Team Report: Inside Slant
Inside Slant | Notes and Quotes | Strategy and Personnel
Auburn didn't accomplish all of its goals this season, but it's hard to complain too much about a 10-win regular season with two wins over BCS teams and a trip to a New Year's Day Bowl.
The 10th-ranked Tigers (10-2) will get that chance in the Cotton Bowl against No. 22 Nebraska (9-4) in Dallas on Jan. 1.
"When we start the year out we always want the opportunity to win our conference and then go to a good bowl game," Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville said. "We accomplished one of those being the AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic. We didn't win our conference. We came close and competed hard, and that's what it's about. This is a great reward for our players. This is not a second-tier bowl. This is one of the top in the country and always has been."
Auburn did beat Florida and LSU, two teams that will play in BCS bowls, but lost at home to both Arkansas and Georgia. Nebraska won the Big 12 North and lost 21-7 to Oklahoma in the Big 12 championship game.
Even though Nebraska is trying to return its program to its previous place among the national elite after some down years, the Cornhuskers still carry a weighty reputation on the national football landscape.
Third-year coach Bill Callahan has the Huskers passing the ball a lot more often and a lot more effectively than the program ever imagined under former coaches Tom Osborne and Frank Solich,
"It's great for our players to have an opportunity to get the reward to play in a game such as this against a great football program in Nebraska," Tuberville said. "I have watched them over the years and coached against them a few times, being at the University of Miami in several bowl games. I have kept up with Coach Callahan's career over the years, being a student of the game. I'm really excited about playing against his team and players.
"It should be a great game between to similar teams. We run the same offense, the West Coast offense, and two similar defenses that attack the line of scrimmage and try to make plays on defense. It's a reward for our players and that's how we'll treat it. We obviously want to come out and play as well as we possibly can."
The Tigers also hope the end the season a lot better than they did the 2005 season, when they lost 24-10 to Wisconsin in the Capital One Bowl. As far as Tuberville is concerned, the Tigers have already had a successful season, but winning in the bowl would make it even better.
Mike, Looks like the coach knows he's already beat!!!
"Ten wins in major college football is huge," he said. "Anytime you can get to double digits it's big, and your players obviously played consistent. It wasn't a year that I would like to go back and replay because we had so many injuries and things that went against us. I'm really proud of the way our players stood up and played and our backups playing and coming in and doing things that sometimes they didn't think they could do to continue winning games."