Mobile Downtown, ALMore AP Top 25 voters are buying into Boise State as the No. 1 team in the country.
Boise State gained seven first-place votes and closed in on No. 1 Alabama and No. 2 Ohio State as the top three teams in the first regular-season Associated Press football poll held their spots from the preseason.
The Broncos remained third after a thrilling 33-30 victory against Virginia Tech on Monday night, receiving eight first-place votes and 1,399 points from the media panel, 13 points behind the Buckeyes.
Ohio State received four first-place votes and 1,412 points.
Alabama had 47 first-place votes, down seven from the preseason poll, and 1,484 points in the rankings released Tuesday.
TCU from the Mountain West Conference moved up two spots to No. 4, marking the first time since the Bowl Championship Series was implemented in 1998 that two teams from conferences without automatic BCS bids have been in the top five. Boise State is the defending Western Athletic Conference champion.
Texas remained No. 5 and received one first-place vote.
In the USA Today coaches’ poll, only Alabama (55) and Ohio State (four) received first-place votes.
via Boise State Broncos pick up 7 first-place votes in AP poll – ESPN.
AUBURN — Cam Newton has arrived.
Auburn’s new quarterback, perhaps the program’s most anticipated player in a generation, erased all doubts about his ability Saturday with a powerful performance against Arkansas State.
He set a school record with 171 rushing yards for a quarterback, exhibited remarkable accuracy with his deep throws and made few mistakes.He was the best player on the field during Auburn’s 52-26 win.
Newton’s most important contribution? Providing a light so bright that it masked the Tigers’ numerous and consistent defensive lapses.
“I’m excited that we got the win for us to be satisfied? We’re far from that,” Newton said. “We had opportunities to do better things that we did. We’re not nearly as happy as we should be.”
Auburn didn’t know Newton could be this good.Quarterbacks are a coddled demographic when it comes to pre-season preparation. Simple tackles can yield career-changing shoulder injuries, so most coaches insist on keeping their most prized investments off-limits to tacklers until game time.
Auburn coach Gene Chizik operates that way, too.When Newton decides to run during scrimmages, the whistle blows immediately.
Those whistles were nowhere to be found Saturday night.
Join me and co-host Lee Shirvanian from 6 to 9 a.m. on Friday on 105.5 FM WNSP.
Scheduled for the show:
Bill Cole of the Winston-Salem Journal joins us at 7:20 a.m. to preview the LSU-North Carolina game and also give us the latest on Marvin Austin.
Also on the show:
At 7:05 a.m., South Alabama coach Joey Jones.
Laura Megginson of Two Chicks and Lee at 7:45 a.m. for our Auburn report.
We’ll also qualify you to win in our weekly football picks.
To join the show, call 251-694-1055 or listen live at www.wnsp.com.
AUBURN — Mario Fannin has been waiting his whole college life for Saturday night.
That’s when Fannin will officially be introduced as Auburn’s starting tailback in a revamped backfield that features players in new positions.
“It’s a good feeling, being able to suit up your senior season and being in a position that you really wanted to play since you got here,” Fannin says. “Now is the time to just show everybody that you can fulfill that position.”
The last time Auburn started a new backfield was in 2005. The Tigers, coming off a 13-0 season, started Brandon Cox, Tre Smith and Jake Slaughter in the opener against Georgia Tech and lost 23-14.
Auburn will be looking for better results at 6 p.m. Saturday against Arkansas State with a starting backfield of Fannin, quarterback Cam Newton and H-back/fullback Eric Smith.
Fannin’s 41 games over three-plus seasons are the most of any current Tiger. He’s been a good soldier by being the backup tailback, or playing a backfield position that required him to mostly catch passes and help on special teams.
via Mario Fannin, Cam Newton, Auburn’s new backfield ready for season-opener | al.com.
Auburn coach Gene Chizik says he’s happy veterans Zac Etheridge and Aarion Savage have overcome their injuries to win starting assignments at safety.
Etheridge, you’ll remember, hurt his neck last season. Savage has missed the last two seasons, first with a knee injury and then with a torn Achilles.
“We’re extremely excited just to have those guys back on the field,” Chizik said Tuesday. “You really need two captains back there to direct traffic. They bring a lot to the table. The experience they bring to our defense is huge.”
We posted the complete depth chart a little while ago. It’s here.
And here are some more quick notes from Chizik’s Tuesday press conference…
**Real big fullback Ladarious Phillips won’t play in Saturday’s season-opener against Arkansas State. He has an ankle injury.
**Defensive tackle Derrick Lykes isn’t going to play, either. He has an undisclosed injury.
“Not anytime soon, but he’s coming along,” Chizik said.
Chizik was asked if Lykes would need surgery.
“It’s kind of teetering on whether he will or not,” he said.
via Veterans Zac Etheridge, Aarion Savage make it all the way back to start for Auburn | al.com.
Join Mark Heim and Lee Shirvanian from 6 to 9 a.m. on Monday.
Guests include:
6:35 a.m. Scott Phelps, coach at Robertsdale
7:20 Erik Stinnett of CrimsonConfidential.com
7:35 Brian Matthews of AuburnUndercover.com
8:05 a.m. Ivan Maisel of ESPN.com
8:20 a.m. Bradley Handwerger of wwltv.com
8:35 a.m. John Rachiatti on golf
To join the show, call 251-694-1055.
AUBURN — The Brave New World of Gus Malzahn arrived at Auburn with mystery and the promise of points.
Ben Tate brought reality to it all.
The Auburn tailback rushed for 1,362 yards last season in an offense that had plenty of designed distractions before the snap, but could play old-fashioned power football once the play got under way.
There were reverses, to be sure, and quarterback Chris Todd set a single-season record for TD passes. But, all the while, Malzahn, the offensive coordinator, and Curtis Luper, the running backs coach, said Auburn would return to being a running team in their first year on the job, and they delivered.
Luper said before last season that Tate would rush for 1,000 yards, and, now, he says Mario Fannin will follow suit.
There will be plenty of opportunities – and certainly plenty of snaps – in Malzahn’s fast-paced offense. But Fannin is no Ben Tate clone. He played in the backfield last year, but had more receiving yards than rushing yards. He’s a senior, but has never been asked to be a power back, or at least not like Tate, who led Auburn in rushing three consecutive years.
via Auburn is ready to run with tailbacks Mario Fannin, Michael Dyer and more | al.com.
AUBURN – Coach Tommy Thigpen came to Auburn last year with big plans for his safeties, but what he really needed were crutches, a neck brace and lots of aspirin.
Injuries wiped out his starters.
“Last season,” Thigpen says, “was a debacle.”
Thigpen has welcomed all the injured players back, plus a few freshmen, and he says now he has real competition for starting assignments.
“Now, you’ve got numbers. You’re two deep at positions, and you’ve got young guys trying to compete for jobs.”
Thigpen didn’t have that last season, not even at the start, after losing Mike McNeil and Aairon Savage to season-ending injuries. Zac Etheridge went down before the season was done.
Things were so uncertain last season that rookie Daren Bates, who wasn’t even on campus when fall practice began, ended up starting all 13 games at free safety; and Demond Washington, a cornerback, was moved to safety after Etheridge suffered a neck injury.
Bates and Washington, who started the final four games at safety last year, aren’t even safeties this season. Bates was moved to linebacker and Washington is back at cornerback.
via Auburn’s secondary has a new look with the return of veteran safeties | al.com.
The Football Writers Association of America vacated Southern Cal’s 2004 national title today, but won’t crown another champion. Auburn and Oklahoma received serious consideration to be named national champion but neither received a majority of the votes, FWAA Executive Director Steve Richardson said. Past presidents and current officers of the FWAA voted on the matter.
“I think there was a very thoughtful process by which people were very diligent in looking at the situation,” Richardson said. “Obviously, you’re not going to please everybody all the time.”
Richardson said there was a “very strong majority” for stripping USC of its title due to NCAA violations related to Reggie Bush. USC routed Oklahoma in the 2004 BCS Championship Game, and Auburn was left out of the game after an undefeated season.
“I think it becomes more difficult on the replacement because you’re trying to go back and recreate the situation, and it’s always hard to do that,” Richardson said. “There was some support for Auburn, but it wasn’t the majority.
“If you look at it from a situation of, ‘OK, Auburn was undefeated at the end of the season,’ OK. But you can say what if they played Oklahoma? What if they played USC if that would have happened? I don’t know. Are you penalizing Oklahoma?”
via FWAA vacates USC 2004 title, doesn’t anoint Auburn | al.com.
Join Mark Heim and Lee Shirvanian from 6 to 9 a.m. on Tuesday’s Morning SportsCenter.
Scheduled for the show:
At 6:35 a.m., Tommy Wasden, coach at Mobile Christian
At 7:05 a.m., Mark Schlabach of espn.com
At 7:15 a.m., Travis Reier of BamaOnline.com
At 7:45 a.m., Jeff Lee of AuburnSports.com
At 8:05 a.m., Orlando Alzugarey out of Miami.
To join the show, call 251-694-1055.
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