AU FOOTBALL NOTEBOOK: Tigers worried about wins, not rankings

Auburn is one of just four undefeated teams yet to be ranked, three if you’re limiting it to 4-0 teams and the only one left out among the SEC’s four unbeatens.

Two SEC teams saddled with a loss (Georgia and Ole Miss) are still ranked.

It’s the first time Auburn has been perfect after four games and unranked since 1963.

Is that fair?

If you don’t think so, file your complaints somewhere other than Gene Chizik’s office.

“I don’t control that and I don’t even have a thought on it,” Chizik said at his weekly press conference Tuesday. “Week to week we have to win and all that other stuff takes care of itself.”

Here’s the thing, though. Auburn didn’t lose a single game in 2004, finishing 13-0 after its Sugar Bowl victory over Virginia Tech, but everything didn’t figure itself out. All the Tigers have to show for that season is the “People’s Choice National Championship” and a top spot on the list of reasons why the current Bowl Championship Series system is flawed.

Chizik was here for that season, too.

“I think the circumstances of each year … there are a lot of moving parts in those decisions,” Chizik said. “Again, it’s something I have no control over. So do I worry about it? No, I really don’t.”

Preseason projections appear to be the hurdle Auburn currently faces, as 13 teams in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today coaches’ polls have a loss. Even in the Harris Poll, which was released for the first time Sunday and, in theory, is supposed to ignore preseason expectations, Auburn sits at No. 26.

“It’s kind of frustrating, but it’s something we can’t control,” offensive guard Mike Berry said. “We go out there and try to win every game that we can.”

Though coaches’ ballots aren’t released to the public, it’s pretty safe to assume Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin had the Tigers on his ballot.

“This team, looking at the rankings this week, I’m very surprised that this opponent is not in the top 25,” Kiffin told reporters in Knoxville on Tuesday. “They’re 4-0 coming into the game, and they haven’t played a game that has been within 10 points.

“They’re extremely explosive. … Two weeks ago we played, at the time, the most explosive offense in college football and here we go again with one of the top three. This is going to be a big matchup for us.”

Even with the added media presence that comes with Tennessee week, Tigers players were comfortable with the dimmed spotlight that has followed them since the start of the season.

“We haven’t been caring,” cornerback Walt McFadden said. “Eventually, as long as we keep winning and as long as we stay undefeated, they’ve got to talk about us sooner or later.”

Isom update
Chizik had no news to report regarding suspended offensive guard Byron Isom on Tuesday, reverting to his “you’ll see him when you see him” stance — the same he had for previously suspended tailback Eric Smith.

Isom is practicing with the team, Chizik said, something Smith did not do until the week leading up to his return against Mississippi State.

If Isom is not available, the Tigers will use a rotation of freshman John Sullen, Bart Eddins and Jared Cooper at right guard.

Punt return update
Two days since he reopened the punt returning competition for the fifth time in as many weeks, Chizik said the field is still wide open, all the way from his son, defensive tackles and reporters.

Asked specifically if speedy tailback Onterio McCalebb was getting looks at the position, Chizik neither confirmed nor denied it.

“We are looking at everyone as a punt returner,” he said. “We are opening options and not kicking anyone to the curb. We are open-minded to some different guys. We have to keep working the ones we’ve already invested so much time and energy on because they are young guys who have a lot of time left to play.”

The Tigers are struggling in nearly every special teams category with the exception of kicker Wes Byrum’s perfect start to the season. Chizik said there’s been no change in how he and his coaching staff have stressed special teams in practice.

“We are coaching like we always coach, we don’t change,” Chizik said. “We are very demanding and very precise about what we want. We have to execute better. We have to coach better.”

Don’t walk
Auburn announced on its Web site Tuesday that, at the University of Tennessee’s request, there will be no Tiger Walk before Saturday’s game.

UT is citing “safety and security measures” for the decision.

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