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Newton, James key high-octane offenses for Auburn, Oregon

احدث اجدد واروع واجمل واشيك Newton, James key high-octane offenses for Auburn, Oregon

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Amid the Sonoran Desert with mountains rising in the backdrop, Auburn guard Byron Isom marveled at the view.

"I've never been to Arizona," he said Tuesday after the Tigers' first practice for their Bowl Championship Series title game against Oregon.

"I've never seen a live cactus in my life. The scenery around here is beautiful. I just catch myself; it's almost breath-taking."

Surveying the landscape surrounding Monday's Bowl Championship Series title game in nearby Glendale, the story lines appear as captivating.

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•High-scoring offenses: Auburn averages 42.7 points a game and Oregon averages 49.3 points a game. In a game that features a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback (Auburn's Cam Newton) and the nation's leading rusher (Oregon's LaMichael James), offensive fireworks are expected.

But as previous BCS title games have shown, the game might not unfold as expected. In 2008, for example, Oklahoma entered the title game after five consecutive 60-point games, an NCAA record, but lost to Florida 24-14.

"Just about every week you try to figure out what a game is going to be like, what kind of identity a game is going to take," Auburn left tackle Lee Ziemba said. "And every week you have an idea, and when the game comes it's something totally different."

After losing to Auburn 56-17 in the Southeastern Conference title game, South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier said he wouldn't be surprised if the BCS game was a 60-55 affair.

Isom isn't so sure. "I definitely think it has a chance to be a high-scoring game, but it will come down to defense and how they adjust to what's going on. Everybody's overlooking (that) because the defenses are tough, and it's going to be about their adjustments."

Heading into Monday's game, Oregon will be asked countless times how the Ducks plan to stop Newton. "We're going to tackle him," Oregon coach Chip Kelly has said, before adding after a pause, "if we can."

And Auburn will be asked endlessly about how to slow Oregon's fast-tempo attack. The Ducks have scored 24 touchdowns in less than a minute this season. Auburn coach Gene Chizik said his defense was accustomed to offenses that operate at a fast pace because they faced their own offense, which can also move the ball quickly, every day in practice.

•Southeastern Conference:  The SEC likes to brag about its superiority, and the league has the record to back up such boasts. The SEC has won four consecutive national titles. Auburn will be the fourth different SEC school to play for BCS title in the last five seasons. Since 2006, no other conference has had more than two different schools play for the national title.

•Newton, of course: Tuesday, the controversy surrounding Newton seemed 1,700 miles away as the oak trees of Toomer's Corner were replaced by the cacti of the desert. Newton stood amid dozens of cameras and microphones after practice and talked about the Ducks defense ("They probably blitz more than any team we have played"), his favorite hip-hop artists ("There's a plethora of them") and the weather (which he deemed excellent).

Amid this sunny backdrop, it was as if those party poopers, otherwise known as NCAA investigators, didn't even exist. Pay-for-play scandal? What pay-for-play scandal? Oh, yeah.

When being recruited in 2009 by Mississippi State, Newton's father, Cecil, and the owner of a scouting service (ex-Mississippi State player Kenny Rogers) marketed Newton in a pay-to-play scheme, an NCAA violation. Though the NCAA did not find sufficient evidence to prove that Cam Newton or anyone at Auburn knew of the scheme, the case is not necessarily closed.

But on this day, everything was beautiful. Given the events of the last two months, is he somewhat relieved that the season is almost over? "It's not a relief at all," he said, redirecting the play. "This is the best bunch of players I've been around."

•The other quarterback:  His name is Darron Thomas, and he's better than you think. Based on wins and touchdowns, Thomas is having arguably the greatest season of any quarterback in school history. With 12 wins, he has surpassed Joey Harrington's 11 wins in 2001. He ranks second all time in TD passes for a season with 28 and overall with 33.

"He stands in there and puts the ball on the money when people are coming down on him," Kelly said. "He's really, really intelligent, works on mental aspect of game, and that gets undervalued."

Thomas thinks fast, plays fast and now, being around Kelly so much, he said he even talks fast. Does he do anything that's not fast? "Drive, that's about it," Thomas said.

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