Offensive line switch paying dividends

AUBURN – The Tigers’ decision to move Ryan Pugh to center and Jason Bosley to right tackle worked well Saturday during the trial run.
Pugh played well at center and the snaps were more on-target than the previous week.
Bosley played well enough to earn Auburn’s Offensive Player of the Week honors.
While center is Pugh’s natural position, Bosley hadn’t played tackle since he was a high school freshman.
“I graded out 94,” Bosley said. “I thought I played really well for my first time at tackle. It's the first time I played tackle since my freshman year in high school. It’s a lot different going from center to tackle. I thought I played well. I have a lot of things I still need to work on — technique and getting comfortable out there.”
Bosley and Pugh said they didn’t know about the move until Auburn offensive line coach Hugh Nall told them on Wednesday. Pugh works regularly at center, but Bosley had just two days to adjust to the new position.
The move worked so well that Tuberville said the Tigers would keep both players at their respective positions from last week.
• Celebration rules eliminating fun: Tuberville said he watched Washington’s controversial loss to BYU on Saturday.
He said there is a temptation to blame the officials.
“We said eight or nine years ago when they started doing this, you start taking the excitement and fun out of it,” Tuberville said. “There’s not a lot of fun in football if you can’t celebrate and have a good time. It’s kind of structured too much.
“But a rule’s a rule. They were pretty picky on that, but I can’t say they were wrong because there is that rule.”
• Slaughter out indefinitely: Tuberville confirmed on Sunday that receiver Chris Slaughter has been suspended indefinitely for a violation of team rules.
Tuberville said Slaughter is still on the team, but it would be “a while” before he played again.
“You’ve just got to go by the rules,” Tuberville said. “He’s in the doghouse.”
— Luke Brietzke