potent offense that he has to try and neutralize.Trailing in a postse

AUBURN, Ala. -- The Auburn Tigers are running wild again, this time with a mostly dropback passer at quarterback and two tailbacks who were virtual unknowns outside the state coming into the season.The 15th-ranked Tigers, with no Cam Newton or Nick Marshall to bulldoze or dart past defenders, have resurrected their ground game and, in the process, their season with a four-game winning streak .Even without tailback Kerryon Johnson, Auburn piled up 543 rushing yards in a 56-3 win over Arkansas , a record for a Southeastern Conference game. Now, Auburn ranks third nationally in rushing offense with numbers rivaling the 2013 offense led by the mobile quarterback Marshall and Heisman Trophy finalist Tre Mason.That group made the national championship game by becoming the first SEC team to lead the nation in rushing, averaging 328.3 yards and having four players with 600-plus yards. This Auburn team is averaging 302.9 yards on the ground.Johnson is expected to return from an ankle injury Saturday night against Mississippi.Quarterback Sean White and backup John Franklin III have both made some plays on the ground but nothing like Marshall or Newton, who won the Heisman in leading the 2010 team to a national title.Whoever our quarterback is, we try to design the offense around their strengths, Malzahn said. There arent a whole lot of Nick Marshalls running around out there. He was a special player.The current ground attack has mostly been built on tailbacks Johnson and Kamryn Pettway. Pettway was moved from H-back in the spring and didnt log a carry last season or in the opener.With Johnson out with an ankle injury, the 240-pounder has run 66 times for 361 yards and five touchdowns against Mississippi State and Arkansas. Hes ranked 12th nationally and leads the SEC in rushing yards per game, gaining 697 yards in six outings.I havent seen a running back like that since like Jerome Bettis, Auburn receiver Tony Stevens said. Thats who he reminds of, Jerome Bettis. The way he just cuts and runs you over. So you never know what youre going to get when you go head up with him.Johnson, also a sophomore, is 42nd nationally and sixth in the SEC in rushing with 538 yards.Tailback was one of the teams biggest question marks entering the season. Last years top three rushers -- Peyton Barber (early draft entry), Jovon Robinson (dismissal) and Roc Thomas (transfer) -- were no longer on the team for various reasons.That left Johnson, often used in a Wildcat role as a freshman, and Pettway. Depth has come from players like freshman Kam Martin, a former Baylor signee, and converted wide receiver Stanton Truitt. Truitt and freshman receiver Eli Stove both ran for long touchdowns against the Razorbacks, with Stoves a 78-yarder on the opening play.One of the big questions this year coming into the season was our running back depth, Malzahn said. I think it was a really good thing moving forward that we had the guys that we had step up. They did a super job running the football and protecting the football, so we definitely have some depth to that position.Seven Auburn players have rushed for 100-plus yards, including White and Franklin. The Tigers are averaging 106.5 more rushing yards than last season even minus that teams top three runners.Now, the Tigers are at least running White enough to make defenses wary, and Franklin has been almost exclusively used as a runner.If you keep it every now and then, it really changes things, Malzahn said. Last year, we didnt do that.---AP college football web site: www.collegefootball.ap.org Custom David Justice Jersey . 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Thousands of Southern California fans enveloped the Trojans to celebrate an improbable win secured by an interim coach, an inconsistent kicker and a thin defence that wouldnt break. SAN FRANCISCO -- Sure, Jake Arrieta and Joe Maddon know all about what Madison Bumgarner has done on the postseason stage in recent years.Just how good the big lefty has been and his San Francisco Giants, too. Theyre 9-0 in elimination games under manager Bruce Bochy, rallying from improbable deficits to win it all three times this decade -- every other year, and this is one of those even years.San Franciscos October theme this time: BeliEVEN.As the Chicago Cubs arrived Sunday in the Bay Area with a 2-0 NL Division Series lead and a chance to close out the home team, Maddon knows theres plenty that still must go right Monday night for his club to move closer to ending its World Series curse.Wed be foolish to be overconfident about this situation, Maddon said. Theyre really good, theyve done this before. That is a group that is just dripping with tested veterans and a manager thats outstanding. So you never take the Giants for granted. Never.The Cubs were in for an unexpected treat Sunday: The Blue Angels regularly buzzed over the bay during Fleet Week as Chicago wrapped up its afternoon work, with a few players and coaches stealing a glance up at the blue sky.Maddon found himself reflecting to his youth when Bumgarners name was brought up before an on-field workout. The 2014 World Series MVP has thrown 23 straight scoreless innings in the postseason, going 2-0 with a save in elimination games.Its like when I was a kid. I could only relate it to that. I was a Cardinals fan growing up, and seeing Bob Gibson do what he did in the `60s and then Mr. (Sandy) Koufax, what he did. So you have to kind of draw the parallels or the comparisons from when you were a kid, Maddon said.So I look at it as, wow, its just like what Gibson did, its like what Koufax did. And maybe with Whitey Ford and the Yankees prior to that. Its unique. So I hope the kids that are really watching right now understand how good this guy is and how it parallels throughout baseball history, what hes doing right now, he said.Bumgarner dazzled with a four-hitter last Wednesday in New York as the Giants eliminated the reigning NL champion Mets in the wild-card game. He did the same thing at Pittsburgh two yeears ago to get that championship run rolling.ddddddddddddEven with all of the accolades and comparisons, Bumgarner just goes about his business ignoring any fanfare.When told of Maddons remarks about Gibson, Ford and Koufax, Bumgarner insisted he never thinks about where he might rank in postseason lore.You cant, MadBum said. As soon as you start buying into that its probably going to take a turn.Arrieta already has said he has no fear about this matchup, giving his respect to Bumgarner while also noting hes beatable.Hes been one of the best in the postseason for the last several years. We have got a challenge ahead of us, but we put ourselves in a really good position, obviously taking care of business at home with the opportunity to close the series out in three games and get back to Chicago and prepare, Arrieta said. He is tough, but at the same time we have got a pretty potent offense that he has to try and neutralize.Trailing in a postseason series or being on the brink of going home for the offseason has hardly seemed to faze Bochys teams in recent history. In 2012, the Giants became the first team to win three straight road games in a best-of-five series after dropping the first two in the division series at home to the Reds. San Francisco then rallied from a 3-1 deficit to beat St. Louis.This club has a history, and thats what you like about whats going on now, finding a way to win that game they have to win and moving on, Bochy said. Thats experience thats so vital to draw on. If you dont have that, you may not have that belief that you can do it. They know theyve done it.As brilliant as Bumgarner might be against the Cubs slugging lineup, the Giants must find a way to score runs -- or a run if thats all it takes in a likely pitchers duel -- to extend their season by at least one more day. Arrieta won 22 games and the NL Cy Young Award in 2015 and another 18 this season.Both pitchers are capable hitters, adding to the intrigue of Mondays matchup.I feel like well attack each other accordingly, Arrieta said, and not take it lightly. ' ' '