Auburn's defense rescues offense

AUBURN, Ala. — A dominant defense helped Auburn overcome a hapless offense in its 14-12 win over Tennessee on Saturday.

This morning, the Tigers will wake up to some pressing questions about the identity of their much-hyped spread offense.

First-year offensive coordinator Tony Franklin said he’s resigned to using a simpler offensive formula unless or until his spread system comes around. The new philosophy: Don’t mess up the good work of the increasingly potent Auburn defense.

“My job is to win,” Franklin said. “Don’t screw it up.”

Some changes were made Saturday and others appear imminent. Auburn (4-1, 2-1 SEC) lined up with quarterback under center in perhaps a dozen plays, which Franklin hasn’t done in years, if ever. The Tigers brought in two tight ends a handful of times. Receiver/back Mario Fannin took several direct snaps.

Finally, in a move greeted enthusiastically by fans, backup quarterback Kodi Burns played a significant role after not taking a snap in the last two games. Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville said the race between Burns and starter Chris Todd will reopen this week.

“There’s no doubt that Kodi came in and gave us a spark,” Franklin said. “He made plays that Chris can’t make because of his ability to run around. Coach Tuberville and I will talk about it and see what happens.”

Franklin, who spent years out of coaching after writing a tell-all book about the downfall of Hal Mumme’s regime at Kentucky, was hired to replace Al Borges at Auburn last December. He had coached the previous two years at Troy, where his pass-heavy spread offense vaulted the Trojans to the top of the Sun Belt.

But the transition to the SEC hasn’t been easy. Auburn edged Mississippi State 3-2 two weeks ago, appeared to show improvement last week in a loss to LSU and then regressed Saturday.

“Yeah, I’d love to score 45 points per week,” Franklin said. “If I wanted to do that, I probably should have stayed in another league. There probably aren’t many people who are going to light it up like that right now.”

Tennessee and Auburn seemed to match each other’s offensive inefficiency. The Vols benefited frequently from good field position, while the Tigers started several drives in the shadow of their own end zone.

“Their punter (Chad Cunningham) kept us in a hole all night,” Tuberville said. “We had no field position.”

That made Auburn’s defensive performance even more impressive. The Tigers stalled three Tennessee drives that started on Auburn’s side of the 50. Tennessee went three-and-out in every series. Just one first down might have been enough for a field goal.

“It was gutsy, gritty. We answered every single call they had and didn’t waver, didn’t flinch, and had that look in our eye,” said defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads.

After showing signs of vulnerability against the run in the second half of last week’s LSU game, Auburn shut down the Vols’ rushing attack. Montario Hardesty and Arian Foster combined for only 65 yards on 18 carries.

Tuberville said Auburn tightened up on its coverage of shorter routes when the Vols got into Auburn territory.

“When it became a matter of they had to get down in the red zone and into field goal range, we didn’t want to give them one first down,” Rhoads said. "We had to tighten things up a little bit and the kids responded and executed their jobs."

For all the good news on defense, Auburn's continued struggles on offense will provide a week's worth of fodder for talk shows and message boards.

The quarterback battle, on the backburner for two weeks, is certain to heat up as Auburn prepares for next week's meeting with undefeated Vanderbilt.

Judging by crowd reaction, many fans would welcome a change. Burns was greeted with "KODI! KODI!" chants and loud cheers whenever he entered.

He's been in the role of popular backup quarterback before. Last year, fans booed senior starter Brandon Cox and called for Burns to get the job. He did, but his tenure as a starter lasted only one week. Burns' second chance could come in Nashville.

He could benefit from what are considerably lowered expectations for Auburn's offensive production in 2008.

"Sometimes when your defense is playing the way they are playing, your offense just has to make a first down or two and punt the ball away," Tuberville said. "That's basically what we did tonight."