Forget the BCS, Auburn just searching for a new backfield

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Posted 6:02PM on Thursday, July 28, 2005

HOOVER, Ala. (AP) Tommy Tuberville isn't weeping over the loss of four first-round NFL draft picks, even if it included Auburn's heralded running duo and quarterback. In fact, he calls this his most talented team and says he voted the Tigers ``in the Top 10'' in the preseason coaches poll. Tuberville and his players might be alone in those lofty opinions at this point, even though the Tigers are coming off a 13-0 season and No. 2 national finish. Now, the three letters plaguing Auburn are NFL, not BCS. Tuberville must replace tailbacks Ronnie Brown and Carnell Williams, quarterback Jason Campbell and cornerback Carlos Rogers all first-round picks. Sophomore Brandon Cox established himself in the spring as the Tigers' No. 1 quarterback. Kenny Irons, a South Carolina transfer, and junior Tre Smith are the expected heirs to Williams and Brown, both among the top 5 picks in the NFL draft. But Tuberville still expects Auburn to compete for the Southeastern Conference title, if not the national championship. ``We'll probably have the most talented team we've had since I've been at Auburn, top to bottom,'' he said Thursday at SEC media days. ``But we don't have the one thing that sometimes you need, and that's experience. ``Experience is something you can't just recruit. You have to build it.'' The Tigers aren't quite over the sting of reaching perfection and having to watch Southern California and Oklahoma play for the national title in the Orange Bowl. ``Will we have a chip on our shoulder? I hope so,'' Tuberville said. He's clearly got one over the Bowl Championship Series, which denied the Tigers a national championship shot. Tuberville doesn't think the offseason changing of the process will do anything to prevent a similar issue in the future. The BCS has created the Harris Interactive College Football Poll, which will rank the top 25 teams on a weekly basis, but start Sept. 25 instead of having a preseason poll. The new poll replaces the AP poll, which the BCS had used in its formula for ranking teams since 1998. ``Nothing's been done to solve the problem,'' said Tuberville, who advocates a playoff system. ``We've used a Band-Aid. Popular vote is not the way to choose a national champion. We need to decide it on the field.'' USC and Oklahoma started last season ranked No. 1 and No. 2. They wound up playing each other in a lopsided USC victory that left the Tigers wondering if they would have stacked up better than the Sooners. ``That game will always be played in the minds of a lot of people but it will never be played on the field,'' Tuberville said. The Tigers aren't likely to be back in that position this season, but try telling them that. ``Teams lose great players to the draft all the time,'' offensive tackle Marcus McNeill said. ``Miami lost a ridiculous amount of players one year to the first round, and they came back and almost ran the tables again. ``It's really about reloading. We don't have to rebuild anything.'' Actually, the Hurricanes went 9-3 after having six players chosen in the first round in the 2004 draft. Still pretty good, but far from 13-0. Linebacker Travis Williams understands the skepticism and uncertainty surrounding this team, but isn't fretting over it. ``I see where people are coming from,'' Williams said. ``We lost our quarterback and we lost two Top 5 running backs. You're losing a guy that won the Thorpe (Award) at cornerback. You've got to actually know our team and know the athletes that we have. ``We will be a good team. We will compete for the SEC again this year.'' (Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)