AUBURN, Ala. (AP) - Southern Miss and No. 9 Auburn both finally

took the wraps off their vaunted new offenses last week, trotting

out new quarterbacks and mostly skipping those time-consuming

huddles.

And proving they still can be dominant running teams.

The Tigers (1-0), at least, have much more to prove. The Golden

Eagles (1-0) raced to a a school-record 633 total yards against

Louisiana-Lafayette with a solid passing game and the rampant

running of Damion Fletcher and Bubba Kirksey.

And Auburn? The Tigers also have multiple tailbacks - and two

quarterbacks.

Chris Todd gets the start at quarterback this time over Kodi

Burns, whose status is uncertain with a cut on his leg that coach

Tommy Tuberville feared might hinder his mobility. Neither had much

success passing in an opening win over Louisiana-Monroe.

For all the attention both new offenses received leading up to

the season, the openers only showed both teams are still more

formidable on the ground.

Fletcher ran for 222 yards and Kirksey added 110 to help ease

the load on redshirt freshman quarterback Austin Davis. The Golden

Eagles scored 51 points.

"It looked like a track meet," Tuberville said. "They're a

little similar to us; they run a fast-paced, no huddle offense.

They take the ball from underneath the center more than we do.

They've got two good running backs, and one rushes for more than

200 yards. You've got to give that a lot of respect."

Auburn does have Tristan Davis, mostly used as a kick returner,

joining an already loaded backfield that includes Ben Tate, Brad

Lester and freshman Eric Smith.

The group was hard to stop once the Tigers mostly turned from an

ineffective passing game against Louisiana-Monroe.

"We look forward to having four running backs going into this

game," Tuberville said. "We want to be able to throw the ball but

obviously running the football is what we do best. We're going to

have to build on that."

The onus remains on Todd and Burns to get the passing game

going. Montez Billings and James Swinton return from injuries to

help boost a receiving corps that had its share of problems, though

freshman Philip Pierre-Louis is out for the season with a knee

injury.

Austin Davis had a much more auspicious opener than his Auburn

counterparts. He passed for 206 yards and highly touted freshman

receiver DeAndre Brown was his favorite target for the game.

Auburn defensive end Antonio Coleman said all that makes

Fletcher just one of several focal points in stopping Southern

Miss.

"You can't just focus on one player," Coleman said. "You've

got him and you've got the freshman wide receiver, who is good. We

have to focus on the whole team."

Southern Miss coach Larry Fedora was looking forward to checking

out Tony Franklin's Auburn offense since the two share some

characteristics.

"I have a tremendous amount of respect for what he does,"

Fedora said. "He has proven to have a very good offensive mind

wherever he has been and I am sure he will continue that at Auburn.

Defensively we will have our work cut out for us because he does

such a great job. He gets into the tempos and spreads it out a lot

just like we do. It will be interesting to see what the differences

are."

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)