This is sort of out of the blue - Al Borges resigns, won’t coach in Peach Bowl.
Here’s the key passage:
… Borges arrived at Auburn before the 2004 season and helped the Tigers to a 13-0 record. But the Tigers’ offense was less effective in his last three years, and this season was a particular struggle. The offense is ranked 101st nationally. The Tigers scored two or fewer touchdowns in six of their eight SEC games.
But Borges made magic out his first Auburn offense behind a senior backfield that included future first-round NFL picks in Jason Campbell, Carnell Williams and Ronnie Brown. The Tigers finished 25th in the nation in total offense that year and Borges was hailed as the man who brought Auburn’s talent together. But the Tigers slipped to 37th in total offense in 2005, 76th in total offense in 2006 and heads to the Chick-fil-A Bowl ranked at the 101 mark, ahead of only 18 other teams…
It’s easy to look like a genius with three NFL first round picks in your backfield. Sometimes those “Jimmies and Joes” do matter.
7 Comments
December 11, 2007 at 9:15 am
I’ll forever be convinced that both Borges and Brandon Cox sold their souls for 4th-and-long.
December 11, 2007 at 10:37 am
Man, that is outta left field. I’ve heard a lot of unhappy AU fans complain about Borges but I didn’t see this coming. I guess I will go with Clem[p]son in the office bowl pool now.
December 11, 2007 at 1:19 pm
[...] Auburn is looking for a new offensive coordinator after Al Borges resigned. Borges had success with an offense that mixed play-action and bootlegs in with a heavy dose of the running game, but the formula had become less effective. [...]
December 11, 2007 at 4:02 pm
Huntsville newspaper is reporting that Tony Franklin ( current OC at Troy ) will be announced as new OC at Auburn this week.
December 11, 2007 at 4:11 pm
The thing is, Auburn had that exact same backfield in 2003, and could do no better than an 8-5 record (when they were ranked #6 in the preseason).
The last couple years under Borges have included some rocky moments, yes, but it’s not like Auburn was accomplishing much under Tuberville before Borges came on — overall record of 38-24, SEC record of 23-18, one SECCG appearance (in which they were embarrassed by Florida), and two January bowls.
Of course, maybe that means it’s Tubbs who’s the overrated one. But that’s another discussion for another time, I suppose.
December 11, 2007 at 5:47 pm
From Ching’s blog:
December 11, 2007 at 7:39 pm
Hard to leave out the fact that Brandon Cox is a total puscatore…that is not Borges’ fault, is it?