You gotta know when to fold `em

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THE BIRMINGHAM NEWS
**
SAMFORD FOOTBALL
AUBURN FOOTBALL
Sunday,
Dec. 9
Wednesday,
Dec. 12
Franklin
interviews
at Auburn.
Franklin hired
at Auburn.
|
AUTO RACING
Doug Demmons says
Jimmie Johnson is the
ultimate ‘lucky dog’ 7C
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2008 SECTION C
Bulldogs’ Waters at head of class on O-line 4C
TIGERS FIRE FRANKLIN
THE BUZZ 2C ❘ DIGEST 3C ❘ GOLF 6C
THUMBS UP
A look back at Tony Franklin’s time as
offensive coordinator at Auburn University:
Friday, Dec. 14
Saturday, Aug. 2
Saturday, Sept. 13
Sunday, Oct. 5
Franklin has
first Chick-fil-A
Bowl practice.
Auburn opens fall
practice.
Auburn offense looks lost in
3-2 win over Mississippi State.
Head coach Tommy Tuberville says Franklin is
his offensive coordinator and will be the man
in charge of finding answers to the team’s
offensive struggles.
Saturday, Oct. 4
AU suffers first loss to Vanderbilt
since 1955. Players openly
question direction of offense,
which managed 82 yards and no
points in final three quarters.
Saturday, Aug. 30
Monday, Dec. 10
Monday, Dec. 31
Al Borges resigns as
Auburn’s offensive
coordinator.
Auburn defeats
Clemson, 23-20 in OT,
in Chick-fil-A Bowl.
Auburn opens
season with 34-0
win over LouisianaMonroe.
2007
Wednesday, Oct. 8
Franklin fired as Auburn’s offensive
coordinator after seven games on the job.
2008
“A new offense in eight
days? I think that’s
magnificent.”
TOMMY TUBERVILLE
after Auburn produced season highs
in points and yards in Chick-fil-A
Bowl win over Clemson
“It’s a wide receiver’s
dream. . . . If we have the
tempo, we’ll just be a great
team.”
“At this point, the offense
as a whole is going to be
extremely good.”
ROD SMITH
Auburn quarterback, during fall
practice
Auburn receiver, during fall practice
KODI BURNS
“I need to do a better job of
going back to my feel and my
instinct versus probably more
game-planning.”
TONY FRANKLIN
“If I was them, I’d boo. I’d
boo me. I’d be angry.”
TONY FRANKLIN
on Sept. 28, speaking about fans’
reaction to Tigers’ offensive woes
on Sept. 14, after lackluster effort vs. MSU
NEWS STAFF
‘THEY TOLD ME TO GET LOST’
AU offensive
coordinator
gets punted
at midseason
Spotlight
squarely
on QBs
News staff writer
See AUBURN
Page 5C
INSIDE
y Auburn recruits have varied
reaction to coordinator’s
dismissal / 5C
THUMBS DOWN
Formula
One. F1 this
week
dropped the
Canadian
Grand Prix in Montreal from
its 2009 schedule, thus finishing off its complete withdrawal from North America.
UAB FOOTBALL
By CHARLES GOLDBERG
AUBURN — An Auburn employee wanted to know why
Tony Franklin was loading his
car with boxes in front of the
school’s athletic complex
Wednesday afternoon.
“They told me to get lost,”
Franklin said.
And so Franklin did. Head
coach Tommy Tuberville fired
his offensive coordinator halfway through a troubled offensive season, three days after
giving Franklin a show of support and three days before
playing Arkansas in JordanHare Stadium
on Saturday.
“ W e ’ r e
going to go
forward.
We’re going
to be positive
it,” TuARKANSAS about
berville said
AT AUBURN after the first
practice withWhen:
out Franklin.
4 p.m.
Auburn
Saturday
coaches had
Television:
a short time
PPV
to formalize a
game plan for
Radio:
Arkansas,
FM-94.5
however. The
coaches were holed up in the
offensive and defensive meeting rooms late into Wednesday night.
Franklin declined to make
formal comments about his
departure.
Franklin came to Auburn
with much fanfare as a guru of
the high-energy spread offense, but the Tigers struggled
mightily in his first full year.
Auburn is 104th in the nation
in total offense and has scored
five offensive touchdowns in
four SEC games.
Tuberville did not announce who would coordinate
the offense Saturday. Wide receiver coach Steve Ensminger
coached the quarterbacks
Wednesday.
NASCAR
Foundation.
Representatives will
present a check
to Kyle and Pattie Petty at
the Victory Junction Gang
Camp for chronically ill
children today from proceeds raised during the annual NASCAR Day celebration. NASCAR Day has
raised more than $5 million
for charitable causes.
By STEVE IRVINE
News staff writer
NEWS STAFF/CHARLES GOLDBERG
Tony Franklin carries his books to his vehicle Wednesday after being fired as offensive coordinator at Auburn. Tommy
Tuberville had this to say: “After evaluating where we are at this point of the season offensively, I felt it was in the best
interest of the Auburn football program to make this change.”
You gotta know when to fold ’em
S
o much for the biggest gamble of
Tommy Tuberville’s career.
That’s what bringing Tony Franklin to Auburn was for Tuberville. He was
taking a formula that had made him one
of the most successful coaches in the
country over the past five years and
treating it like it had become a bad
habit.
When you thought of Auburn football,
you thought of great defense, NFL-caliber tailbacks, smash-mouth offensive
lines, ball-control offense and winning
with field position and the kicking game.
And suddenly, almost out of nowhere,
Tuberville decided to bring in a guy
from the Hal Mumme, Mike Leach,
“load up on small wide receivers and
throw the ball first, second and third”
philosophy of offensive football.
It never had a chance. Tuberville kept
talking about wanting to have balance
by running the ball, but that’s not how
you get balance in a spread offense.
Even the master of the spread-option,
Rich Rodriguez, will tell you defenses
have to believe you are willing to throw
RAY
MELICK
the ball on every down if they don’t back
off, because the only way you can run
the ball in the spread is when defenses
are so concerned about the pass they
give you the run. Eventually, it balances
out.
But Auburn football has always been
about establishing the run first. And
that’s almost impossible in a spread offense.
Yet Tuberville tried to sound committed. Despite an offense that ranked
104th in the nation, despite reporters
who gathered outside Franklin’s office
like vultures waiting for the bleeding animal to finally die, everything Tuberville
said was that this offense was Auburn’s
offense of the future.
See MELICK
Page 5C
INSIDE ALABAMA
HOUSTON — Houston
quarterback Case Keenum
leads the nation in total offense. UAB quarterback Joe
Webb checks in at 12th in total offense and is the second
leading rusher nationally
among quarterbacks.
Care to guess where the
spotlight will be when the
Houston and UAB get together tonight at 7 o’clock at
Robertson Stadium in a game
televised nationally on
CBS College
Sports Network?
Keenum
enters tonight’s game
averaging 418
UAB AT
yards in total
HOUSTON
offense per
game for the
When:
Cougars (2-3
7 p.m.
overall, 1-0
tonight
C-USA). The
Television:
6-foot-1,
210-pound
CBS CSN
sophomore is
Radio:
177-of-216
FM-100.5
for 1,927
yards with 19
touchdowns and five interceptions and has rushed 36 times
for 166 yards.
Webb averages 298.5 yards
per game and his 516 rushing
yards through six games trails
only Louisiana-Lafayette quarterback Michael Desormeaux
(585) yards in rushing yards
by a quarterback. The
6-foot-4, 220-pound Webb is
107-of-188 for 1,275 yards
with seven touchdowns and
six interceptions for the Blazers (1-5, 0-2).
Look at those numbers and
it’s easy to see what kind of
pressure each one puts on a
defense. But those numbers
also suggest that each is under
pressure to carry the offensive
load.
Particularly Webb. The junior has carried the ball 91
times in six games. UAB’s top
four running backs, on the
other hand, have carried the
ball a combined 94 times with
Rashaud Slaughter’s 46 carries
the next most behind Webb.
See UAB
Page 4C
Tide players deal with increasing fan attention
O
TUSCALOOSA
n Monday night, Rashad
Johnson was eating at a local restaurant with a buddy
when a young boy approached
the table, quietly and timidly.
“Are you Rashad?” the child
asked the Alabama senior captain, who confirmed he was. As
the tiny visitor fumbled with his
words, a man sitting nearby noticed what was happening.
He took off his Alabama hat,
handed it to Johnson for him to
sign, and donated it to the autograph gods.
“That was pretty cool,” the AllSoutheastern Conference safety
said. “These kids look up to you,
and a lot of the fans do, too.”
The Crimson Tide is in the
midst of its off week at 6-0 and
ranked No. 2 in the country. In
this football-crazed state, players
are already visible and recognizable. Figure the torrid start and
oodles of national recognition has
only amplified it.
More than ever, dealing with
photograph and autograph requests are a way of life.
IAN R.
RAPOPORT
“My dad hasn’t been around
for a long time,” coach Nick Saban said, “but he always said,
‘You only have a problem in this
profession when nobody asks for
your autograph.’ If you think of it
that way, it’s pretty easy to be
cordial to people.”
Johnson and his teammates
agree the responsibility comes
with the territory.
See ALABAMA
INSIDE
Page 5C
y Alabama beat / 4C
OLE MISS
AT ALABAMA
When:
Oct. 18,
time TBA
Television:
TBA
Radio:
FM-99.5,
AM-690
NEWS STAFF/MARK ALMOND
UAB’s Joe Webb ranks 12th
nationally in total offense
and is the second leading
rusher among
quarterbacks.