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New-look Auburn hopes to get off to good start

Aug 30, 2008 - 10:13 AM Louisiana-Monroe at No. 11 Auburn, 7:00 pm EDT

AUBURN, Alabama (Ticker) -- A slow start derailed Auburn's chances of playing in a BCS Bowl game last season. With a pair of new coordinators, the Tigers hope to avoid similar pitfalls this season.

The 11th-ranked Tigers open the 2008 campaign Saturday with a home game against Louisiana-Monroe.

After a fourth-quarter comeback in its season opener against Kansas State, Auburn dropped its next two contests to South Florida and Mississippi State, respectively.

But the Tigers went 8-2 in their last 10 games, with both losses coming on the road to top-10 teams.

Auburn, which ended the season with a 23-20 overtime victory over Clemson in the Peach Bowl, lost four starters from a Southeastern Conference-leading defense that allowed 16.9 points per game. The defense has a new coordinator in Paul Rhoads.

Also new this season is offensive coordinator Tony Franklin, who implemented his new spread-offense before the Peach Bowl.

The Tigers will look to get their offense on track early this season before taking on the difficult SEC schedule. The Tigers also have a tough non-conference road game at West Virginia on October 23.

Junior-college transfer Chris Todd and sophomore Kodi Burns are still battling for the starting quarterback position, and both should see time for coach Tommy Tuberville.

Auburn should not have any trouble against Louisiana-Monroe, which is 0-6 in the all-time series and has lost each contest by an average margin of 32 points.

The Warhawks of the Sun Belt Conference went 6-6 last season, but did defeat Auburn's SEC rival Alabama, 21-14, last November 17.