Coffee and Magnolia, 23 October 2014

Football

James Crepea for the Montgomery Advertiser looks at one of the things that has Auburn's offense playing below last season's levels: lower production on first downs. It's those gains on first downs that get this offense into a rhythm and get it moving fast. Without that, things bog down a bit.

The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer looks at the improving health of Auburn offensive lineman Pat Miller and where the rotation might be when he gets healthier. Don't be surprised if we start hearing Braden Smith's name in that rotation sooner rather than later.

The C L-E also has a feature on the progress of true freshman (and local Opelika High School product) Stephen Roberts.

While there were reports a few weeks back of Cameron Toney getting some work at the H-Back position, it sounds right now like Auburn is going to stick with Uzomah and Fulse at this position.

Basketball

First, there's the fact that I felt the need to create a basketball section by itself. That's awesome. We're getting closer to seeing just what Auburn can put on the court in Bruce Pearl's first season as coach on the Plains.

Want some video of Coach Bruce Pearl talking about the upcoming basketball season? Of course you do.

Bruce Pearl says he wants to build a legacy at Auburn. I know he never won the championship at Tennessee, but he had them in the running for it almost every season and he wasn't there for long. The thought of him wanting to build a legacy here and be one of the best basketball coaches in Auburn history is exciting, though. I really think he can do great things here.

Want to know just what Bruce Pearl is doing to get students excited about basketball? How about taking over an entire class - with Aubie and the Auburn University Marching Band - to promote his upcoming Pearl Jam event for the students.

MISC

A few things here, this morning.

Starting with a request for help from our sister-site CornNation (Nebraska, duh). They're doing a survey on just what fans are looking for when it comes to a national champion football team. Take a few minutes and go help them get as many responses to their survey as possible. We'll see how it turns out.

In other voting news, take the time if you will to go to this AdWeek site and vote for SB Nation in this poll of best Digital Brands. You're here reading this, so you obviously just loooove our network, don't you? Anyone? Yes? Please?

Have you been tracking the UNC stuff? Here's SB Nation's list of the five most important things you need to know from that.

There was brief uproar yesterday over the article about Texas beginning to pay players. The Mother Ship has a response on how Texas isn't starting some form of bidding war, and this isn't something that they're going to start doing immediately. In reality, all they really said is what they're planning to do if/when the O'Bannon ruling is not overturned.