No. 17 Auburn looks for a fresh start against Georgia Tech

ATLANTA - Season opener? It&#39;s this week, right? <br> <br> For very obvious reasons, No. 17 Auburn is talking like Saturday&#39;s game against former rival Georgia Tech is the start of a new year. <br> <br> In reality, of course, the Tigers already have a defeat on their resume, looking downright awful in a 23-0 loss to Southern California last week. <br> <br> For a team expected to contend for a national title, it was a stunning, cruel reality check. Certainly, it&#39;s a game the Tigers would just soon forget as they play the Yellow Jackets (0-1) for the first time in 16 years. <br> <br> ``We&#39;ve got the USC game out of the way,&#39;&#39; quarterback Jason Campbell said. ``It was a learning experience. Now, you&#39;ve just got to move on.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Despite a heralded running game, Auburn actually called more passes than carries against the Trojans. Coach Tommy Tuberville insists he&#39;ll go to the air again if Georgia Tech attempts to stack the line with a bevy of defenders. <br> <br> ``Our philosophy going into this season, knowing we were going to see a lot of eight-man and nine-man fronts, was to prove we can throw the football,&#39;&#39; Tuberville said. ``If we can&#39;t, we&#39;re going to see that every week.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> In a perfect world, the Tigers would prefer to hand the ball to Carnell Williams and Ronnie Brown up to 20 times apiece. It didn&#39;t work out that way in the opener Williams ran 12 times for 40 yards, while Brown managed 28 yards on a mere eight carries. <br> <br> Georgia Tech, hindered by an undersized, inexperienced and thin defensive line, is convinced that Auburn will try to run, run and run some more. The Tigers have a huge weight advantage up front, sending out an offensive line that averages 314 pounds a man. <br> <br> ``Oh, they&#39;re going to run the ball,&#39;&#39; Tech defensive tackle Travis Parker said. ``There&#39;s no doubt in my mind that&#39;s what we&#39;ve got to stop. If they have to go to the pass, that&#39;s a very good sign for us. That means we&#39;ve stopped the best part of their game.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Still, Tuberville insists that no team can win with a one-dimensional offense, even when it has two dynamic runners such as Williams and Brown. <br> <br> ``You&#39;d like to run them as much as you can,&#39;&#39; the coach said. ``But it&#39;s not going to happen with the way people are playing us this year. We told everybody all long that we&#39;re going to have to throw the ball downfield. <br> <br> ``Until we show people we can get the ball down the field,&#39;&#39; Tuberville added, ``it&#39;s going be tough to get Ronnie and Carnell back to the line of scrimmage.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> This used to be one of the longest-running rivalries in the country, the teams playing every year but one from 1906 through 1987 (the Tigers didn&#39;t have a team in 1943 because of World War II). <br> <br> Auburn athletic director David Housel remembers taking the ``War Eagle Special,&#39;&#39; a passenger train that ran from Montgomery, Ala., to Atlanta for the 1965 game. <br> <br> ``We picked up Auburn fans all along the way,&#39;&#39; said Housel, then a freshman at the school. ``The train unloaded near a point where (Philips Arena) is now. On the way to the stadium, all the Tech people were trying to steal the Auburn rat (freshman) hats and all the Auburn people were trying to steal Tech&#39;s rat hats.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Scheduling difficulties caused the schools to drop the series after Auburn won its ninth in a row over the Yellow Jackets, a 20-10 victory in 1987. This is the first game of a home-and-home contract, but there are no plans to resume the rivalry on an annual basis. <br> <br> ``With everybody needed to play seven home games now, I doubt it&#39;s something we could do every year,&#39;&#39; Housel said. ``But it would be fun if we could.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Georgia Tech is playing its first game at expanded Bobby Dodd Stadium, which has grown from 43,000 to 55,000 seats with the addition of luxury boxes and a new upper deck in the north end zone. <br> <br> The opener is a sellout, but the crowd will likely be bolstered by tens of thousands of Auburn fans. <br> <br> Are the Yellow Jackets concerned about playing a home game that may have the look of a neutral site? Coach Chan Gailey shrugged off the prospect. <br> <br> ``If we&#39;re ahead,&#39;&#39; he said, ``those Auburn fans won&#39;t be making much noise.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> The Yellow Jackets are 8.5-point underdogs after a 24-13 loss at BYU. Despite the result, Reggie Ball gave a poised performance as the first true freshman to start an opening game at quarterback for Georgia Tech. <br> <br> Ball completed 15 of 24 passes for 147 yards and got loose on a 33-yard run, but the Yellow Jackets were slowed by three fumbles and an interception. <br> <br> ``They didn&#39;t ask me to do too much in my first game,&#39;&#39; Ball said. ``It was a great game plan. We were moving the ball well. But you never plan for turnovers.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Auburn wasn&#39;t planning on being 0-1 at this point. So, it&#39;s time to start over. <br> <br> ``We know now we&#39;re not invincible,&#39;&#39; offensive guard Monreko Crittenden said. ``We kind of humbled ourselves and we&#39;re basically trying to put that game behind us.&#39;&#39;