Speaking of Rocker, back in 87' and 88', our D-line was easily as good group as has ever played at Auburn, more than likely the best. With guys like Tracy Rocker, Ron Stallworth (Good career with the Jets), Benji Roland, Aundray Bruce, Pig Goff, Nate Hill, David Rocker etc. they rarely blitzed. Didn't have to. Whatever 4 were in there just dominated the line of scrimmage. Check this out. I totally understand the game has completely changed, especially on the offensive side of the ball. But...
In 1988, the Auburn D gave up a total of 92 points in 12 games. That's 7.6 ppg. They had 4 straight shutouts that year and the two highest point totals given up were 21 to North Carolina in a blowout win, and 13 to high powered FSU in the Sugar Bowl.
To bring back some heart break from 88', that was the year of the "Earthquake Game" in LSU. The Bengal Tigers had not crossed midfield since the first drive of the game. We held a 6-0 lead and LSU got the ball back with just time for one last drive. And despite utter domination by our D, went into a prevent and allowed them to drive right down the field for a 7-6 win. The thing about that is not just the gut wrenching, unnecessary loss, but without going into the prevent D, we're playing Notre Dame (I believe) for the MNC instead of FSU in the Sugar.