Photo by Vasha Hunt | For The Corner News

LSU celebrates after the Auburn-LSU game Saturday in Auburn.

Paul Rhoads said it’s OK to hurt.

In fact, Auburn’s first-year defensive coordinator says he wants his players to be disappointed after a loss. No, he doesn’t want it to burn them up, but he wouldn’t mind it simmering a little bit.

And Saturday’s 26-21 loss to LSU has the Tigers, especially the defense, at a boil. As Rhoads said was evident during Sunday afternoon’s practice.

How was it?

“Intense,” Rhoads said. “This team has got great resolve. They were hurting. I would make a comment, in the last 10 years, I’ve seen kids bounce back too quickly. I’ve been on a lot of plane rides where there’s too much giggling … going on that shouldn’t take place.

“This team was still what I would call distraught today. The loss affected them. It bothered them. Not because they’re moping and pouting. Still, they got things fixed. They understand what went wrong and they’re ready to get back to work.”

Auburn’s defense was gashed for 398 yards, 293 in the second half — by far the most the Tigers have given up this season.

But both coaches and players said the LSU loss is in the past, and the focus now begins on Auburn’s next opponent Tennessee (a 2:30 p.m. game at Jordan-Hare Stadium this coming Saturday).

“Everybody feels like that was a tough loss,” senior receiver Rod Smith said. “We had a lot of chances to win the game. You could tell the guys were down a little bit, but we had a team meeting today and Coach Tubs just told us to put it behind us. We just went out to practice today and we had a pretty good practice today preparing for Tennessee …”

Opelika’s Doolittle to make first-career start
Tez Doolittle’s comeback is now complete.

Both Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville and defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads said Sunday that Doolittle has played his way up to starting noseguard after his performance in Saturday’s loss to LSU.

It will be Doolittle’s first career start.

The Auburn senior, who was granted a sixth-year of eligibility after tearing his Achilles’ tendon prior to the start of last season, finished with four tackles and half a sack against LSU.

“Tez probably played the best game he’s played,” Tuberville said, adding that the former Opelika standout played about 35 snaps, about double what Saturday starter Mike Blanc played at the nose position.

Sunday, Doolittle didn’t know he got the nod until he sat down with the media after practice. He thought he was running with the first string because the coaches wanted him to work on mistakes he made.

“Today we were just kind of doing a little walk-through of what we had messed up in the game and coach just like, ‘Tez, go with the Ones,’” he said. “I was thinking it was just because those were the mistakes I messed up on or whatever. I didn’t really know anything about it. But I’m excited, though.”

It’s been a long road back for Doolittle, who wasn’t even sure he’d be able to get a sixth-year until the NCAA let him know this past spring.

“It means a lot to me,” he said. “I’ve been working my tail off trying to get to that spot, and I finally got there now. I’m really excited about it. I’m just hoping I can hold it down.”

Lester to have MRI on knee
Auburn first two SEC games have not been kind to Brad Lester. After suffering a sprained neck in Auburn’s win against Mississippi State last week, in which he left the game on a cart, strapped to a neck brace and backboard, Lester was injured again Saturday night in the Tigers’ loss to LSU.

Tuberville said that Lester twisted his left knee and scheduled to get an MRI on Sunday. The results were not known by press time.

“We’ll just have to wait to see how the MRI came out,” Tuberville said. “There’s a lot of guys beat up on both sides. That was a pretty tough deal. He got twisted around and his cleats got caught in the ground. It’s just one of those things. Brad’s had a tough start.”

AU falls in polls after loss
Auburn dropped to No. 15 in the AP poll, which was released Sunday. The Tigers also dropped to No. 16 in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll. Before AU’s loss to LSU on Saturday night, the Tigers were No. 10 in the AP and ninth in the coaches’ poll.

Moving up fast, however, was Vanderbilt. The Commodores are making their first appearance in the Top 25 in 24 years, ranked No. 21 by the AP and No. 25 by the coaches.

The SEC has four teams still ranked in the top 10 in the AP, with Georgia at No. 3, Florida at No. 4, LSU at No. 5 and Alabama at No. 8.

AU nabs two commitments Sunday
Saturday night’s loss to LSU didn’t deter two high school recruits from committing to Auburn on Sunday.

Steven Jacques, a 6-foot-4, 280-pound offensive lineman from Hollywood, Fla. (South Broward), and Montez Robinson, a 6-5, 235-pound defensive end from Avon, Ind., told Auburnsports.com Sunday that they both plan on signing with AU in February on National Signing Day.

Jacques and Robinson are Auburn’s 24th and 25th commitments for the Class of 2009.

“I just like Auburn,” Jacques told Auburnsports.com on Sunday. “There’s something about Auburn that’s got me.”

Jacques is ranked as the No. 53 offensive guard in the country by Rivals.com, while the Web site also has Robinson as a four-star defensive end.

Jacques and Robinson were two of six official visitors to come to the Plains this weekend. They were joined by offensive lineman Aaron Moore (Frisco, Texas), who had already committed to Auburn, as well as Conor O’Neill (LB, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), Shane Gordon (LB, Weston, Fla.) and Jared Wheeler (OL, Plantation, Fla.).

Jacques chose Auburn over offers from South Carolina, South Florida and West Virginia, among others, while Robinson had offers from Alabama, Georgia and Illinois, as well as others.