Auburn team with 19 new starters faces Utah State

AUBURN, Ala. — Auburn defensive end Corey Lemonier knows what people are saying about the defending national champions.

As he puts it, "Everybody's dogging us." Few expect a huge season from a team that lost stars Cam Newton and Nick Fairley and will have as many as 19 new starters Saturday against Utah State.

They have 27 freshmen and sophomores listed as first- or second-teamers. The starting offensive line includes freshman center Reese Dismukes and redshirt freshman right tackle Chad Slade. The defensive line starts four sophomores.

No wonder coach Gene Chizik predicts the opener "ought to be extremely interesting." He says there could be as many as 30 players seeing their first college action.

Lemonier says the Tigers have "just got to go out there and show them that we mean business."