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

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