Auburn, Vandy open SEC season

AUBURN, ALABAMA - Tommy Tuberville well remembers Auburn&#39;s last run-in with Vanderbilt. <br> <br> The Tigers needed a 49-yard Damon Duval field goal in the final minutes and then had to stuff a fake field goal by the Commodores to pull out a 24-21 win. The Auburn coach expects a similarly close game on Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium even though his team is a three-touchdown favorite. <br> <br> ``We had to fight our tail off to keep them from scoring at the end,&#39;&#39; Tuberville said of last year&#39;s meeting. ``This will be a tough game. It will go down to the fourth quarter. <br> <br> ``They&#39;ve got some good football players and some renewed enthusiasm, and we&#39;ll expect the best game probably of the year that they&#39;ll have.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> That&#39;s because it&#39;s the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams, and also the league debut for new Vandy coach Bobby Johnson. Plus, the Commodores (1-1) have lost 10 straight meetings dating back to 1955 and haven&#39;t won in six previous trips to Jordan-Hare Stadium. <br> <br> ``The reason that is a tough house is because they have a tough football team,&#39;&#39; Johnson said. ``That&#39;s usually the case. Bad teams usually don&#39;t have big crowds following them. <br> <br> ``Obviously, with 80,000 people screaming at you, it is going to be a when calling our plays and getting any audibles checked off.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Tuberville has repeatedly described the Tigers&#39; first two games as the ``preseason,&#39;&#39; with modest impact on the primary goal of winning the SEC. His players appear to have taken that message to heart. <br> <br> ``These are the ones that count,&#39;&#39; quarterback Daniel Cobb said. ``They can put you in the SEC championship game if you win, and if you don&#39;t they can really eliminate you from any type of bowl game. <br> <br> ``When it comes to the SEC, guys come ready to play. Vanderbilt gives a lot of people scares and can knock off a lot of people when they&#39;re not ready.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Both teams are coming off confidence-building blowouts of Division I-AA teams after losing their openers. <br> <br> The Commodores beat Furman, Johnson&#39;s former team, 49-18. Tuberville said that was probably the best game he&#39;s seen Vandy play in several years. <br> <br> The Tigers smashed Western Carolina 56-0, despite resting four starters, barely letting tailback Carnell Williams break a sweat and playing just about everybody on the roster. <br> <br> Defensive back Junior Rosegreen said the team is keeping that game against a clearly outmanned opponent in perspective. <br> <br> ``We aren&#39;t overconfident,&#39;&#39; Rosegreen said. ``It isn&#39;t like we&#39;ve got the big head or anything. We just know if we play Auburn football, everything&#39;s going to take care of itself.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> If Vandy needs further motivation, it need look no further than last year&#39;s game-that-got-away. <br> <br> ``It was one of those games I felt like we should have own,&#39;&#39; linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer said. ``Auburn&#39;s a great team, but I think we were better prepared for that game and hopefully we will be again this week.&#39;&#39;

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