The 2011 Auburn Tigers: The Defending Champs

I thought we might kick off the Dammit Herring year with a little thing Drew and I do where I predict Auburn’s year and he predicts the Tide’s year. For the defending national champs the 2011 season will be a lot rougher than the dream season last year. Through no fault of their own Auburn lost a slew of starters and other seniors who had significant playing time. They are without: Heisman QB Cam Newton, Lombardi award winner Nick Fairley, leading receivers Darvin Adams, Terell Zachery, and offensive do-all Kodi Burns. Almost the entire starting offensive line is gone Lee Ziemba and Ryan Pugh most of all. From defense linebackers Craig Stevens, Josh Bynes, nose tackle Mike Blanc, and Desmond Washington at cornerback have all left. Not to mention the loss of long time kicking studs Wes Byrum and Punter Ryan Shoemaker. Then if that were not bad enough Auburn dismissed five guys from the team and 6 or 7 more guys in spring practice. Ok bad news done. Now for the good news.

Though it cost them a pretty penny Auburn retained Gus Malzahn as offensive coordinator even though he was receiving offers for head coaching gigs from other schools like Vanderbilt and maybe Maryland. Keeping him was a major victory for though at times last year Auburn’s defense was not great their offense was almost always humming. And though Auburn lost out on Brent Calloway and Cyrus Kouandjio they still pulled in a monster top 5 recruiting class. Maybe no recruit is better than what many people think is the #1 OG in the country Christian Westerman who will probably start for the Tigers as a freshman. Also though much of their team left they still have some guys from the national title squad. No one tops that list more than Michael Dyer who had a great National title game in Arizona. Dyer is going to be thrust into the leadership role quick even though he is a sophomore. Ontario McCalebb is also back with his lightning speed and excellent return skills. It looks like Barrett Trotter will be taking over the starting QB gig and though he won’t be Cam Newton under Malzahn’s offense anyone can succeed. So now that we know all that let’s break down their schedule.

Sept. 3 Utah State Aggies (Home Game)
Prediction: Utah State 7 Auburn 41
Game recap: Duh here. Auburn will run and throw all over the hapless Aggies.

Sept. 10 Mississippi State Bulldogs (Home Game)
Prediction: Mississippi State 31 Auburn 34
Game recap: Lots of people think Auburn could lose this one. No way, no how. Lots of scoring but Auburn wins it on a field goal. Mississippi State is getting way too much hype this year.

Sept. 17 Clemson Tigers (Away Game)
Prediction: Clemson 21 Auburn 28
Game recap: Another game where people think Auburn will struggle, but I like them to mount a comeback in this game after Clemson jumps out to an early lead. Plus Dabo Sweeney is just terrible at football and at life.

Sept. 24 Florida Atlantic Owls (Home)
Prediction: FAU 10 Auburn 48
Game recap: Again do I really have to get into this game. Auburn kills them end of discussion. Plus the owl is just a weak-ass mascot.

Oct. 1 South Carolina Gamecocks (Away)
Prediction: South Carolina 24 Auburn 13
Game recap: For the first time in 19 games Auburn finally goes down. The South Carolina defense is too much for Dyer and McCalebb and Alshon Jeffrey has a field day with an inexperienced Auburn secondary regardless of who is throwing to him. I also predict Stephen Garcia is kicked off the team for coming out on the field with no pants on. Seriously that guy is a f***ing train reck.

Oct. 8 Arkansas Razorbacks (Away)
Prediction: Arkansas 38 Auburn 28
Game recap: In a mini replay of the high scoring game last year Arkansas and Tyler Wilson outscore Auburn and give the Tigers their 2nd straight loss. Also I just found out that a razorback pig does not actually have razors on his back. Seems wrong somehow.

Oct. 15 Florida Gators (Home)
Prediction: Florida 17 Auburn 21
Game recap: Yes you heard it here first. Auburn will beat the Florida Gators on Oct. 15. The Gators offense will not be great and Auburn’s D will rebound from two straight losses to shut down Florida. Will Muschamp’s return to Jordan-Hare is ruined. Sidenote who wins in a chest-bump competiton, Trooper Taylor or Will Muschamp? Yeah think about that!

Oct. 22 LSU Tigers (Away)
Prediction: LSU 41 Auburn 21
Game recap: This game is going to get ugly quick for the Tigers of the Plains. LSU playing in “Death Valley” as they stupidly call it will run all over the Auburn D. Auburn will put up some points late in the game but this will be no contest. An experienced team runs over an inexperienced team. I hate Les Miles, just saying.

Oct. 29 Ole Miss Rebels (Home)
Prediction: Ole Miss 17 Auburn 30
Game recap: Again Auburn rebounds at home with a big win over the terrible Rebels (or black bears) of Ole Miss. Look for Michael Dyer to have a record setting day here and then punching Houston Nutt in the ovaries. He has them.

Nov. 12 Georgia Bulldogs (Away)
Prediction: Georgia 31 Auburn 14
Game recap: Auburn’s offense just can’t get started against the Bulldogs who will be looking to wrap up the SEC East in this game. Samford Stadium is just not a fun place for the Burn.

Nov. 19 Samford Bulldogs (Home)
Prediction: Samford 3 Auburn 58
Game recap: Starting a two game stretch of playing teams in their home state Auburn takes a lot of aggression out against a horrible Samford team. They might let the Bulldogs get a field goal. You know just to be nice. This game will be so boring that even Chizik will be reading Harry Potter during most of the game as will most of the crowd.

Nov. 26 Alabama Crimson Tide (Home)
Prediction: Alabama 31 Auburn 17
Game recap: So the 2009 BCS champs will play the 2010 BCS champs. This just won’t be Auburn’s year though. Alabama’s D will be too strong and Richardson should have a big game against Auburn. In the next couple of years this game will go back to being a nail-biter but this year Alabama is just too tough for the Tigers. Roll Tide bitches! Sorry I can only be so un-biased.

Bowl Prediction
Auburn Tigers vs. Penn State Nittany Lions in the Outback Bowl

I’m not going to try and predict who will win the bowl game because I’m really just guessing that this is where the Tigers will end up with a 7-5 season like I have predicted. If they do play a Big 10 team in the Outback Bowl again I like Auburn to beat a Northwestern, Penn State, or Illinois.

Final thoughts: I can’t sugarcoat this for Auburn. A lot of your starters are gone and you have a brutal schedule compared to last year. I could see me being wrong a little and Auburn slipping up and beating Arkansas. If Auburn can finish 7-5 or 8-4 it will be a good year and they can get back into talks for national titles next year. The 2012 class is shaping up to be a VERY great class already.