After kicking off the year with non-conference games against Oregon and Jacksonville State, Mississippi State will open its SEC schedule at home Sep.19 against Auburn. The Thursday night game will be nationally televised on ESPN and will be the first chance for the Bulldogs to avenge last year’s 16-14 loss to the Tigers. Auburn brings to Starkville a team expected to challenge LSU for the SEC West title. With a powerful running back in Carnell “Cadillac” Williams, an automatic kicker in Damon Duvall and an incredible linebacker core including Mark Brown, Karlos Dansby and Dontarrious Thomas, Auburn needs only to answer the question of passing offense to be a serious contender.
Sixth-year senior quarterback David Cobb appears to have wrestled the starter’s job away from sophomore and Taylorsville High School graduate, Jason Campbell. However, with head coach Tommy Tuberville at the helm, expect to see both players at different points in the season.
Auburn is not a sure bet, though, in the Wild Wild Western Division. They lack experience on the offensive line which could severally hamper their stellar running game. They have decent tight ends in Robert Johnson and Lorenzo Diamond, but that’s the extent of their passing game.
They ranked No. 9 in the SEC last year in passing offense, and even though they recruited some of the best wide outs in the country, the experience factor will probably keep them from being effective right away. At the quarterback position, neither David Cobb nor Jason Campbell have shown that they have what it takes to be a primetime SEC quarterback. David Cobb has gotten the job by default, and Auburn seems to be killing time until true freshman Brandon Cox has time to develop.
The defensive unit for the Tigers is a strong one. In addition to the aforementioned linebacker core, the Tigers also boast terrific talent on the defensive line and in the secondary. The line is led by DeMarco McNeil, a 6 foot-2-inch, 300-pound junior from Prichard, Ala. He is ranked as the third best defensive tackle in the nation by Lindy’s magazine. And while DeMarco plugs the middle, defensive end Reggie Torbor is a speed threat on the outside.
In the secondary, Rashuad Walker and Junior Rosegreen will split time at both cornerback and strong safety in order to confuse the defense. They, along with free safety Donnay Young and cornerback Roderick Hood, should provide the Tigers with one of the deepest secondary teams they’ve had in recent memory. Tigers coach Tommy Tuberville came to Auburn amid a slew of controversy, leaving the Ole Miss Rebels a day after losing 28-6 in the Egg Bowl to the Mississippi State Bulldogs and promising that he wasn’t going anywhere. In his three years as Auburn’s head coach, Tuberville has gone a combined 21-15 with two SEC West titles and two postseason bowl games (Citrus Bowl 2000–Lost 28-31 to Michigan State; Peach Bowl 2001–Lost 16-10 to North Carolina).
The Tigers play a rough SEC schedule this season with trips to Mississippi State, Florida, and Ole Miss on the horizon, not to mention the Iron Bowl against hated rival Alabama in Tuscaloosa this year. The home schedule doesn’t get much better with Georgia, Arkansas and LSU.
Vanderbilt rounds out Auburn’s SEC schedule at Jordan-Hare Stadium. The Tigers kick off the season with a trip to Los Angeles to play Southern Cal, then have only a five-day layoff before playing Western Carolina at home. Syracuse and Louisiana-Monroe complete the seven-game home schedule.