Auburn vs. Tennessee

John "Stump" Thrower

Last Sunday morning, the sun managed to rise, though the sky was a little hazy. Auburn's 2008 regular season is now one-third complete with the Tigers standing with a 3-1 overall record and 1-1 in the SEC.

LSU's fourth quarter comeback win over the Tigers makes AU's chances for a 2008 SEC championship tough to obtain but not impossible.

Auburn will just have to regroup after the tough 26-21 loss to LSU, a game that AU should have won—particularly if it had fully utilized two offensive drives in the third quarter. At that point, AU had a 14-3 lead and was in a position to take complete control of the game. Two drives, zero points! On both drives, with first downs inside the 30-yard line, the "lockdown syndrome" set in. The play-calling on both occasions became predictable, and the drives were halted. So, where does Auburn go from here?

This Saturday, at 2:30 p.m. on CBS, Auburn will square off against the Tennessee Volunteers at Jordan-Hare. It is the first meeting between the two since the SEC Championship game of 2004, won by Auburn 38-28.

With the Volunteers coming into town, Auburn needs to do one thing: Examine itself, starting with the coaching staff.

The Auburn faithful are currently arguing about who is presently playing, who is not playing, what type of offense is being run and if there is a problem with team unity.

Talk is cheap, and more times than not talk is based on rumor and not fact. Since the early 1990s, talk radio shows have allowed these types of rumors to be "planned," created and spread by callers who hide behind aliases for their names.

Tennessee comes into Auburn with a 1-2 record after suffering a 30-6 loss to Florida last Saturday in Knoxville. With Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, Vanderbilt and Kentucky looming in the future, this week's game against AU is a must-win for the Vols.

Tennessee head coach Phil Fulmer is presently not a very popular person with many Big Orange fans. Few teams entered the 2008 season with more returning starters than Tennessee. Fourteen returned.

The Vols' top two running backs, senior Arian Foster and junior Montario Hardesty, returned, as well as their top four wide receivers (seniors Lucas Taylor and Josh Briscoe, junior Austin Rogers and sophomore Gerald Jones). But until now, the offense has had trouble moving the football.

Junior quarterback Jonathan Crompton is a first-time starter. While very talented and able (6-foot-4, 200 pounds), Crompton has had a knack for throwing untimely interceptions and has been inconsistent in leading the Vols' offense.

Also, every starter from the 2007 offensive line returned, but it, likewise, has had several breakdowns. Every starter is either a junior or senior in class, but for some reason they have not jelled as a single unit. This is despite two 2007 All-SEC selections, left guard Anthony Parker and right tackle Ramon Foster.

Defensively, the strongest unit is Tennessee's backfield. This unit contributed to Florida quarterback Tim Tebow's completing only eight passes out of 15 attempts for 96 yards. Tebow did, however, have two touchdown passes.

Sophomore Eric Berry may be the best athlete on Tennessee's team and is known to line up at quarterback at times. His normal position is strong safety, and he has support from veterans junior Demetrice Morley at free safety, junior Marsalous Johnson at cornerback and sophomore Brent Vinson at the other cornerback.