Auburn keeping focus on Ball State

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Auburn keeping focus on Ball State

By Andrew Gribble
Auburn University Beat Reporter
Published: September 22, 2009

AUBURN — When Auburn players left practice the Sunday before their season opener against Louisiana Tech, each member carried a DVD full of the Bulldogs’ go-to plays and tendencies.

As of Tuesday afternoon, three days removed from Auburn’s third consecutive victory to start the season and four days away from its home matchup with arguably one of the worst teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision, players had yet to watch a minute of Ball State football.

“All I’ve heard is that David Letterman went there,” linebacker Adam Herring said. “That’s all I know about Ball State right now.”

Herring, like the rest of Auburn’s players and coaches, dismissed the apparent notion that the Tigers are looking past the Cardinals, whom odds-makers in Las Vegas have dubbed as high as 34-point underdogs.

Herring, for starters, was quick to point out that the Tigers will have the Cardinals broken down just as much as they did West Virginia the week before and Tennessee heading into next week’s SEC primetime showdown.

“Here in three hours I’ll be looking at the game,” he said. “You just caught me at a bad time. Class.”

Auburn has won all three of its games to start the season, averaging more than 40 points per game and placing near or in the top 10 nationally in a number of offensive categories.

Meanwhile, Ball State, fresh off a 12-0 2008 regular season, has lost games to North Texas (a 1-11 team in 2008), FCS program New Hampshire and Army, an 18-68 team since 2002.

The game is in Auburn, of course, at Jordan-Hare Stadium, which seats 62,000 more than Ball State’s Scheumann Stadium.

So, it’s time to start thinking about that Tampa 2 defense Monte Kiffin runs at Tennessee, right?

“The bottom line is that it doesn’t matter. We have 12 games to play, and whether you are playing the MAC, the Big East or the SEC you have to show up ready to play,” Chizik said. “It doesn’t matter who we would like to play, we have to be ready for whoever our opponent is.”

Chizik didn’t have to field any questions about the intricacies of Ball State’s offense, defense or special teams at his weekly press conference. The Cardinals were only addressed when it involved the potential for a letdown after Auburn’s emotional 41-30 win over West Virginia.

That was just fine to him because this week of preparation and Saturday’s game are all about Auburn, he said.

“This will be another great test for us,” Chizik said. “We are taking everything one week at a time. I feel it’s evident that we can’t look at it any other way.”

Dig a little deeper into Tuesday’s media day, though, and you’ll find some subtle talk about Auburn’s next big test, Tennessee.

Auburn has seemingly gathered momentum with every single win.

First, it was showcasing an offense that had previously had trouble scoring points against anyone — even the UT-Martins of the world. Then it was proving it could hold its own against an SEC defense. Then there was the combination of resilience and offensive adaptation against West Virginia on Saturday.

A roadblock to that progress would be detrimental, Chizik said.

“We need to see a great deal of improvement between game 3 and game 4,” Chizik said. “Right now, we’ve won three games, but I can’t say there is any phase of our team that any coach, including me, is happy about.”

Still, Tigers’ players, especially a linebacker like Craig Stevens who played nearly every snap in Saturday’s three-hour, 31-minute game, had a tough time holding back their excitement at the prospect of a little rest and relaxation.

“Hopefully we can go out and start fast and just keep it up throughout the whole game,” Stevens said. “Maybe we can get in that type of situation.”