Tigers 'O' anything but vanilla

AUBURN - Auburn offensive coordinator Al Borges has been labeled as vanilla with his offense for the past few years, but Saturday night against Alabama, he showed the pre-snap shifting that was his trademark in 2004.

On Auburn's first drive of the game, the tight ends and receivers shifted around before the snap, trying to gain advantages against Alabama's front seven.

That was something Borges had not done much of this season with a young offense.

Earlier in the year, Borges had said his team needed to make sure it was fundamentally sound before breaking into the shifts and trying some of the other gadgets that made his offense run so smoothly three years ago.

Apparently, in the 12th game of the season, the Tigers were finally prepared to take another step in advancing its offense.

It paid immediate dividends.

Auburn efficiently and precisely moved the ball down the field on 12 plays and tailback Ben Tate capped the drive with four consecutive rushes, including a 3-yard plunge into the end zone.

On the second drive, Borges gave quarterback Brandon Cox a rare opportunity to throw deep and he hit Rod Smith on a seam route for a 33-yard gain that set up a Wes Byrum 38-yard field goal, giving the Tigers a 10-0 first-quarter lead.

Secondary issues

Auburn defensive coordinator Will Muschamp tried to make some adjustments as well after a rough outing against Georgia.

Most notably, he tried to apply more pressure on passing downs with blitz packages than he had for much of the season.

The strategy worked on the first blitz. Alabama quarterback John Parker Wilson had no place to scramble when the pocket collapsed and Auburn defensive tackle Pat Sims dropped Wilson for a loss of nine, forcing the Crimson Tide to punt.

Alabama responded by running receiver D.J. Hall on a go pattern on the outside on the next passing down. The pass fell incomplete, but Auburn corner Jonathan Wilhite was flagged for pass interference.

Later, on a third-and-8 on the same drive, Muschamp didn't send pressure and Wilson scrambled for a first down.

The Crimson Tide ultimately scored on the drive when Wilson's fourth-and-inches quarterback sneak picked up a touchdown, cutting into the Tigers' 10-point lead and making the score 10-7.

Costly penalties

In addition to Wilhite's pass interference penalty that set up Alabama's first touchdown, the Tigers committed another costly penalty midway through the second quarter.

On fourth-and-5, P.J. Fitzgerald punted and Auburn brought pressure.

The Tigers whiffed on the punt block but made contact with Fitzgerald, eliciting a 15-yard penalty for roughing the kicker, resulting in an Alabama first down.

Given new life, the Crimson Tide drove down the field and eventually had a scoring opportunity. However, kicker Leigh Tiffin pulled his 44-yard field goal attempt wide left.

Senior mistakes

After leading two scoring drives, Cox did not have a strong second or third quarter Saturday night.

He was sacked twice on back-to-back plays in Alabama territory early in the second quarter.

The first sack - a 10-yard loss - moved the Tigers to fringe field goal territory and the second sack, a loss of nine, made it a certain punting situation.

That was nothing compared to the next drive. With Auburn looking to drain clock and go into halftime with a 10-7 lead, Cox tried to make a big play on third-and-9.

Instead, Alabama linebacker Rolando McClain intercepted the pass and returned it 23 yards to the Auburn 19.

Wilson took a shot at the end zone on third down and seemed to find Hall for a go-ahead 11-yard touchdown.

However, Hall bobbled the potential score into the hands of Tigers cornerback Jerraud Powers, who came away with the interception.

Because of Powers' interception, Auburn snuck out of the first half still in possession of a 10-7 lead.

The roughing the kicker penalty wasn't Auburn's only special teams mistake of the night.

Special teams blunders

Ryan Shoemaker shanked his first punt of the game and it traveled just 21 yards.

Wes Byrum missed a 43-yard field goal and also was responsible for a short kickoff that Alabama returned 40 yards to establish strong field position on its only first-half score.

As it has been several times this season, Auburn's kick coverage unit was also at fault during the big play. The Crimson Tide was able to gash the Tigers for the large return.