Clemson did Auburn a favor by having two of their starting linebackers sit out of the game due to academic ineligibility. Most people would see this as good news for Auburn, but I would rather play Clemson at full strength, therefore leaving no “what ifs” about the game. Maybe I’m just paranoid as an Auburn fan after beating Alabama for six straight years, seeing how every year there was some unavoidable circumstance that caused an inferior Auburn team to beat an intergalactic empire such as Bama Football. I would just like to win a big game without hearing a stream of excuses from the opposition. But as far as I can tell, I don’t see Clemson or the Clemson fans coming across as petty or delusional, so I’m hoping that after the game is over both teams can admit they played their absolute best and the better team won that day.

Then there’s the whole aspect regarding Auburn’s offense with new offensive coordinator/spread offense guru Tony Franklin. How much will we use the spread? How much will we stick to the West Coast Offense and run from the old playbook? Believe it or not, the more we use the spread, the less we would be taking advantage of Clemson’s ‘linebacking’ issues. If we use the spread offense, then Clemson will most likely replace some of their linebackers with defensive backs anyways. The more we use the old offense and simply blast them with the running game, the more we would be able to exploit the missing experience inside the box from Clemson.

Tony Franklin: International Man of Mystery

I have been reading every Auburn-related article on al.com since the hiring of Franklin, and it seems like the original idea for the bowl game was to use our old offense “99%” of the time while simply testing the waters of the new offense on a couple of plays. Every couple of days, however, it would seem that Tubs and the players are liking the new offense more and more. There will be a good bit more of offensive scouting by Franklin than previously thought. Franklin will run his new offense with different players to see who fits well into the new scheme. But then again, this is completely a guesstimate. I don’t think anyone other Tubs knows for sure how much of the new offense Auburn is going to use, or how it’s even going to look. Auburn can’t afford to ditch the running game to the extent that Franklin’s previous teams have. I would think that we would see more a West Coast/Spread fusion that allows Auburn to take advantage of their powerful running attack. This game will be amazing, if for no other reason, because we’ll finally get to see what exactly this new guy is bringing to the table. Enter Tony Franklin: International Man of Mystery.

This game belongs to Brandon Cox. Whether or not you like the guy, he has lead Auburn through one of its greatest runs in recent history. The guy is unreasonably calm and collected, is great at making decisions, always gets the snap off before the delay of game clock is up, has won more big road games than any other active quarterback in the nation, and has endured through countless injuries and criticism only to respond with more wins. It’s only fair we let Brandon Cox expose one last top ten defense with another clutch win. With all this talk about the offense, there has been a very uncommon and very dangerous oversight of Auburn’s defense. Simply because Auburn is going to throw the ball more does not mean that Muschamp will show any more mercy upon the unbelievers. One of the downsides to Franklin’s new offense is that it leaves a lot of time on the clock, which in all likelihood increases the number of plays that the defense must play in a game. I agree that statistically, this should hurt Auburn’s defense a little bit. Physically, however, this will hurt the SEC East’s offense. Who would want to line up against Tray Blackmon for 20 more plays than before? If anything, having Auburn play more downs on defense is an advantage. It’s just a shame that Tebow doesn’t have to go through us next year, now he practically has the Heisman in the bag.

So what’s going to happen in the game? Clemson has had a much better offense throughout the season, averaging about 90 more yards per game and 10 more points per game than Auburn this season, while both defenses are ranked within the top 10 in both scoring and yards allowed. I don’t think that Clemson has faced a group of defensive lineman and linebackers like the crew from Auburn, along with the new and improved Franklin-flavored offense will give Auburn enough to overcome the Tigers from Clemson. Another hard fought defensive win for Auburn: 21-17.

War Eagle.

E-mail Ryan at ryan@theauburner.com

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