The air was unseasonably cool and rain sporadically fell during Sunday’s practice, providing the Tigers with a not-so-accurate sneak preview for what Saturday’s season-opening game conditions are anticipated to resemble.

Senior defensive end Antoine Carter wasn’t concerned about the tangible conditions. He viewed Sunday’s 80-minute, relatively light-hitting session in a metaphorical sense.

“You go through spring and two-a-days and summer workouts, and game week is finally here,” he said. “It’s like the clouds moving out of the way and the sun coming out to shine.”
Carter clutched a DVD loaded with clips of Arkansas State highlights as he spoke. For the first time in nearly a month, Auburn’s players could truly start focusing on someone other than themselves.

“At some point, it’s like there’s no end in sight, and now they’re finally seeing for the next 14, 15 weeks, we’ve got games,” coach Gene Chizik said. “You train all year, 365 days a year, to be able to play in 12 that are guaranteed.

“I know that as a team, they’re excited that those 12 teams are here. I think it changes mentally the whole outlook for those guys.”

The expectations presented by players shortly after Auburn’s overtime victory against Northwestern in the Outback Bowl certainly have not been tempered.

If anything, they’ve only amplified.

Quarterback Cameron Newton said last week that it’s tough to turn on the TV or radio and not hear about “the other team,” referring, of course, to the defending national champions, Alabama.

The hype machine from national media outlets, though, has only made the spotlight on No. 22 Auburn brighter.

One voter in the Associated Press poll had the Tigers as high as seventh in the nation. ESPN college football expert Kirk Herbstreit said Saturday that he expects Auburn to win the SEC West.

Another ESPN pundit, former Minnesota Vikings running back Robert Smith, had the Tigers ranked in his personal top five.

This isn’t news to Auburn’s players. Or added pressure, for that matter.

“We feel it, not just from the media but we feel it within ourselves, that we don’t see anything less than an SEC championship year,” linebacker Josh Bynes said. “The confidence is just going to keep building up, but we know at the same time we’re going to take one game at a time. We’re going to start with Arkansas State.”

The Red Wolves, 31-point underdogs according to Las Vegas betting lines, will get the Tigers at their absolute freshest capacity. They’ll also be getting them at their deepest since Chizik and his coaching staff took over in 2009.

Last year, the Tigers dressed somewhere between 70 to 75 scholarship players for their season opener against Louisiana Tech. This year, after Chizik awarded three scholarships to longtime walk-ons, Auburn will dress the NCAA maximum 85.

All those new bodies won’t just be watching, either. Chizik said as many as 10 to 20 newcomers could see the field Saturday.

“They’re expecting us to do a lot of things,” freshman wide receiver Trovon Reed said. “So everybody has a big chip on their shoulder and everybody’s got to play their role. Everybody’s been walking around here amped up, getting ready already.”

There are certainly bigger games on the schedule. The primetime clash with Mississippi State in Starkville on Sept. 9 popped into Bynes’ head shortly after he discussed the immediate task at hand, Arkansas State.

“That’s SEC ball,” Bynes said. “Regardless what everybody else has, we know the type of team we have, the guys, the talent, and everything else is well put together to be this type of team. We have to go showcase that on Saturdays.”

| 737-2561