Auburn Football Practice Report - AuburnTigers.com - Auburn University Official Athletic Site

Auburn Football Practice Report Final Practice

Sept. 2, 2010

Auburn, Ala. - The Auburn football team put in 75 minutes of work Thursday afternoon in the last practice before Saturday's season-opener against the Arkansas State Red Wolves.

Auburn touched on all phases of the game plan in Thursday's practice. The Tigers go into Saturday's game having won their last four season openers and 19 of the last 24. Auburn is 90-25-2 all-time in season openers.

The Tigers are meeting the Red Wolves for just the second time, having defeated Arkansas State 27-0 on Nov. 4, 2006 in the first meeting between the teams. Although the teams have only met once, Arkansas State is no stranger to the Southeastern Conference, having played 50 games against SEC foes.

Auburn enters the game ranked 22nd in the Associated Press poll and 23rd in the USA Today coaches' poll. Although unranked, Arkansas State has a history of strong performances against ranked teams. The Red Wolves were nipped 24-21 by No. 13 Iowa in 2009 and 21-13 to No. 4 Texas in 2007.

"Arkansas State has done some really good things in the past when it comes to playing the Iowa's of the world like they did last year," Auburn head coach Gene Chizik said. "They took Texas down to the wire a couple of years ago. Their head coach, Coach (Steve) Roberts, has been there nine years. Defensively, they're always one or two in the league, probably the last three or four years in their conference. They've got a new offense that is fast-tempo. It's very similar to ours in that regard with a new offensive coordinator, so we're going out and trying to win."

The Tigers enter the 2010 season with 24 seniors on the roster, the largest senior class in the program's history. Auburn's offensive line has four seniors who have combined for 109 career starts, led by tackle Lee Ziemba who has started all 38 games since arriving in Auburn as a true freshman in 2007.

The Tigers open the 2010 season in Jordan-Hare Stadium Sept. 4 against Arkansas State. The game will be televised by Fox Sports Net.

A limited number of season, mini-season and single-game tickets are still available. For more information, please visit www.auburntigers.com or call 1-800-AUB-1957.