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December 13, 2007

Auburn's new offensive coordinator


Tuberville boots Borges

Auburn fired offensive coordinator Al Borges, and replaced him with Troy's offensive coordinator Tony Franklin. Kentucky fans will remember Franklin as a central figure in Mumme's probation saga (Note: he was "cleared" of all charges). Georgia fans will remember Franklin's Troy team putting up 488 yards of total offense in Athens this season.

David Ching points out that this is Auburn's sixth offensive coordinator since 2000. The list includes Noel Mazzone, Bobby Petrino, Hugh Nall/Steve Emsfinger, Al Borges and Tony Franklin. If Muschamp were to move on, AU would also get their 5th defensive coordinator in that time frame. Ching points out:
Auburn has probably had about as many different offensive/defensive coordinators since 2001 as Mark Richt has had assistant coaches, total.
Troy's overall offensive stats last year are pretty impressive. In their mini-SEC schedule last year of Arkansas, UF and UGA, they posted the following stats:
    vs. Arkansas (214 yards passing / 162 rushing / 26 points)
    vs. Florida (283 passing / 53 rushing / 31 points)
    vs. Georgia (373 passing / 115 rushing / 34 points)
Although, those stats are a bit inflated. The Gators had begun to substitute liberally at the half as they were up 49-7 before the Trojans scored 24 second half points. Franklin's troops also landed a garbage TD against UGA and Arkansas scoring with less than 5 seconds left in both games against primarily backups.

But still. That's a lot of points on the road for a Sun Belt team in SEC stadiums. I think that it's a good hire. Thanksfully, AU doesn't have a QB on campus that can really scare teams via the air.

See Also:
-- Up tempo style coming to Auburn? - AL.com

PWD

8 comments:

JasonC said...

That tells me that either Auburn is the machine that runs itself or that Wingnut is pretty good no matter who is under him.
Of course, it could be why they have had some stumbles early in the season over that time also- still adjusting to schemes and gameplans.

C. Paul said...

I personally think this is a pretty good hire for them. They've got a mobile young QB (Burns) and can easily look for others to fit the bill.

I'd give them a year to work out the kinks and they'll probably be stronger on O than with Borges.

Talking to my AU buddies, the reality that Borges looked great with 3 first rounders in the backfield (Campbell, Brown, Williams) was clearly evident.

Hobnail_Boot said...

The smart money is on Blake Field being the starting QB by next fall. Burns is the better athlete but Field has the better arm.

That is, of course, assuming he brings the same pain-enducing offense he ran at Troy. Ugh, that is not pretty to watch.

Anonymous said...

So, now Auburn is going to the Spread (Or "Spread Eagle" which I have read...)

Seems like it is here to stay. How many teams in '08 run this and at what point do we begin to adopt at least some of this?

Anonymous said...

Another thing about that Troy team UGA saw is that it was b/t the Fla game and the AU game. Thus I'm pretty sure they didnt spend too much time looking at tape on Troy. Also after a game as big as the Fla one we were in for an emotional let down of some sorts. I'd take this with a grain of salt.

Anonymous said...

anon 10:51, we've already adopted some of it. We ran the read option with DJ at qb in 2005, and even Stafford ran the same play this season. It's in the playbook, we just don't pull it out a lot. But I think we'll see more of it if Logan Gray cracks the qb rotation.

Anonymous said...

That 30+ yard touchdown that Stafford ran in against tech was the read option. We also ran that play with much success several times against Auburn in '06.

JasonC said...

Things look different with hindsight, but the talk during that trio's heyday was that Borges helped Campbell progress significantly. It looked that way watching them 2, but Brown and Williams were studs before Borges.

 
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