The Champs: How quickly can Auburn rebuild?

First there was a little smoke, as the rumors began to ride the air out of Lee County during spring practices. The plume grew at the beginning of the summer camp and through the first few games of the 2010 season. The flames grew and spread during the back-to-back wins against Clemson and USC, when the home team made every big play and watched their opponents self-destruct at every key moment.

Auburn was onto something big. Big new quarterback. Big brain at offensive coordinator. Big play defense that played faster and hit harder as the game wore on.

And the team rode those traits through pundits' low expectations, a national furor over its star player and out of a seemingly bottomless hole on the home field of its bitterest rival.

That's a lot to fit in the rear-view mirror. Suffice to say, the Tigers are a much different team in 2011. Cam Newton is gone. So is Nick Fairley and Josh Bynes and most of both lines.

There's talent -- Auburn should benefit from back-to-back recruiting bonanzas -- and justifiable excitement on The Plains on how the kids will play.

But there is also this: Every rival game on the Tigers' schedule has been circled -- in Columbia, Athens, Fayetteville, Baton Route and Tuscaloosa -- not only because Auburn is the defending champs but also because of the Tigers' intense -- some would say chippy -- style of play.

There's also the specter of an ongoing NCAA investigation, which AU partisans don't like to talk about, but which a top NCAA official confirmed in direct response to coach Gene Chizik's persistent questioning at the SEC meetings.

What's it all mean? This assessment says as many wins as losses. But Auburn is onto something -- great recruiting, good coaching and a fiery "us-against-all-of-'em'' approach that speaks to something deep in the program's psyche.

The outcome of the NCAA probe is the ultimate wild card, sure. But don't be surprised if Auburn, again, overachieves, then look out for 2012.

mg