AUBURNCamp start: Aug. 4Opener: Sept. 4 against Arkansas State at Jordan-Hare Stadium (7 p.m. EDT, Fox Sports Net)Fun fact: Auburn scored 433 points last season under offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn, which was just shy of the school-record 438 scored by the 1995 Tigers. It more than doubled the 208 points scored by the 2008 Tigers.
The Auburn Tigers discovered last season how strained a defense can become when trying to play a 4-3 scheme with two healthy linebackers.
Josh Bynes and Craig Stevens were in for all 115 defensive plays during Auburn's 38-35 overtime win over Northwestern in the Outback Bowl, when the Tigers employed five defensive backs. Auburn wasn't overly deep in the secondary by the end of last season, either, as cornerback Neiko Thorpe and free safety Daren Bates, a true freshman, played every bowl snap as well.
"I had to keep standing, because every time I would try to sit I cramped up," Bynes said. "I've never been through a game like that in my life."
Auburn's defensive stamina in the bowl was admirable, but the depleted Tigers gave up a staggering 621 yards. They also wound up allowing 358 points last season, the most in school history.
The Tigers gave up 20 or more points in every game but an opening 37-13 win over Louisiana Tech, and they yielded 30 or more points in seven of their final 10 games.
"We've had to go back and kind of re-evaluate everything," coach Gene Chizik said. "We've re-evaluated players. We've re-evaluated scheme. We've re-evaluated everything we need to try to become a more effective defense."
Auburn shattered the previous program mark of 267 points allowed in 1976, and it was a sizable backslide from its '08 defense that gave up 216 points.
Bynes, a 6-foot-2, 235-pound senior from Lauderdale Lakes, Fla., has made 21 starts the past two years and led Auburn last season with 104 tackles. He believes this year's defense will be vastly improved based on depth helped by February's top-five signing class.
The class was headlined by quarterback Cam Newton, who won the starting job in spring practice, and tailback Michael Dyer, but it also contained several defensive standouts.
"We've got a lot of linebackers and defensive backs in the freshman class," Bynes said. "We're going to close that gap tremendously, because we're going to get those freshmen involved and see who wants to contribute to the defense. I know it's still a question mark, but we're going to handle what we're supposed to do and not get bothered by what the media or anybody else says."
Freshmen who could make an early impact, according to Bynes, include defensive tackles Jeffrey Whitaker and Kenneth Carter, linebacker LaDarius Owens and safety Jonathan Mincy.
Before Auburn players become property of Chizik and coordinators Gus Malzahn and Ted Roof, they will continue working under Kevin Yoxall, the strength and conditioning coach. Yoxall has established the creed "Eight ain't enough," which is hammering home the message that another 8-5 season would not be nearly as satisfying.
"Winning eight games isn't going to get you anywhere," Bynes said. "It might get us back to the Outback Bowl or the Champs Sports Bowl or something like that, but that's not what our plan is this year. If you think about the games we lost last year - Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky - that easily could have changed our season to 11-2 and put us in a BCS bowl.
"We've got to do a great job of finishing this year, because eight will not be it."