Troubled times for Auburn, Tuberville

He's Kreskin, Miss Cleo and Nostradamus all rolled into one. Tommy Tuberville is the ultimate soothsayer.

As Tuberville gave Tony Franklin a vote of confidence Tuesday, the Auburn coach said he would be "asking for a major disaster" if the Tigers were to change course and abandon Franklin's offensive philosophy.

A day later, of course, Tuberville fired Franklin, the one responsible for bringing the spread offense to the Plains. And a disaster, of course, is what happened for Auburn against Arkansas.

The Tigers managed just 193 yards against the SEC's worst defense in a 25-22 loss Saturday to the SEC's worst team. It's worth pointing out that Auburn's offense averaged 309.17 yards a game - 104th nationally out of 119 Division I FBS teams - in its six games under Franklin.

Undoubtedly, Franklin's firing three days earlier played a negative role in Saturday's embarrassing home loss. Just ask Tigers senior wide out Rod Smith.

"It was a distraction the whole week, from my standpoint," Smith said after the loss. "I don't really know what happened with that situation."

Nobody really does, and the one in a position to speak about the issue, Tuberville, has been less than truthful about the ordeal. Just examine his statements.

One day, Tuberville reiterated his support of Franklin. The next, he dumped him. Tuberville also denied that he and Franklin had any personal conflicts that led to the offensive coordinator's firing.

So why the sudden change? Did Auburn's offense somehow reach a critical point overnight?

Futhermore, if Tuberville wasn't going to have the decency to allow Franklin to complete the season, why not wait until the week off?

That would have given Auburn coaches 12 days before a trip to West Virginia to retool an offense that apparently was so bad it got Franklin fired. Sure, the offense was bad before, but not terrible enough to tank against an Arkansas defense that was ranked 112th nationally in scoring, not against a Razorbacks team that had been outscored 139-31 in its last three games.

Also, it's not like this Auburn team needed another possible point of division right now.

Despite claims of the contrary from players, members of the Tigers top-flight defense (13.1 points per game) must be bitter about the offense's ineptitude.

And Franklin has at least one friend remaining in the Auburn lockerroom in quarterback Chris Todd, who said he's talked to Franklin since he was fired and who Tuberville insinuated still remains in contention for the starting quarterback job.

Contention, however, is something Tuberville doesn't sense when it comes to retaining his job.

"You have good years and have one bad year - it will work its way out," said Tuberville, when asked if he feels pressure to produce to keep his job. "I don't worry about that."

He better hope he's right about that prediction, or he may not have a fortune-telling career to fall back on either.

Byran App can be reached at 740-5730 or bryan.app@timesdaily.com.