Auburn's deficiencies laid bare

AUBURN, ALABAMA - Tommy Tuberville can find one benefit from LSU&#39;s demolition of Auburn. The game laid bare just about every weakness Tuberville&#39;s Tigers have, from defending passes to throwing them to some aspects of the return game.<br> <br> ``We&#39;ve kind of hit the wall in some areas, but we&#39;ve got to improve in all the weaknesses we have, which are very glaring when you have a loss,&#39;&#39; Tuberville said Tuesday.<br> <br> The downside for Auburn (5-3): the Tigers&#39; opponents see the same things and can exploit those deficiencies until or unless they&#39;re remedied.<br> <br> So far, there hasn&#39;t been much progress in some areas.<br> <br> The problems won&#39;t likely matter much in Saturday&#39;s homecoming game with 37-point underdog Louisiana-Monroe (1-7). After that, Auburn faces the two Southeastern Conference divisional leaders, Mississippi and Georgia, as well as Alabama.<br> <br> ``We&#39;ve got to raise the level of this football team at every level for us to be able to compete in all the games we have coming up,&#39;&#39; Tuberville said. ``It&#39;s going to be very difficult.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> The Tigers were dominated on both sides of the ball and special teams in the 31-7 loss to LSU, falling behind 21-0 in the first quarter. Auburn&#39;s plodding, run-oriented offense couldn&#39;t even begin to erase that deficit.<br> <br> A running game that produced 405 yards the previous week against Mississippi State managed just 50 against LSU.<br> <br> ``Before we looked up, we were so far behind it was almost impossible to catch up, unless you change your philosophy,&#39;&#39; Tuberville said. ``And that&#39;s hard for us to do certain things better than what we do, which is running the football.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> What Auburn doesn&#39;t do well: throw downfield. Jason Campbell was 19-of-27 passing but for only 143 yards.<br> <br> The Tigers rank last in the SEC in passing yards, and 10th in scoring and total offense. It sets up an opportunity for defenses to dare Auburn to beat them through the air, which this team hasn&#39;t done.<br> <br> The Tigers ran for just 133 yards in their three losses, and have lost them by a combined 71-8. They&#39;ve averaged exactly twice that total in each win.<br> <br> There comes a point, Tuberville said, where ``your strength becomes your weakness, because everybody knows your strength and they try to turn it into a point where they can gang up on you. And that&#39;s basically what people have done.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> Plus, normally reliable return man Tre Smith fumbled away two punts, keeping the offense from finding a rhythm and the defense on the field.<br> <br> Tuberville said one was Smith&#39;s fault and the other was a breakdown in blocking.<br> <br> The defense still ranks among the league&#39;s best, but shoulders its share of the blame, giving up a 64-yard touchdown pass in the first two minutes and being unable to counter LSU&#39;s balanced attack from there.<br> <br> Tuberville said it was the defense&#39;s worst tackling performance of the season.<br> <br> ``Defensively, we were probably much more at fault than we were on offense,&#39;&#39; he said. ``When you go on the road, you have to play defense knowing that your offense is going to struggle. Defense is the area where we really got ourselves in a hole.<br> <br> ``When we tried to get ourselves out of the hole, we just weren&#39;t explosive enough with the offense that we&#39;re running right now to be able to give us that opportunity.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> And Georgia, Ole Miss, and Alabama were certainly paying attention.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2003/10/170035