Auburn was an utter disaster in 2008, winning only 5 games overall and only 2 of those wins were in the SEC. This cost coach Tommy Tubberville his job.

Starting off on August 30, the No. 10 Auburn Tigers (yes, they were even RANKED at the beginning of this season) beat La-Monroe 34-0 at home. This shouldn't be surprising because Louisiana-Monroe is a member of the Sun Belt Conference which isn't even a BCS Conference! However, despite this, starting quarterback Chris Todd still threw an interception and the Tigers basically relied on their running game to defeat La-Monroe. Auburn had 321 rushing yards but only 85 yards passing. 85? And this was a team that won the SEC West in 2007. Auburn also held the ball less (28:51-32:30). Junior quarterback Chris Todd was 9-18 for only 70 yards with a 3-yard touchdown pass and an interception. If Auburn wants to prove that this 5-7 campaign is a fluke, and if Todd is to keep his job, or whoever wins the starting quarterback in 2009 must reduce their turnovers against minor competition.

Auburn went up to #9 in the AP Poll the following week with a 27-13 victory over Southern Mississippi (September 6). However, this victory wasn't convincing either as the Tigers again had fewer passing yards (248-268) and had only a 40-second advantage in time of possession (29:40-30:20) and only 2 more first downs than Southern Mississippi (22-20).

At #9 in the polls, Auburn squeaked by a Mississippi State team on the road 3-2 that also went 4-8 overall and 2-6 in the SEC (September 13). This is a team that hadn't been to a bowl game in more than a decade and yet all the Tigers could muster against them was kicker Wes Bynum's 35 yard field goal, despite holding huge advantages in rushing yards (161-38), passing yards (154-78, although 154 passing yards is very average and that's being generous; the 78 passing yards by Mississippi State on the other hand, was downright dismal). The other thing that held Auburn back was penalties (the Tigers were flagged 12 times for 94 yards). Finally, Auburn had a substantial advantage in time of possession (32:13-27:47), but they couldn't find the end zone.

After the tight win at Mississippi State, the Auburn Tigers lost to the LSU Tigers at home, 26-21 (September 20). Let's be serious here: for a team that had an unimpressive wins against Louisiana-Monroe, Southern Mississippi and Mississippi State, they couldn't expect to win against a team with 2 national titles in the past decade, could they? What went wrong in this game? Auburn had fewer first downs (16-20) and were just blown away in the running game (70-178). Auburn can't win without their rushing attack. Also, Auburn's rush defense was downright inept (LSU junior running back Charles Scott rushed 21 times for 132 yards; that's well over 5 yards per carry) and junior wide receiver Brandon LaFell averaged 23 yards per catch (4 catches for 92 yards) while Auburn's top receiver Rodgeriqus Smith averaged 14.6 yards per catches (5 catches for 73 yards). Todd also had 2 interceptions.

Auburn fell to #15 in the AP Poll after losing to LSU and played Tennessee at home, where they won 14-12 (September 27). Tennesee also finished 5-7 (3-5 in the SEC). The strange thing is that after winning at Tennessee, Auburn was 4-1 and Tennessee was 1-3 which means means that Auburn went 1-6 over their last 7 games! Tennesee went 4-4 over its last 8 games which is more respectable. Auburn's collapse from SEC West champions i0n 2007 to 5-7 in 2008 has got to be one of the worst collapses that college football has ever seen. No wonder Tommy Tuberville lost his job. OK, going back to this game, Todd had an 18-yard touchdown pass, but he only had 93 yards passing (What is he doing? is he really a junior? Even a freshman can throw for more than 93 yards) and again, he had an interception. Auburn had more passing more passing yards than the Volunteers (129-67, although 129 passing yards is nothing to shout about), but their running game disappeared again (97-124). Also, they won the penalty contest which isn't something to be proud of (Auburn had 9 whistles go against them for 59 yards while Tennessee only had 3 whistles against them for 35 yards).

Auburn's loss at Vanderbilt (13-14) on October 4 which started 5-0 and had a #19 ranking in the AP halfway through the season only to finish 6-6, was the beginning of a 4-game skid that cost coach Tommy Tuberville his job. Against the Commodores, the Tigers had their running game (110-106), but where was the aerial attack (98-157)? That's right: Vanderbilt had more passing yards than the former SEC West champs. Todd was again a disaster (8-16, only 70 yards and yet another interception). Vanderbilt held a 55-yard advantage in total yards (263-208). Auburn also had 11 penalties for 81 yards (this reinforces the fact that they have to work on their discipline and timing so that they're not jumping early).

Against Arkansas (October 11), they lost again (22-25). At this point, they were ranked #20. The Tigers were beaten in the two most important statistical categories: rushing yards (56-188) and passing yards (137-228). OK, Auburn had more return yardage (234-99; that includes kick and punt returns), but what good is return yardage if you can't run or throw the ball effectively? Sophomore Kodi Burns finally got his first start of the season over the ineffective Chris Todd, but was 7-18 for 119 yards with 2 interceptions (Todd was 3-10 for 18 yards and another interception).

The Mountaineers blitzed Auburn (17-34) in Morgantown on October 23. At this point, it's safe to say that the Auburn Tigers had burned themselves out. In other words, they had nothing left in the tank after 3 straight losses. The Tigers were beaten soundly again in the most important aspects of the game: rushing yards (271-149; West Virginia needed only 35 rushes to get 271 yards while Auburn needed 45 rushes; Burns had 82 yards on 15 carries while Noel Devine had a whopping 207 yards on only 17 carries), passing yards (111-174; although Pat White had 2 interceptions and Kodi Burns only had 1, this didn't work out for Auburn either). Again, Auburn had more kick return yards (172-38) and more punt return yards (2- (-1)), to West Virginia, it's just another statistic because they won the game in blowout fashion. Also, Auburn held the ball for 10 minutes longer than the Mountaineers (35:19:24:41), but they weren't productive when they had the pigskin which essentially meant that they were wasting their chances.

On November 1, against Mississippi, the Tigers lost again, 7-17. Mississippi is having a nice turnaround year, having gone 8-4 (5-3 in the SEC) this year to earn their first bowl trip since Eli Manning graduated in 2003. Turnovers killed Auburn in this game. Auburn's rushing attack wasn't there again (75-233), but they had a huge advantage in passing yards with Kodi Burns tearing up Mississippi's secondary for 319 yards and would have won the game if not for his 3 interceptions. Jevean Snead was 15-30 for 140 yards and threw 2 touchdown passes and did not have a turnover.

Against Tennessee-Martin, the Tigers won 37-20 (what a surprise). Do we even need to go through the stats for this game? Auburn had 290 rushing yards against Tennesee Martin's 38 (Kodi Burns ran 13 times for 158 yards), but Tennessee-Martin obliterated Auburn in passing yards (285-162). Sophomore Kodi Burns started at quarterback in place of the ineffective Chris Todd for only the second time and went 12-20 for 130 yards and was relieved by sophomore Neil Caudle who finally overtook the ineffective Chris Todd on the depth chart.

Against #9 Georgia, the Tigers lost 13-17. This was the Tigers' most complete game of the season defensively. The 'Dawgs were held to 136 yards rushing and 215 yards passing while Auburn's offense wasn't bad either (124 yards rushing and 179 yards passing) which means that Georgia's advantage in total yardage doesn't look too bad for the Auburn defense (303-351). And Auburn ran 67 plays compared to the Bulldogs' 57 with quarterback Kodi Burns completing 16-30 for 179 yards and a touchdown without a turnover while Georgia senior quarterback Matt Stafford was kept in check, completing 15-24 for 215 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Playing against top-ranked Alabama on the road, the Tigers finally folded (0-30). The Tigers were dominated in all phases of the game: rushing yards (57-234) and passing yards (113-178). Burns was only 9-23 for 118 yards while top rusher sophomore Mario Fannin only had 8 rushes for 28 total yards. Again, Auburn dominated the kick return game (122-0), but again the Auburn offense was asleep and the defense was run over.

For the season, Burns completed 52.5% of his passes for 1050 yards, but he had only 2 touchdowns and 7 interceptions. Put that together with Todd's 5 touchdowns and 6 interceptions and the Tigers' quarterbacks COMBINED to throw for 8 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. These giveaways and numerous defensive collapses down the stretch explain why Auburn lost so many games, including 4 losses by a touchdown or less (LSU, at Vanderbilt, Arkansas and Georgia) that it won't go bowling and why coach Tommy Tuberville won't be around in 2009.