A lot can be said about the team Auburn had last season, but people aren't as quick to talk about what will happen this year.
Even though his team is ranked No. 23 in the Associated Press poll, coach Gene Chizik is hopeful about this season.
"My thing with my players is they have to stay focused on what we are asking them to do in this building, and that's been our mantra since I've been here," Chizik said. "Really, to be honest with you, I'm not really aware of what is swirling around out there, whether they think we're going to be 14-0 again or 0-14. What our main focus is with our players and trying to impart on our players is pay attention to what you can control, and the things they can control are right in this building."
Many analysts compare Auburn's newest starting quarterback, Barrett Trotter, to last season's Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton, but Chizik said he doesn't cross that line.
"We've talked about it briefly, and my words were simply this: 'You're Barrett Trotter, don't try to be somebody else,'" Chizik said. "He doesn't need to try to be Cam Newton. He doesn't need to try to be Chris Todd or Jason Campbell. He needs to be Barrett Trotter. Really and truly, that's about the length of the discussion. I think he understands that, and they all know that."
Looking ahead, the Tigers face Utah State at home Saturday. While the out-of-conference game is an easy win in most fan's eyes, Chizik views the game as a challenging learning opportunity.
"We're excited that it's here," Chizik said. "We've had a really good fall camp. I'm sure that you guys have seen the two-deep now with what we've come up with. Again, it's going to be really interesting. It's going to be a lot of fun. I think we counted it up, and we're going to have anywhere between 25-30 players playing Saturday that have never played a college game, which ought to get extremely interesting."
The depth chart was released earlier this week, leaving many fans wondering why junior Onterrio McCalebb was starting above sophomore Michael Dyer.
Chizik said the two are not in any competition and that he feels good about the decision.
"I wouldn't read anything into that at all," Chizik said. "You know how we run our offense with Michael and Onterio, and you're even seeing some of the freshmen. You're going to see Anthony Morgan. Again, you're going to see a lot of faces at tailback as well, so I wouldn't read anything into that."
Chizik also said the transition for the new players has been made easy thanks to the attitudes of the veterans.
"What I've found--certainly with this group that we have, with the 25 guys that we brought in--they came in with a lot of humility even though they were highly recruited," Chizik said. "I think they understood once they got here, all that goes away, and they are just the low guy on the totem pole, and they have to work to have a job."
After last season's National Championship run and the low expectations made by national media, the team could very well be under a lot of pressure.
Chizik said he tries to keep his team focused on individual games, rather than what people think.
"There is always pressure when you're in the SEC, and there is always pressure when you are at a place like Auburn because the expectation of everybody is for you to win," Chizik said. "It comes with the territory. The pressure is on probably more internally from each guy individually and what he expects himself to do than anybody. So as a whole we don't really talk about that.
"We don't talk about expectations in terms of what everybody else's expectation is. We only talk about expectations in terms of what ours are."
Chizik said he feels his team has had great fall camps and is pleased with what he has seen thus far.
However, he said he feels this week's preparations are still important.
"We've made a lot of strides probably in the last 10 days or so in my opinion, so we're just about where we need to be and where we thought we would be," Chizik said. "Again, understanding we still need another whole week of work to be prepared to play in this game Saturday."
Kickoff for Saturday's game is slated for 11 a.m. and marks the first meeting between the two schools.
The game will be televised on ESPN2.
Auburn has won 20 of its last 25 season openers.
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