127 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
(05/28/14 12:00pm)
Last week, the Southeastern Conference revealed the non-divisional rotation for football for every year until 2025.
They decided to keep the eight-game slate that consists of six divisional games and two non-divisional games, including one permanent non-divisional opponent.
While that means the annual battle with Georgia will be kept intact for Auburn, many entertaining matchups will only happen a couple times every decade.
One of my favorite series, against Florida, will not be played again in the regular season until 2019.
After producing moments like Damon Duval's game-winning field goal and ensuing field-storming in 2001, Tre Smith returning a blocked punt for a touchdown in 2006 and Wes Byrum hitting the game-winning field goal twice in Gainesville in 2007; the Auburn-Florida series deserves to be played more often.
Tennessee and South Carolina, two opponents that have given Auburn competitive games in recent history, will only be occasional foes.
Following the Tennessee game last season and the South Carolina game this season, the two teams will not play Auburn in the regular season again until 2018 and 2021, respectively.
Alternatives to the current schedule have been discussed. The two most logical alternatives are adding a ninth conference game and removing the permanent non-divisional opponent.
I think the better solution is adding a ninth conference game, one that would be another rotating, non-divisional game.
Doing so would immensely benefit three types of fans: the casual fan, the student, and the season ticket holder.
The casual fan just wants to watch quality football games with the best players, coaches, and game day atmospheres.
What better place to see such games than the SEC? Adding another game would create another entertaining Saturday on everyone's schedule.
College students are the most spirited, obnoxious, and fun fans there are, and they come from around the country.
They are also among the best traveled, as many take advantage of road trip opportunities to visit other college towns or to see nearby family.
It's a shame that students from states such as Florida, Tennessee, or South Carolina may not be able to see Auburn play at their home-state school while they are a student.
The season ticket holders would benefit the most from a ninth game.
They are the fans that spend money on tickets, gas, a place to stay, and food every weekend during football season, even for the smaller games for the most part.
With fans that dedicated, why not reward them by replacing a blowout, non-conference game with another competitive SEC game?
On top of the fans, another conference game would economically benefit the schools significantly.
In this age of HD-TV and nationwide coverage of almost every game, it is getting more difficult to sell out every home game, especially the less competitive non-conference games.
Replacing one of those games with a ninth conference game will increase ticket sales and attendance, increasing profits pulled in by the universities.
With the SEC just recently announcing the new scheduling format, it seems that reforming it may not happen in the near future.
But when it does happen, a ninth SEC game appears to be an attractive option.
(05/23/14 2:15am)
On Wednesday, Auburn men's golf and head coach Nick Clinard traveled to Hutchinson, Kansas for the 2014 NCAA Championships.
The Tigers' third place finish in last week's NCAA Auburn Regional was enough to earn a spot in the NCAA Championships, which makes the third year in a row Auburn has qualified for the national championships.
The event will be played at Prairie Dunes Country Club, which can experience wind gusts up to 40 mph at times.
Clinard said he knows the conditions may be difficult, and the golfers must account for it if the Tigers hope to come out victors.
"I talked to a guy today that's played it a few times, who had a very successful career as a pro, and the greens are kind of slopey and undulated," Clinard said. "Then obviously he said to learn to flight your ball because it can really, really blow out there."
"We want to keep the ball down based on the wind directions because it can go up to 40 mph out there," Clinard said. "We're doing a lot of lag putting too, working on our speed, control and touch."
Auburn will need one more strong performance by senior Niclas Carlsson, an All-SEC Second Team pick. Clinard said he knows how important his leadership is to the rest of the team.
"Niclas is our senior leader with his maturity and he can kind of lead them through because he remembers the day when he was a freshman and when he was immature," Clinard said. "He knows how much he's grown up as a golfer and a person."
In addition to the veteran Carlsson, freshman Will Long has provided strong performances in many of Auburn's recent tournaments.
"(Long)'s played great this whole spring," Clinard said. "He's averaging 71.38 and he just brings a lot to the table just from a competitive standpoint. He loves to compete and he likes to get after it even with guys on the team too."
Auburn will tee off Friday at 7:20 a.m. and Saturday at 12:40 p.m. They will be paired with UCLA and Southern Cal.
(05/21/14 9:25pm)
Following a season where Auburn's strength of schedule was ranked 114th in the nation, head coach Bruce Pearl is looking to add quality opponents to the Tigers' non-conference schedule by adding Texas Tech, Colorado and Middle Tennessee State to the slate.
After sending only three teams to the NCAA basketball tournament last season, questions have begun to arise regarding the strength of the SEC as a whole.
In the final Rating Percentage Index (RPI) rankings, one of the instruments used by the NCAA Selection Committee, only two SEC teams (Florida and Kentucky) finished in the Top 25.
On the other hand, six SEC teams fell outside of the Top 100, including Auburn.
In an attempt to raise Auburn's RPI, Bruce Pearl is trying to increase the quality of competition, and he believes scheduling top out-of-conference teams is possible.
"They're not afraid to play us," Pearl told reporters at a Tiger Trek stop in Atlanta. "They're interested in playing Auburn in the SEC because they think they've got a chance to beat us right now."
Last week, the SEC announced Auburn would face Texas Tech and head coach Tubby Smith in Lubbock, Texas in the 2014 SEC/Big 12 Challenge, a 10-game series matching SEC and Big 12 teams.
Pearl sees it as an opportunity both Auburn and the SEC as a whole.
"There are a handful of coaches that I would venture to say it would be an honor to coach against and Tubby Smith is one of them," Pearl said. "In order for the SEC to receive more bids to the NCAA tournament we have to be successful in events like these."
Pearl also revealed to reporters in Atlanta the most difficult non-conference matchup Auburn has finalized on schedule will be the first game of the season.
"It might interest you to know that we'll be playing at Colorado," Pearl said. "They're going to be pretty good."
Playing a projected top-25 team in Boulder, Colorado will be no small task, but Pearl understands the exposure that such a game will bring.
"It's our anticipation that we will play on the SEC Network on the first night of college basketball on the 14th," Pearl said. "It's our anticipation that we will play in ESPN's 24 hours of college basketball, and of course, that'll be on the road against a top-25 opponent."
Most recently, Auburn finalized a three-game deal with Middle Tennessee State, which includes games in Auburn in 2014, Nashville in 2015 and Birmingham in 2016.
"Therefore, being on the road and potentially being at neutral sites are putting your guys in harms way and building your RPI," Pearl told Alex Byington of the Opelika-Auburn News.
Given the program's struggles, Pearl also realizes the difficulty in convincing top teams to play at Auburn rather than start the series at their own gym.
"I'd like to bring at least one top-25 team to play us at home. It's hard to get people to start the series at home," Pearl said. "They're all willing to go on the road first, but there's a chance we can get a game."
Last season, the Tigers played 11 non-conference games, with only one true road game (at Iowa State) and one neutral game (vs. Illinois in Atlanta).
Pearl believes the tougher stance on scheduling can help the Tigers make progress.
"I don't know where this team can finish, ... and I can't control that, I can't control where we finish," Pearl told Byington. "But I can control where we schedule and we will not take the league down, we won't, as far as our schedule and RPI."
(05/20/14 2:37am)
With a thin returning backcourt, head coach Bruce Pearl and staff have searched the country for players who could help immediately.
They found one Monday night, as former New Mexico State guard K.C. Ross-Miller committed to Auburn.
He will be eligible immediately with 2 years left to play.
As a redshirt sophomore at New Mexico State last season, Ross-Miller averaged 8.3 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 3.5 assists in 30 games, while shooting 43.7% from the field and 39.3% from three-point range.
His journey to Auburn is an interesting one. After committing to Kentucky in high school, he ended up signing with LSU. After not meeting academic qualifications, he played his freshman season at the University of New Orleans.
He then transferred to NMSU last season, where he was involved in controversy.
On February 27, after a loss to Utah Valley, Ross-Miller threw the basketball at the head of a Utah Valley player as the fans stormed the court, leading to a post-game brawl, players and fans included.
Ross-Miller was suspended for 2 games, but he did not see any action for the rest of the season.
Ross-Miller joins top junior college forward Cinmeon Bowers, forward Jack Purchase and forward Sam Logwood in the 2014 Auburn class.
(05/17/14 12:18am)
On Friday, the Auburn softball team fell to North Dakota State 5-2 in the first game of the Minneapolis Regional.
In the top of the sixth inning, NDSU's Amanda Grable hit a three-run home run off of Auburn sophomore Lexi Davis to put the Bison up 5-2, a lead they would not relinquish.
Davis (20-11) gave up two home runs on the day, while Krista Menke (29-7) held Auburn's high-powered offense to only 4 hits.
The Tigers started the game with the lead after a first inning RBI by freshman Kasey Cooper.
By the third inning, the Bison got on the board with a Logan Moreland RBI single, tying the score at one apiece.
Auburn junior Morgan Estell responded in the fourth inning, hitting a solo homerun over the centerfield wall to put the Tigers up 2-1.
But NDSU answered quickly, as they tied the game 2-2 with a home run by Maritza Lopez-Portillo in the top of the fifth inning.
Auburn's chance to retake the lead was lost in the bottom of the fifth, when a one-out, bases loaded situation resulted in no runs scored.
Grable's three-run shot came in the next half-inning, and the Tigers were unable to come back.
The Tigers play tomorrow at 4 p.m. against the loser of the Minnesota/Green Bay game, and will need to win the next two games to advance to the Super Regionals.
(05/09/14 2:46am)
In the Iron Bowl of softball, Auburn's women's softball fell to No. 5 Alabama on Thursday 8-4 in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament.
After bursting out to a 4-1 lead in the second inning, the Tigers' hitters stalled, unable to score another run in the final five innings.
In the first inning, Jade Rhodes hit an RBI double, scoring Branndi Melero to put the Tigers up 1-0.
After Alabama evened it up on an RBI single from Molly Fichtner, Auburn's Emily Carosone and Kasey Cooper hit back-to-back home runs to put the Tigers up 4-1 in the top of the second inning.
Cooper's home run put her total to 17 for the year, tying the Auburn school record, but it was not enough.
Alabama responded in the bottom of the second inning, scoring four runs, sparked by Marisa Runyon's home run, bringing the score to 5-4.
The Crimson Tide never looked back, scoring three more runs in the next two innings.
The Tigers left six runners on base, unable to capitalize on the early momentum.
The winning pitcher Jaclyn Traina, advanced to 20-3 overall, while Auburn's Marcy Harper fell to 17-5 overall.
Head coach Clint Meyers and Auburn fall to 39-17-1, and await the announcement of their NCAA Regional location. The announcement can be seen 9 P.M. Sunday on ESPNU.
(05/05/14 5:35pm)
The NCAA announced the six NCAA Men's Golf Regional sites Monday and the participating teams selected to each field. Auburn was selected to host the Auburn Regional, which will be held at Auburn University Club May 15-17.
The Auburn Regional field also consists of defending champion Alabama, Virginia Tech, Texas, New Mexico, BYU, Kennesaw State, Colorado, Louisville, UNC-Greensboro, UC-Davis, Sam Houston State, St. John's and Alabama State.
Individuals Blake Morris from Ole Miss, JD Tomlinson from Florida, Jared Bettcher from Troy, Marco Iten from Austin Peay, and Theodore Lederhausen from Harvard will also be included in the field.
The low five teams and the low individual not on those teams will advance from each regional onto the NCAA Championships in Wichita, Kan. May 23-28.
Auburn is fresh off a third-place finish at the SEC Championships at St. Simons Island, Ga. last weekend. The Tigers shot a school-record 829, paced by senior Niclas Carlsson's 5-under, which was good for a four-way tie for fifth individually.
This season, Auburn has won three tournaments, placing first at the Mobile Bay Intercollegiate, the Tiger Invitational, and the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate.
In their last four tournaments, the Tigers have won two, placed second and placed third respectively.
They are hoping this momentum carries over into postseason play, as they look to qualify for the NCAA Championships for the third consecutive year.
This is the fifth straight regional appearance for Auburn, and the third time they have hosted a regional. The last time, 2003, resulted in a 10th place finish for the Tigers.