Auburn vs. Southern Miss Game Notes

Auburn Football Fans:

War Eagle!  This is the Auburn vs. Southern Mississippi issue of the AuburnFootball.com Tiger Insider Newsletter.  The game will be played Saturday, September 6, 2008 at Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium.  The game will be played at 11:30am CST.  The game that will be televised by Raycom (Alabama Raycom stations include WTTO in Birmingham, WAFF in Huntsville, WDFX in Dothan, and WSAF in Montgomery).  Southern Miss started the season off with a bang, opening their season last Saturday with a 51-21 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette.  Future schedule information, TV listings, and game times can be found at: http://www.auburnfootball.com/2008-auburn-football-schedule.htm .

Team Notes

Chris Todd will receive the starting nod at QB this week.  Kodi Burns is recovering from a freak cut on his leg received from a helmet screw during the ULM game, although he is expected to play sparingly.   Coach Tuberville said today of the QB situation:

"Chris Todd will be our starter this week and he may play the whole game. We're not going to alternate them every series and if we think we need somebody else to go in and give us a shot in the arm, then that's what we're going to do. We've still got two quarterbacks and until we get into the conference, we'll keep it like that. Kodi Burns started last week and Chris Todd will start this week and we'll look for the right combination. But you've got to have a guy who you know can go out there and be your starter and I've said that all along, someone who the players can look up to. There's going to be a battle all year long and hopefully they'll stay close because it'll make them and the team better."

"Southern Miss is coming in off of a very big win for their coach, first game as the head coach. They're excited and they scored 51 points. It looked like a track meet. They're a little similar to us; they run a fast-paced, no huddle offense. They take the ball from underneath the center more than we do. They've got two good running backs, one rushes for more than 200 yards. You've got to give that a lot of respect. They've got a red-shirt freshman quarterback who threw some very good passes in his first college football game and they'll have some of the better receivers that we'll see this year. Some very good receivers at tight end, wide receivers who will be hard to cover and they're very physical. It's going to be a challenge.”

USM Game Notes
From the Auburn University Press Release

AUBURN HEADLINES
* Auburn leads the all-time series with Southern Miss 16-5, but the last four games played in the series were decided by a total of just 22 points.
* Auburn has won 17 of its last 20 games played during the month of September and is 31-7 in the month under Tommy Tuberville.
* Auburn's shutout in the season opener against ULM was the ninth shutout by the Tigers during the Tommy Tuberville era.
* Nineteen players played in their first collegiate game at Auburn during the season opener against ULM, and six players made their first career starts.
* Rodgeriqus Smith needs four receptions to move into the top 10 on Auburn's career receptions list.
* Brad Lester needs 48 yards rushing and Ben Tate needs 90 yards rushing to become the 22nd and 23rd backs in Auburn history to amass 1,500 career rushing yards.
* Auburn snapped the nation's longest streak without a punt return for a touchdown when Robert Dunn scored on a 66-yard return against ULM.
* Under Tommy Tuberville, Auburn is 45-0 when scoring 30 or more points in a game. Auburn has won 50 consecutive games when scoring 30 or more points in a game.
* Auburn has scored in 64 consecutive games since being shut out in the 2003 season opener.
* Auburn ranks tied for fourth in the nation for most graduates on its roster with eight.

 

DID YOU KNOW?
Linebacker Courtney Harden and defensive tackle Jermarcus Ricks are brothers ... Brad Lester was a high school teammates of the Atlanta Braves' Jeff Francoeur ... Walter McFadden's older brother Bryant plays for the Pittsburgh Steelers ... Clinton Durst was recommend to the Auburn staff by former Auburn and PGA golfer Buddy Gardner ... Neiko Thorpe's last name was Lipscomb until he had it legally changed to his father's last name this summer.

IN THE POLLS
Auburn moved up to 9^th this week in the AP poll.

GAME TICKETS
Tickets are still available! Last minute tickets may be available through the Auburn Ticket office or by visiting www.auburnfootball.com, and clicking on the Tickets link.

RADIO:
The game will be broadcast throughout the Southeast on Auburn Network affiliate stations.  For a full list of Auburn Network affiliates, please visit http://www.auburnfootball.com/auburn-radio.htm.  This list will be updated as soon as possible,  it is probable that several changes will be made by Saturday.

INTERNET:
Live audio & stats at www.auburntigers.com.  Also free radio coverage may be provided by Yahoo Sports at http://sports.yahoo.com.

REPLAY ON CSS
Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast (CSS) will broadcast encore presentations of Auburn football every Sunday at 6 p.m. ET/5 p.m. CT with Andy Burcham handling play-by-play duties and Cole Cubelic doing color commentary. CSS will also air the Auburn Football Review every Tuesday at 5 p.m. ET/4 p.m. CT and the Auburn Football Preview every Friday at 4:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. CT. CSS is a 24-hour regional sports network serving approximately 5.8 million households across 12 Southeastern states.

UPDATES AND LATE BREAKING NEWS
Injury updates and late-breaking Auburn news can always be found on our message boards.  Visit our main web page at www.auburnfootball.com, and click on the TIGER INSIDER MESSAGE BOARDS link to find one of the best online Auburn communities on the internet! 

Thanks and War Eagle! 

Thomas "T." Price

AU Pharm '92

tprice@auburnfootball.com

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