That couldn't have been us. We don't do that."

Top 25: My AP ballot looked like this: 1. Auburn, 2. Southern California, 3. Oklahoma, 4. Miami, 5. Utah, 6. Virginia, 7. California, 8. Oklahoma State, 9. Purdue, 10. Tennessee, 11. Florida State, 12. Georgia, 13. Texas, 14. Arizona State, 15. Wisconsin, 16. Michigan, 17. Minnesota, 18. Louisville, 19. Boise State, 20. Texas A&M, 21. UCLA, 22. LSU, 23. Florida, 24. Virginia Tech, 25. West Virginia.

John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284.