1. Florida 60 (5) -- Took a business like approach and swept Vandy over the weekend. Then again, it seems like everyone is sweeping Vandy.

2. Arkansas 50 -- Swept Alabama at home, but how big of a feat is that?

3. Kentucky 49 -- It's hard to deny the 'Cats, who are undefeated and swept Carolina at home. Do they belong with the SEC's elite?

4. South Carolina 45 -- Had the hiccup vs. Kentucky and couldn't score many runs. Still, the Gamecocks are the two-time national champs and will be strong in the end.

5. LSU 41 -- Rolling along nicely. Took two of three from Mississippi State.

6. Georgia 38 -- Dawgs have been solid. Took two out of three against Tennessee and remain nationally ranked.

7. Auburn 28 -- Pitching is coming around, now will the bats? Tigers are the only SEC team to win a road conference series, and they did it against a ranked Ole Miss team.

8. Mississippi State 25 -- Lost the series to a good LSU team, but the Bulldogs have looked good this year.

9. Ole Miss 24 -- Errors were costly against Auburn, and we were expecting more out of the Rebels at the plate.

t-10. Tennessee 12 -- Typical UT in rebuilding mode. Still, the Vols managed to salvage a game at Georgia.

t-10. Vanderbilt 12 -- Why have the 'Dores gone downhill so quickly? They can't get anything going and don't have a single quality win.

12. Alabama 6 -- The Tide's season-long struggles continued at Arkansas. Alabama is very young, but outfielder Taylor Dugas is a bright spot.

-- 4-star offensive lineman Alex Kozan chose Iowa over Auburn late last night. Auburn made a good push but in the end, his favorite from the beginning won out.

-- In case you missed it, Arik Armstead chose Oregon over Auburn and Cal. Staying close to home was a big deal for Armstead, and that proved to be too much for Auburn to overcome.

-- The "quiet period" has started and no contact can be made betweens recruit and coaches between now and signing day.

-- Auburn got the last visit with Eddie Goldman's parents before the quiet period began, and his parents are very high on the Tiger coaches. Especially Coach Tommy Thigpen, who has been the lead recruiter on Goldman. We still think Florida State holds a slight edge, but Auburn is not far behind at all. Auburn has a done a great job recruiting Goldman and feels confident that it did a good enough job.

-- Will Adams, a Georgia Tech commit, is a 3-star offensive lineman out of Georgia. Adams visited Auburn this weekend with his teammate, JaQuay Williams. There were some reports out that Adams had flipped from Tech to Auburn, but that's not quite the case, yet. It seems he has opened up his recruitment, and that bodes well for the Tigers.

-- Speaking of JaQuay Williams, we think Georgia has done a decent job recruiting him as of late, but we think UGA got in on Williams too late and with Adams looking more and more like he will ink with Auburn, look for JaQuay to do the same.

-- Stefon Diggs took a visit to Ohio State over the weekend. The visit didn't get the rave reviews from Diggs like Auburn or Florida, but he does like Urban Meyer and enjoyed his visit. He will take a visit to Maryland next weekend and make his final choice on February 10. Maryland could be a dark horse after getting the last visit, but we still see this as an Auburn-Florida battle for the speedy wideout.

-- Not much has changed on the Kwon Alexander front, as it still seems to be an Auburn-LSU battle for the 4-star linebacker. Alabama has offered a grayshirt but it seems Kwon is not really interested in that route. Both the Auburn and LSU coaches feel confident about Alexander, so this one will come down to the wire.

***We will have a post up soon with all targets and commitments signing ceremonies dates and times.

***Also, we will be doing a live blog all day on National Signing Day. We will get started early and will run until the last fax has been received.

***Follow us on twitter @CollegeAndMag, and remember we're doing a free AU Bookstore gift card giveaway. We're already giving away one. If we get to 750 followers on Twitter before NSD we will do two, and at 1,000 we will do three.

War Eagle!

Auburn (12-8, 2-4) faces yet another road test in Knoxville on Saturday after a disappointing finish in their last game. The Tigers were looking for their first SEC road win but were unable to tie the game at the buzzer, falling to Arkansas 56-53 Tuesday night. Senior Kenny Gabriel put up 13 points and eight rebounds. Sophomore Chris Denson and junior Frankie Sullivan each had 10 points. Auburn continued to outrebound its competition, 44-29, and despite a 7 point lead with 13 minutes left in the game, the pressure from the Razorbacks proved to be too much. Having junior Varez Ward and sophomore Josh Langford for less than a full half did not help matters. Both are expected to play Saturday.

Tennessee (9-11, 1-4) is also looking to pick up a win at home after a 65-47 loss in Nashville to Vanderbilt. Even with the debut of the orange blazer on Coach Cuonzo Martin, the Volunteers only managed to hit 1 of 7 three pointers. Junior Jeronne Maymon has his 12th double double for the season but only put up 10 points (the only double digit UT scorer in the game). The 47 points were a season low for the Vols. Vandy took the lead early and never let up.

Auburn-Tennessee Series History & Game Facts

•Auburn Head Coach: Tony Barbee (UMass ’93)
      at Auburn: 23-28 (.451), second year
      Overall: 105-80 (.568)

•Tennessee Head Coach: Cuonzo Martin (Purdue ’00)
      at Tennessee: 9-11 (.450), first year
      Overall: 70-52 (.574), fourth year

•Series Record: Vols leads 70-37
•at Auburn: Tigers leads 26-21
•at Knoxville: Vols leads 43-7, including 13-2 in Thompson-Boiling Arena
•Neutral Sites: Vols leads 6-4
•Current Streak: Vols by 3
•Last Meeting: Vols 69, AU 56

Auburn Basketball On the Air

Radio: Auburn IMG Sports Network, Saturday, 4:30 p.m. CT. Play-by-Play: Rod Bramlett, Color: Paul Ellen.
Satellite Radio: XM91 (UT Broadcast)
Internet Radio: auburntigers.com
TV: ESPN2, Saturday, 5 p.m. CT. Play-by-Play: Brad Nessler, Color: Jimmy Dykes.

At this point in the preview, I turn you guys over to our in house expert, Jared Robertson.

Tennessee Scouting Report

Tennessee is a very similair team to the Tigers. They play good defense and struggle to score with the ball at times. They lack a true center and have two-forward, three-guard lineup that is very physical and swarms to the ball on defense.

Freshman Jarnell Stokes is a load inside at 6'8 250, and Trae Golden has played very well for the Vols leading the team in scoring at 13.2 ppg, leading the SEC in assists with 5 per game.Senior gaurd Cameron Tatum has been through the good and bad at Tennessee and has always been a solid player for the Vols.

Tennessee will shoot alot of threes, with over a third of their FG attempts coming from behind the arc. Tennessee is traditionally very good at Thompson-Boiling Arena, and picked up a win over no. 13 UConn last Tuesday, 60-57. The Vols' lone league win came at home as well, beating Florida 67-56.

Tennessee will run a ball control offense and work for a good shot. Look for the Vols to start looking to Stokes more often and playing some inside out with him. They will try to get Stokes going early and hope to force the Tigers to double him, opening up some room for their three point shooters. On defense, the Vols won't press much but they do play very well on defense and rebound well. Stokes has made a real difference for this team on both sides of the ball, and Auburn will have to try and contain him inside and on the boards.

Key Stats

Tennessee has a slight lead in scoring (57.4) over Auburn (55.2). Both teams struggle to score at times, so it will be key for Auburn to take full advantage of each possession. The pace will favor niether team, as both teams like to work the ball in the half court for a good shot.

Scoring defense also slightly favors the Vols (61.0) over Auburn (62.3). Both teams will run a man defense, but you may see some zone from Tennessee since Auburn lacks a pure shooter outside of Frankie Sullivan. If the Vols do decide to zone Auburn, the Tigers need to take advantage and knock down some shots. When the Vols are in man, the Tigers need to execute their flex-style to get good shots and get in the paint.

Rebounding favors Auburn (37.3) over Tennessee (36.2). Both teams rebound very well and both are outrebounding their opponets by and average of 2 rpg. If Tennessee does go zone, the Tigers need to crash the offensive boards very hard. It is harder to rebound out of a zone since you're not assigned to one man. Auburn will need to run towards the glass before the Vols can put a body on them. Any extra oppurtunities to score in this game will come at a premium.

In terms of turnovers, Auburn (15.7) is turning it over two fewer times than Tennessee (17.4). Both teams are forcing 13.8 per game. Forcing turnovers will be a huge factor in this game, as they usually are in every game. Auburn needs to turn Tennessee turnovers into points, while limiting their own turnovers, especially on the road.

This game will come down to who can take advantage of possessions and who can protect the ball more. Both teams will struggle to score and both teams will rebound well. Getting anything easy will come at a premium and have a big factor on the outcome of the game.

         Ricardo Louis has decommitted from FSU and reopened his commitment according to Bryan Matthews of 247sports. Louis was a long time Auburn commit but began having second thoughts about his commitment after the departure of Gus Malzahn. New OC Scot Loeffler and Trooper Taylor visited Ricardo last night and it appears that Loeffler made an impression on him, causing him to give Auburn another look. Louis now plans to make a final decision on signing day. It looks to be between Auburn and FSU battle for the athletic Florida native, but Georgia is still fighting for a visit.

Now that Auburn has a replacement for Gus Malzahn as offensive coordinator, it's time to take a long look at Scot Loeffler and determine whether or not he was a good hire. After such a long search, we'll admit that the hiring of a college coordinator left us a little disappointed. It seemed that Gene Chizik was closing in on an NFL coach and just waiting to get through that coach's playoff run. The Internet buzz on Sunday was that one of Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Cam Cameron, Ravens quarterback coach Craig Ver Steeg or San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Greg Roman would be making his way to the Plains to be Auburn's next OC. By the end of the Ravens' game, it sounded like a done deal that Cameron would be heading to Auburn. Then out of the blue, Charles Goldberg reported that the man was, in fact, Loeffler. Needless to say, the thought of having two NFL coordinators coming to The Plains to perform the same jobs in 2012 was thrilling. When Loeffler was announced, it was a bit of a letdown.

After stepping away, sleeping on it and taking a second look at the Tigers' new offensive coordinator, it's obvious that Loeffler is a very good hire by Chizik. Before serving as offensive coordinator at Temple in 2011, Loeffler had stints as quarterbacks coach with Florida, the Detroit Lions, Michigan and Central Michigan. Here's a look at his performances dating back to his Michigan days to find out just what kind of track record Loeffler has. We think you'll like the results.

Temple offensive coordinator, 2011

At first glance, Temple's 383.2 yards per game in 2011 isn't all that impressive. After all, that ranked seventh in the MAC and 63rd in the NCAA. But the way the Temple offense amassed those yards should excite Auburn fans. The Owls led the MAC and were No. 7 in the country with 256.4 rushing yards per game. Bernard Pierce, Temple's junior running back, compiled 1,481 yards and 27 touchdowns. Pierce's 123.4 yards-per-game average led the MAC, and he had a healthy 5.4 yards per carry. One of the encouraging things about Loeffler is that in his first year as an OC, he already seemed to grasp the fact that a team needs to get the ball to its playmakers. After looking at Pierce's stats from last year, it's obvious that he's a beast of a player. In 2009, Pierce proved as a freshman that he was ready to be a star out of the backfield, gaining 1,361 yards and 16 touchdowns. But in 2010, Pierce was held back by then-offensive coordinator Matt Rhule. He was given 154 carries, compared to his 236 in '09 and 273 in '11, and only compiled 728 yards -- a 66.2 per-game average -- and 10 touchdowns. Pierce still averaged a solid 4.7 yards per carry in 2010, but for some reason, his time was split with fellow sophomore Matt Brown. With Loeffler running the offense, Temple utilized its best offensive player, and Pierce put up monster numbers. 

Despite the mediocre yards per game, Temple's offense didn't have trouble putting points on the scoreboard. Loeffler rarely passed the ball, electing to throw a measly 15.2 times per game. Even being almost entirely reliant on the rushing attack, the offense was incredibly successful and did a fine job of creating scoring drives. The Owls' 30.6 points per game tied with Florida State for 39th in the nation. Temple ranked 20th in the country in third-down percentage, converting 46.3 percent of the time. All in all, Loeffler showed that he is very capable in his first season as an offensive coordinator. He identified his team's strengths and designed a gameplan that would allow those strengths to excel, even when opposing teams knew what was coming.

Florida quarterbacks coach, 2009-10

It was at Florida, working under Urban Meyer and Steve Addazio, that Loeffler coached one of the game's all-time greats. In 2009, Loeffler's starting quarterback was Tim Tebow. With a Heisman Trophy and two national titles to his name, Tebow's legacy as one of the greatest college quarterbacks was already set. Still, with the guidance of Loeffler, No. 15 completed a career-best 67.8 percent of his passes. The 2010 season was not nearly as successful for Loeffler's starting quarterback, John Brantley. Handcuffed by Addazio's run-first spread offense, the pro-style Brantley could only manage 158.5 yards per game, nine touchdowns and 10 interceptions. The Gators' offense stalled all season and Florida fell to an 8-5 record, it's worst under Meyer.

Loeffler's time at Florida doesn't tell us much about the OC. He surely benefited from having Tim Tebow in 2009, but he was definitely at a disadvantage with the out-of-place Brantley in 2010. Overall, his two years at Florida raise more questions than answers about his abilities.

Detroit Lions quarterbacks coach, 2008

Loeffler's one-year foray into the NFL was pretty much a disaster, but it wasn't exactly his fault. After having plenty of success at Michigan, The Lions hired Loeffler and brought him into a no-win situation. Veteran quarterback John Kitna started the season, but he suffered an injury and was placed on injured reserve in Week 5. Without much help from the rest of the offense, Lions quarterbacks averaged 185.0 yards per game and compiled a 71.3 rating, both of which ranked in the bottom third of the NFL. The Lions finished the season 0-16, and the entire coaching staff was fired in the offseason. Loeffler had zero success in Detroit, but he wasn't given much of a chance.

Michigan quarterbacks coach, 2002-07

Coaching at his alma mater, Loeffler had his greatest success as a quarterbacks coach. He coached Chad Henne from 2004 to '07 mentoring the four-year starter to Wolverine career records in passing yards (9,715), passing touchdowns (87), completions (828) and attempts (1,383). In addition to the career marks, Henne tied Michigan's single-season record for touchdown passes with 25 in his freshman year of 2004. Prior to Henne's arrival in Ann Arbor, Loeffler's quarterbacks averaged 232.8 yards per game in 2002 and 270.8 yards per game in 2003. 

So, what kind of offensive coordinator has Auburn hired?

We think a pretty damn good one. In his various stops as quarterbacks coach and time during the late 1990's as a graduate assistant with Michigan, Loeffler has worked with and tutored an impressive number of quarterbacks that have gone on to play professionally. Brian Griese, Tom Brady, Drew Henson, John Navarre, Henne and Tebow all played for Loeffler, and the quarterback guru was able to coach up all of those players into becoming NFL draft picks. Judging by his one season at Temple, it's clear that Loeffler wants to direct a run-first offense and knows how to get the ball in the hands of his best players. Despite his apparent preference to run a pro-style attack, Loeffler did a fine job running Addazio's spread at Temple. He'll likely install a pro-style, run-first offense at Auburn, but it's obvious that he has the ability to run whatever type of offense works, depending on the situation. That will be especially crucial next season when the Tigers will be in transition mode. 

The hire of Loeffler can't be qualified as a home run. To hit a home run in a coaching search, the eventual hire must be a well-known name that has proven success at the highest level. Loeffler isn't that, but he is a young, up-and-coming coach that seems to have the respect of everyone in the coaching community that knows him. If you can't hit a home run, hiring a coach like Loeffler is the next-best thing. Thanks to his proven record as a developer of quarterbacks and his success with the rushing game at Temple, we believe that by the time Loeffler leaves Auburn -- whenever that may be -- he'll be a home run hire at his next destination.