LIVE BLOG: Tiger Talk (9/7/10)

Hello.

• On the schedule changes because of the Thursday game … he said bumps and bruises are a focus: “That kind of dictates how you’re going to practice this week. We really had to come up with a good plan, which I think we did. It’s challenging.”
• He wants to see fewer penalties this week.
• On freshmen: “They’re giving us depth. They have no experience.”
• On Cam Newton: “We’re very proud of Cameron. Cam will be the first to tell you, after we re-assessed the game, wow. There are so many things we can improve. He’s a great athlete and can make things happen when they’re not necessarily there.”
• Was Auburn vanilla last week?: “It was base in a lot of ways. We wanted to see effort. The effort definitely was there. You could tell it was our first game. Thursday night, we’re going to have to be a completely different team.”
• Our first caller tonight is Aaron from Tuscaloosa. He’s in enemy territory. Must be tough. He wants to know if they can hear him. They can. He was happy with the win. He likes the offense. He said the defense was “suspect.” Is there a question? Will Dyer play earlier this week? “Great questions. As we went back and re-evaluated the film, we saw that Michael did a really nice job for us. We anticipate really getting into the offense. As time goes on, he’s going to be a good back.”
• “He plays with great pad level. Those guys usually hold on to the ball really well.”
• Rod wants to talk about Quindarius Carr’s performance against Arkansas State: “We’ve been looking for a punt returner. We’ve got 11+ games to go, but in the first game he helped our team in that regard. I think he’s really coming on. I was joking around when I said I haven’t bought stock in him yet.”
• Gene didn’t sound like he was joking when he said that Saturday. At all.
• Gene thinks special teams is really a field-position battle. “We had one kickoff get away from us.”
• Next up is John in Millbrook. He’s going to Starkville. Enjoy. His daughter is going to MSU. His son goes to Auburn. Gene jokes that she’s paying for her own school. Guffaws all around. John’s question is about redshirts: “Sometimes, it gets difficult. They all come in with high hopes and high expectations. Everybody’s different when they get here. It’s simple: Can he help us win ballgames now? We have a good bit of guys who are ready to play. It’s split 50-50 with the guys who aren’t quite ready right now. You never know.”
• Anyone new going to play in Starkville: “Trovon Reed is still day-by-day.” (He also mentioned Steven Clark.)
• On the offensive line: “We’ve got to run the ball much better than we did. We would like to consistently move the football and sustain some drives. At the end of the day, we can play much better on the offensive line.”
• Steve from Wedowee is up. His question is about how Arkansas State was messin with Auburn’s mind with the short passes: “They did. They had a dink-and-dunk game going on there … specifically in the second half. Part of that was the design of the coverage. We had a decent lead and we didn’t want to let anything get behind us. But in the first half, that was just bad coverage.”
• Rod was very impressed with ASU’s quarterback. Rod said he was cool as a cucumber. I thought Ryan Aplin was more like an ice cube or the South Pole or the beer cave at the local Shell station: “He was good. We have to play much better on defense.”
• On Mississippi State: “A much-improved team from last year. It doesn’t even look like the same team. Two totally different football teams. They can run that football.”
• Spence from Facebook wants to know about duplicate numbers: “It is kind of a trend. It’s really important to these guys, when they come out of high school, they want a certain number. You can’t say no. In a lot of cases, we feel like it’s not an issue. There are so special-teams crossovers. If it makes ‘em better, let them wear it.”
• Jeremy is up. He is petrified. He wants to know about Craig Sanders: “He is special. He’s a special guy. He has been a pleasure to be around. He’s a fine, fine young man not to mention that he’s a good football player. He’s a perfect Auburn man.”
• Jeremy played against Sanders in high school. “I was like the little car on the track and he was train coming through.”
• Rod says college footbal is a topsy-turvy world. Anything can happen. “It doesn’t matter — a win is a win. They’re hard to come by. You take one when you can. It beats the alternative.”
• Charles from Monroeville is up. His question is about how Gene prepares teams for night games: “In fall camp, we tried to take three or four different practice times, scrimmage times, in the stadium — just so our guys could get used to the lights of the stadium or the things people don’t think about. We tried to put them in those positions as often as we could.”
• Rod says a road night game is tough because players sit on their thumbs. Ouch.: “Fans love night games. It gives them all day to get up for it. For coaches, it’s agony.”
• More on Zac Etheridge and Aairon Savage. Sheesh. Are we still talking about this? “Both of them felt, as the game started, that they had to get back into that sense … what is it like on game day? What is the speed of the game like? They need to keep getting experience.”
• Rod wants to know about Hot Carter. “He’s a guy, I said, who has a lot of talent. For 12 consecutive weeks he has to continue to improve. He loves football.”
• Rod says Auburn knocked Aplin on his behind. “They were not running the football. They had 30-some-odd attempts. They had less than 50 yards rushing. Then they realized they had to start throwing it. We put the quarterback on the ground 13 times. That wears on ‘em.”
• Joe from Dozier is next up. Where is Dozier? He appreciates Gene. He says Gene is just like George W. Bush. “I really miss him,” Joe says. Did George W. Bush die? Maybe you heard it here first. “Thanks for the kind comments. War Eagle!”
• Rod got a kick out of that one. “None of our head coaches have been compared to presidents.”
• “I like Joe. We need to get Joe back on here.”
• David on Facebook wants to know about cowbells. Most overrated trend ever. “I’ve answered it several times over the week. That’s the least of our worries.”
• I’m glad Gene and I see eye-to-eye on that.
• Rod says … no, really … MSU is loud. All jokes aside.
• Jay G. says … no, really … MSU isn’t that loud.
• David from somewhere (I missed that) says Gene is the coach to lead Auburn back to a national title. He wants to know why Auburn’s secondary didn’t bat down any balls. “We’ve got to create turnovers. Those things come in bunches. Sometimes you get ‘em. Sometimes you don’t get ‘em. There’s forced turnovers, too.”
• Joshua from Facebook wants to know about freshmen D-tackles: “We got ‘em in early. You have to force yourself to do that. We know we have to do that to keep our defensive line fresh. We did a pretty good job. They got some decent repetitions. At one point on the tape, you can stop the film and it’s all freshman across the line and a few at linebacker.”
• Rod wants to know about Daren Bates: “His effort was really good. That’s where we start when we’re trying to build on something.”
• Melvin from Birmingham is up. He even gives a “War Eagle” to Rod, too. That was nice. He likes the foundation Gene has laid. He hopes Gene never stops being hands-on. He wants to know what kind of defense Auburn uses. “We’re going to be more of an attacking or pressure defense. Coach Roof is going to do a great job. He’s been doing a great job. There’s going to be more blitzes, more pressure.”
• Randy from Tuscaloosa is up. He wasn’t ecstatic when Gene was hired. “We were hungry for a huge name.” No laughs from Gene on that one. He asked Gene if he watched the VT-Boise game (he didn’t) and now he wants to know why Boise State’s defense is so fast. He thinks Auburn needs to be fast … but Randy thinks Boise and TCU are faster. Oh, wait. That’s not a question. He wants to know about the Tigers’ health: “We came out about as good as we could come out. We’re in pretty good shape right now.”
• Rod wants to know more about MSU’s defense. “They cover a lot of ground. They have a lot of speed. Boy, they’re flyin’ around. They bought it. They’re going to be a formidable defense.”
• Rod wants to know what the keys are: “Gotta protect the ball on the road. That’s where we have to start. We’ve got to improve in that area. Offensively, we have to keep having explosive plays.”
• “War Eagle.”
• That’s a wrap.

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