http://www.al.com/auburnfootball/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/sports/122146651375230.xml&coll=2Auburn offensive coordinator Tony Franklin has decided to quit scripting plays so he can do what he does best. Fly by the seat of his pants.
Franklin, who said last week he made a mistake by having co-starting quarterbacks, now says he made a mistake by over-analyzing his game plans.
Franklin's admission followed an uneven performance by his offense in a 3-2 victory over Mississippi State on Saturday night, and comes less than a week before LSU comes calling for a Top 10 battle in one of Auburn's biggest games of the year.
LSU is ranked sixth and Auburn is 10th. Auburn is also 3-0, has a Top 10 defense nationally and is in far better shape than after last year's 1-3 stumble out of the gate. But it hasn't always felt that way because the much-hyped spread offense has been inconsistent and a victim of a variety of turnovers and penalties it has created.
Franklin's solution? Start over.
"We had way too much in our playbook."
Franklin says he's sticking with Chris Todd as his starting quarterback and promised to find spot duty for Kodi Burns, though it's apparent he won't be influenced to add Burns to his quarterback rotation just because it might be popular.
Franklin didn't rotate his quarterbacks at all against Mississippi State as he continues to de-emphasis the one-two punch of Todd and Burns that was a popular theme not so long ago.
Though Todd's reluctance to run seems to be anti-Franklin and flies in the face of some of the spread's best elements, Franklin still believes Todd is close to making everything right.
"It's scary how close we are," Franklin said.
But Franklin isn't going to take any chances. He's going pro-active by not going by the book, or at least some fancy scripted playbook, which never seemed to be his style, anyway.
"I need to do a better job of going back to my feel and my instinct versus probably more game-planning," Franklin said.
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"I've done more game-planning here. I'm going to go back to feel and instinct.
"I've called more stuff off a script in the red zone than I ever have before. I don't need to do it."
Auburn had enough yards to score more points against Mississippi State, but 12 penalties, two missed field goals and three fumbles negated any of the good work. The Tigers had 315 yards Saturday, their worst of three offensive games this season but still better than six games last year and within 25 yards of two others.
Franklin also said he is dealing with "chemistry issues," but not player versus player, or offense versus the heavy-lifting defense.
Defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads agreed.
"Nobody on the football team looks at any angle of this team other than being a team and working together," Rhoads said.
As for Professor Franklin, "Chemistry is trying to learn who does what best, how do they do it, how does it mix in, how do we fit it all in," he said. "You hope you can figure it out before the season. Sometimes, you can't. It's quite evident that I haven't figured it out."
The clock is running. LSU is the defending national champion, and while its quarterbacks may be suspect, its defense is top notch.
Franklin's chemistry may include more of Burns.
"It's going to be a feel thing," Franklin said. "I think Kodi needs to play. We need to find a way to do that, whether it's this week or next week or every week." Check out Goldberg's blog at blog.al.com/goldmine. cgoldberg@bhamnews.com
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