By Dana BeyerleNYT Regional Media GroupPublished: Sunday, November 16, 2008 at 6:01 a.m.Last Modified: Saturday, November 15, 2008 at 11:22 p.m.AUBURN — Former Alabama head football coach Dennis Franchione, now a broadcaster, defended Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville against calls for his ouster this year, a less-than-satisfactory one for the Auburn Tigers who are 5-6 through 11 games.“Tommy Tuberville is a great coach, and I don’t think anything should happen to him,” Franchione said. “He’s beaten Alabama six times in a row.”The last time Franchione was at Jordan-Hare Stadium as a coach was in 2001 and Alabama beat Auburn 31-7.“I won one and lost one,” Franchione said of his two years at Alabama. It also was the last time Alabama beat Auburn as the Franchione-led Crimson Tide lost to Auburn 17-7 in Tuscaloosa in 2002. Franchione said Auburn has had some injuries that hurt the team this year.Franchione worked his third Auburn game this season on Saturday. The others were the LSU game and the Arkansas game.South’s Oldest RivalryThe Auburn Georgia rivalry dates to the 19th century and after 112 games is the oldest continuing rivalry in the South.Auburn leads the all-time series 53-51-8. Through their 112 meetings, the teams are separated by only 49 points. Georgia has scored 1,747 and Auburn has scored 1,698 points.Two world wars interrupted the series in 1917, 1918 and 1943. Except for those three years, Auburn and Georgia have played since 1898.Music to no Auburn fan’s earsStairway to Heaven anyone? The Georgia Band played Led Zeppelin tunes at halftime followed by the Auburn University Marching Band with the Rolling Stones’ “ Start Me Up,” “Jumping Jack Flash,” “Paint it Black” and “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction.” The last one seems to sum up Auburn’s season this year, so far, with the Alabama game coming up in two weeks.Dawggone gooddefenseGeorgia Knowshon Moreno said Georgia’s defense won the game, which was a sellout, Auburn’s fifth of the year, with an announced capacity attendance of 87,451.“They won the game for us,” Moreno said. “We put points on the board, but I think they played a good game and they won the game.” Richt was circumspect. “Either team could have won, it was a close game, another SEC brawl,” said Richt, who agreed the defense won the game by keeping Auburn out of the end zone.Kicking carouselAuburn head Coach evaluated his kicking game after Saturday’s 17-13 loss to Georgia, a loss that may have turned on a bobbled extra-point attempt that put Auburn up only 6-0.“The kicking game hasn’t been with us all year long,” Tuberville said.He changed kickers at halftime and put Morgan Hull in the game and he kicked the extra point on Auburn’s second touchdown.Had Auburn converted its extra point, the 17-14 score at the end of the fourth quarter instead of the actual score of 17-13 put Auburn in a position to need a touchdown to win instead of a field goal to tie.Tuberville praised running backs Mario Fannin and Ben Tate. “We rushed for 124 yards. That is a lot better than what we have done.”Mum’s the wordGeorgia head Coach Mark Richt deflected question about Tuberville’s status in what is turning out to be a less-than-stellar year for the Auburn Tigers. “No comment about that,” he said.
Has anybody polled Mike Shula, Mike DuBose, Gene Stallings, Ray Perkins, Mike Price or Bill Curry to see what they think? Fuck Fran.
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