quote:Originally posted by Peter Rielly:
I love this debate. I'm an Auburn fan, so obviously I'm biased for my Tigers. I believe the '04 Auburn team was one of the best SEC teams ever. But even though I'm biased, thankfully that team was so good, I've got a ton of backup for my bias.
I'll start with defense. Fresh in our memories is the '09 Bama D. Very dominant all year. However, many get caught up in all Auburn's 1st round draft picks off that offense and forget that the defense led the nation, or was top 5 in every major category. Both teams shut down the run, and ended the season with near identical points per game against... Bama gave up only 11 ppg/Auburn gave up 11.2 ppg. Bama gave up about 242 yds per game, Auburn gave up about 265 yds per game. So in the defensive category it's a wash. Both dominant all year long.
In special teams I look at Arenas being one of the best punt returners in SEC history. But Auburn had a pretty good one in '04 named Carnell Williams. But I give Arenas the edge as it was a more natural position for him. However, Auburn gets the edge in kickoff returns. Devin Aromashadu and Carnell Williams led the SEC in '04 in yds per KO return. Yost putting kickoffs in the endzone, Vaughn leading the Tigers in points as the FG kicker, and Kody Bliss handling the punting duties(which Auburn did very little of) Auburn may have a slight edge over Tiffin and Co in the kicking dept. But overall, I'm seeing a pretty even matchup in the special teams for the 2 teams.
Bama had a slight lean on the Defensive numbers and played against better teams, finishing out the season against the #1 and #2 team in the land. Auburn did not have to face the tough competition that Bama did this past year from a ranking standpoint. Offensively, Bama had edge in TOP and they averaged the same scoring ppg. Bama had an edge in the running game as well, as both Ingram and Richardson had better numbers than Williams and Brown in 04. Campbell had slightly more yards, but also more INT's. It would be a tight game, but Bama would be favored going into this game.