Auburn won - on the scoreboard.

But really there were no winners after a game that barely had more first downs than punts. It was obvious both teams had serious issues.

Two years later, much has changed. Both programs have new coaches: Gene Chizik replaced Tommy Tuberville at Auburn while Dan Mullen took over for Sylvester Croom at Mississippi State.
   
Now 21st-ranked Auburn (1-0) and Mississippi State (1-0) have revamped offenses going into Thursday’s Southeastern Conference opener for both schools at Scott Field.
   

Auburn, Ala. - The Auburn football team practiced for 90 minutes Tuesday afternoon in its last workout before traveling to Starkville for its Southeastern Conference opener against Mississippi State on Thursday night.

Auburn (1-0) hit all phases of the game plan Tuesday as the Tigers prepare for a Mississippi State (1-0) team that rolled up 569 yards of total offense and intercepted two passes and returned one for a touchdown in last week’s season opening victory over Memphis.

“You can just see an unbelievable amount of improvement in their (Mississippi State) team,“ Auburn head coach Gene Chizik said in his Monday press conference. “I have a very high level of respect for what Coach (Dan) Mullen is doing over there. They played a great football game Saturday. We’ve got our work cut out for us. It’s tough to play in Starkville. It’s going to be a very important game for both sides so it’s going to be a hard-fought battle. It’s going to be critical that we go over there and play to the best of our ability to give us a chance to win.“

In defeating Memphis 49-7, the Bulldogs posted the fifth-best mark in total offense (569) in school history and the most points in a season opening game since 1974. Mississippi State’s two quarterbacks combined to hit 20-of-25 pass attempts for 372 yards, which tied for the eighth-highest single-game total in school history.

“You can tell certainly they have put a great deal of emphasis on being able to throw the ball and balance their attack out,“ Chizik noted. “Without any question, they’re doing that better. They’ve got some really good receivers. They’re playing two quarterbacks now. Not that one of them is better at one thing necessarily than the other. In the game that I saw, they are both very competent at running the ball and throwing it. It looks like they have definitely made a concerted effort to be able to throw the ball down the field, and they did a great job of that on Saturday.“

The Tigers go into Starkville with a 6-2 record in Thursday night games. Auburn last played a Thursday night SEC game in 2002, defeating Mississippi State 42-14.

Auburn defeated Arkansas State 52-26 in last weekend’s season opener. The Tigers played 12 true freshmen and had 17 players overall make their Auburn debut. Auburn piled up 608 yards total offense against Arkansas State.

Thursday’s game at Mississippi State will kick off at 6:30 p.m. CT and will be televised by ESPN.

A limited number of season, mini-season and single-game tickets are still available for Auburn home games this season. For more information, please visit http://www.auburntigers.com or call 1-800-AUB-1957.

“It was a very strong bench performance for us today,” head coach Wade Benson said. “We had momentum-changing performances from athletes like Brittney Rhude, Alyssa Davis and Jonelle Wallace, which is very good to see. We still have things to work on in practice and we’ll continue to develop as a team.”

Junior Kelly Fidero finished with a match-high 10 kills and had a .421 attack percentage on the night. Davis, Kathia Rud and Sarah Bullock each tallied five kills for the Tigers, while Bullock had a match-best 15 digs. Senior libero Liz Crouch added 12 digs, while setters Chelsea Wintzinger and Christina Solverson tallied 15 and 14 assists, respectively.

Three Trojans led the Troy (3-5) offense as Kayla Giles, Natasha Kolunija and Brittany McClelland recorded six kills apiece. Megan Henderson had 22 assists, while libero Courtney Cohen had 12 digs.

A trio of Trojan errors and a kill from Katherine Culwell gave the Tigers a 4-0 lead to start set one, but a run by Troy tied the set at five. More Trojan errors gave Auburn a comfortable lead at 12-9. With the score in favor of the Tigers at 16-14, Auburn made another run highlighted by a kill and service ace from Rud to take a 20-14 advantage. The Tigers finished the set with a 25-17 win.

Troy opened the second set with a 5-0 run and pushed ahead to take a
10-5 advantage. A kill from Fidero brought Auburn within two at 11-9, but another Trojan run put Troy up by five again at 15-10. With Troy holding a four-point lead at 17-13, a kill by Morgan Johns triggered a Tiger eight-point run to give Auburn its first lead at 21-17. A kill from Bullock and a block by Davis solidified the 25-18 set two win.

The third set opened just as the second with the Trojans jumping out to an early lead. Auburn, however, fought back right away and used a six-point run to take a 7-6 advantage. A pair of Trojan attack errors and service ace from Bullock put the Tigers up at 11-8. An Auburn 4-1 run put the Tigers up at 21-15 and the squad went on to close the match with a 25-21 set three victory.

The Tigers continue their road swing as Auburn heads to Charleston, S.C., for the final in-season tournament of the year. The Tigers face Oregon State Friday at 3:30 p.m. CT and then closes out the weekend Saturday with a 12 p.m. CT match against host College of Charleston and a 4:30 p.m. CT match with Cincinnati. 

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - The Auburn volleyball team ended the 2010 Blue Raider Bash with a 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 26-24) victory over Southern Miss Sunday afternoon on the campus of Middle Tennessee State University. The Tigers leave Murfreesboro with a 5-2 overall mark, while the Golden Eagles fell to 4-3 on the season.

“It was a very mature victory against a good and scrappy Southern Miss team,“ head coach Wade Benson said. “To come off a big, emotional win against Middle Tennessee State last night and then beat a team like Southern Miss, who hadn’t been swept all weekend, shows that we are gaining maturity.“

Junior Kelly Fidero finished with a match-best nine kills, while four other Tigers finished with seven kills apiece in Alyssa Davis, Katherine Culwell, Morgan Johns and Camila Jersonsky. Fidero and senior Lauren Mellor had a team-best three blocks.

Sophomore Sarah Bullock had a match-best 13 digs and finished with five kills, while libero Liz Crouch had 10 digs for Auburn. Setters Christina Solverson and Chelsea Wintzinger each recorded 22 assists on the day.

Three athletes from Southern Miss had seven kills in Halie Ecker, Lauren Sears and Ashley Mell. Libero Lisa Knecht had seven digs, while setter Kelsea Seymour tallied 26 assists.

With the first set tied at four apiece, a kill by Fidero ignited a nine-point Auburn run to give the Tigers the 13-4 lead. A late Auburn rally, highlighted by a pair of kills from Culwell, gave the Tigers their largest lead at 23-11. The Golden Eagles scored six-straight points to come within six, but Auburn pulled away with a 25-19 win.

Auburn opened the second set on a 7-1 run, triggered by a kill from Bullock. A kill from Johns started another Tiger rally to push the score to 21-13 in favor of Auburn. Southern Miss picked at the Auburn lead throughout the middle part of the set and tied the set at 18. A kill by Culwell, however, lifted the Tigers to a 7-2 run to take a 25-20 win.

Kills from Culwell and Johns led to a 4-0 Auburn lead at the start of set three. Back-to-back kills by Fidero put the Tigers up at 11-5 and a pair of Southern Miss attack errors gave Auburn a 16-12 advantage. The Golden Eagles fought back, however, and utilized a 6-1 run to take their first lead at 17-16. The two squads battled to the very end until, down 24-23, a trio of kills by freshman Kathia Rud gave the Tigers the 26-24 set three victory.

Auburn continues its road swing as the Tigers travel to Troy on Sept. 7 for a 7 p.m. match. The Tigers opened the 2010 season with a three-set win over the Trojans at the War Eagle Invitational in Auburn, Aug. 27.

On what is typically an off-day for the team, the Tigers had a busy Labor Day as they hustle to prepare for Thursday’s game just five days after opening the season with a 52-26 victory over Arkansas State.

Monday’s practice opened with special teams work, before the players broke into position groups for individual drills. Much of the rest of practice focused on scout team preparation, with more special teams included as well.

Following practice, offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn said that the Auburn offense will face a tough test against a Mississippi State defense that allowed only 237 yards, including just 41 on the ground, in a season-opening 49-7 victory over Memphis.

“They’re very aggressive,” said Malzahn of the Bulldogs. “They really fly around to the ball. They put a lot of pressure on the offense, there’s no doubt about that.”

Junior safety Charles Mitchell led the Bulldog defense against Memphis, collecting a team-high nine tackles. Senior linebacker Chris White added six tackles, including 2.5 for losses, while senior cornerback Maurice Langston intercepted a pair of passes.

Auburn will return to the practice fields Tuesday at 5 p.m. CT.
Thursday’s game at Mississippi State will kick off at 6:30 p.m. CT and will be televised by ESPN.

He was back to logging more catches than carries and lost a fumble while Onterrio McCalebb and Michael Dyer were the primary runners in Saturday night’s 52-26 victory over Arkansas State.

Fannin was diplomatic Sunday about his three-carry night. He says it’s the “coaches’ call” and they “know what they’re doing.“

Fannin had been listed as the No. 1 tailback since the spring, and running backs coach Curtis Luper even predicted he’d run for 1,000 yards. He finished with 65 receiving yards and two touchdowns.

Auburn coach Gene Chizik said Sunday the fumble didn’t keep him from getting more runs.

Michael Dyer and Onterrio McCalebb got most of the carries from the tailbacks.