After a thrilling finish last weekend against Mississippi State, No. 19 Auburn (2-0, 1-0 SEC) faces its first away game as the Tigers make a trip to Clemson (2-0) to play at Death Valley.
"We're excited to start week three and going back and re-evaluating ourselves," said coach Gene Chizik. "We are getting ready to play a very good football team in Clemson, as we experienced last year when we played them. It's going to be really interesting with a very young team, taking them on the road for the first time in a really exciting venue to play in as well."
Despite Clemson's record thus far, the team struggled in each of its two games.
The Tigers trailed 16-13 to Troy halfway through the third quarter in the season opener, but eventually scored 30 points to run away with a 43-19 win.
In its second game, Clemson led Wofford by 1 point until a score early in the fourth quarter secured a 35-27 victory.
Auburn heads to Clemson leading the series 34-11-2 and looking for its 15th consecutive win over the Tigers.
The two most recent matchups, last year's game in Auburn and the 2007 Chick-fil-A Bowl, both resulted in overtime and were decided in the last plays of the games.
The Clemson game last year was the first of many that involved Auburn's opponent taking an early lead, and Auburn fighting its way back in the second half to be victorious.
"We felt like that was more of a turning point for us as a football team last year," Chizik said. "We know it's going to be a very physical battle, but yes, last year I think it was an eye opener for us. We know our guys will be very aware of what they're going to face when they go in there."
Clemson has 15 returning starters from the team that arguably came closest to ruining Auburn's 2010 perfect season.
However, of the starters Clemson lost, two were quarterback Kyle Parker and defensive lineman Da'Quan Bowers, ACC defensive player of the year and the player who sacked Cam Newton more times than anyone else last year.
Sophomore quarterback Tajh Boyd now holds the reins for the Tigers offense, which has eight returning starters. So far this season, Boyd has completed 38 of his 59 pass attempts for 525 yards, logging six touchdowns and one interception.
A familiar face on the field, Andre Ellington is returning at running back for Clemson.
Ellington put up 140 yards on 22 carries and one touchdown against Auburn last year. Through two games this season, he's continued to produce impressive numbers, averaging 6.4 yards per carry with 254 total yards and one touchdown.
A major difference from Clemson a year ago is coach Dabo Sweeney's hiring of offensive coordinator Chad Morris from Tulsa, the same school which Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn left to join the University.
Morris' "Golden Hurricane" offense has Clemson averaging 472 yards a game thus far, up from 334.6 last season.
Chizik addressed concerns of Auburn's defense on third downs, saying the staff was evaulating ways to be more successful.
"We're very poor on both sides of the ball, converting it and stopping it," Chizik said. "We know that for us to be able to win this game right now, we have to be much better on both sides of the ball on third downs."
Malzahn's and Morris' offenses have several similiarites, Chizik said.
"I think that if you just watch the two offenses, it's obvious that there is a lot of carryover for each one," Chizik said. "The connection and the communication that they've had over the years in terms of doing the things coaches do. They pick each others' brains for different things, and there's a lot of carryover there."
Morris' offense may have the resources to make it a long day for Auburn's defense.
On the defensive side of the ball, Clemson has safety Rashard Hall returning as a key force. Hall intercepted eight passes in his first two years of play and will have a heavy burden this season as two Clemson defensive backs graduated during the off-season.
The Tigers also feature two five-star linebackers, Stephone Anthony and Tony Steward, starting as true freshmen.
Saturday's game will also be a trip down memory lane for Chizik.
He served as one of Clemson's graduate assistants and linebackers coach in 1988 and 1989.
"I had a great two-year experience there," Chizik said. "I'm very thankful that he gave me an opportunity to work with him and a great staff at the time. I have a lot of very fond memories with a lot of great former players there and a lot of great people that are still there."
Clemson is similar to Auburn in that both are starting new quarterbacks, both lost their most effective defensive linemen, and both are starting young defenses.
"It's going to be a lot of fun. We're looking forward to it," Chizik said. "Our goal is to get better every week. We're certainly going to have to do that to have a chance to win in a very, very tough place to play."
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
