The Auburn Tigers come into the season as a favorite to win the Southeastern Conference with their No.6 ranking. The team might not be in the running for the national title just yet, but Gus Malzahn and his beefed up staff that now includes Will Muschamp at defensive coordinator will have the game plans to live up to the expectations. They now face a familiar foe in Bobby Petrino and Louisville as the two teams face off in Atlanta.
The Tigers are young this season after losing plenty of players to the NFL Draft. They have eight freshman listed on the initial depth chart which could either be good or bad for the Tigers moving forward in a season with bigger expectations than last year. Jeremy Johnson now takes over at the quarterback position for the departed Nick Marshall. Not much is known about him since he has only see two starts over the past two seasons, but people believe he could be a Heisman long shoot, something the quarterback is trying not to buy into.
"We don't get caught up in that," Johnson said, via ESPN.com. "We pretty much don't even watch it. We try to stay away from it. Our goal as a team is to just take it one game at a time and make our way back to the SEC championship."
Petrino is wishing he had an established quarterback under center. The team will be pushing a battle between Reggie Bonnafon, Will Gardner and Kyle Bolin this season. The head coach said it would be a game-time decision. Louisville exceeded expectations last year and now begins unranked while predicted to finish third in the ACC. The Cardinals have put together a solid recruiting class that could hold some talent for the team, but not much is known about the players other than they could have to replace seven defensive starters.
The Tigers have a lot of work ahead of them. Playing in the loaded SEC West means getting to Atlanta in December will not be easy. Johnson might be the quarterback to take them there. His style is very different from that of Marshall's and it will be a much different Auburn team this year.
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