Tailback tandems dominate SEC matchup

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Posted 3:08PM on Friday, October 3, 2003

AUBURN, ALABAMA - Auburn's Carnell Williams and Ronnie Brown were supposed to be the Southeastern Conference's marquee tailback tandem, a pair of headliners running for a projected Top 10 team. Then, along came Cedric Houston, Jabari Davis and No. 7 Tennessee with far less hype but equally impressive talent. The impressive cadre of runners along with Auburn's emerging Brandon Jacobs will battle for league pre-eminence on Saturday night. ``The whole offseason with the magazines and everything, that was all you would really see about Auburn,'' said Davis, averaging 59 yards and one touchdown a game. ``That they had the best running backs (in the SEC). ``Things like that I don't really look at. I try to focus on what I need to do. Hopefully we can come out Saturday and prove who has the best backs.'' So far, the Volunteers (4-0, 2-0 SEC) win that duel hands down. Both are ranked among the league's Top 10 rushers, Houston at No. 3 and Davis at No. 7. Williams and Brown haven't cracked that list for Auburn (2-2, 1-0) haven't even managed a 100-yard game. Jacobs was the first to reach that mark, gaining 103 yards on 10 carries last week against Western Kentucky. The tailbacks have finally hit their stride in the past two games, but divvied up the carries in blowout victories over Vanderbilt (45-7) and Western Kentucky (48-3). ``We're basically feeling good going into the stretch,'' said Williams, who originally committed to play for Tennessee out of high school. ``We're starting to run the ball a lot better, hit the holes better, making guys miss.'' Neither team has been easy to run against, giving up two rushing touchdowns apiece. The Tigers have the nation's No. 2-rated defense, allowing only 237.5 total yards per game. They've allowed just 10 points and 415 total yards in the last nine quarters. ``I think definitely Saturday the game should be based on the running game,'' Davis said. The Tigers are still 10th in the league in running despite their loaded backfield. In fact, Houston (434) has rushed for only 24 fewer yards than Brown and preseason All-SEC pick Williams combined after the Auburn duo totaled 1,753 yards last season. ``They've got a whole lot of recognition,'' Houston said. ``In the spring, me and Jabari hardly got any (publicity). We get more pub now. ``I think me and Jabari can compete probably just as well as Cadillac (Williams) and Ronnie Brown if we run out there and run hard.'' The Tigers have gotten it together lately, rushing for 282 yards against Western Kentucky and 219 against Vanderbilt. They hadn't won back-to-back games by 35-plus points since 1970 before those victories. Auburn had combined for a feeble 83 yards on the ground in the first two games, but has since made Fulmer a believer. He calls this game Tennessee's ``biggest challenge of the year.'' ``They are a very good football team,'' he said. ``All that has been said and written about their offensive running backs is exactly right.'' But, he added, ``Typically, we don't give up too many yards rushing.'' Neither does Auburn. ``We're getting better every game,'' defensive end Reggie Torbor said. ``We feel we have a good chance to stop their running game.'' ``They know they can run the ball. That's kind of the building block for their offensive scheme.'' That will put some burden on quarterbacks Casey Clausen of Tennessee and Jason Campbell of Auburn. Both have been unspectacular, ranking in the bottom half of the league in passing yards with their teams relying so heavily on the run. Campbell's protection has improved dramatically. He was sacked 13 times in the first two games, none since. Center Danny Lindsey said the Tigers want to show how far they've come in the past few weeks. ``We're not only trying to prove it to everybody, we're trying to prove it to ourselves,'' center Danny Lindsey said. ``We know the talent we've got on this team. We've just got to execute the way the coaches want us.''