Tommy Tuberville is certain that his new offense is unlike anything Auburn or any team in the Southeastern Conference has ever implemented.

" It's not been tried in this league, " Tuberville proclaimed last month at SEC Media Days. " Nobody has ever run it like we're going to run it. "

So what is the big deal ?

The offense is, in its simplest explanation, a Spread iteration with the quarterback in the shotgun and fast-paced play-calling. Auburn's variation, though, is tailback-oriented, Tuberville said.

But the object is similar to the Spread looks of every team in the nation - maintain control of the game and force defenses to grow tired as the offense continues to march down the field.

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Ten years ago, any bargain-basement variety of the Spread or no-huddle offense was almost unheard of in the SEC. Today, the Spread offense isn't anything new to SEC coaches.

Kentucky does it, Florida does it, Tennessee is making the transition and South Carolina even has some forms of the offense with Steve Spurrier's heralded play-calling. At LSU, the Tigers sprinkled a dab of the philosophy in its offense onward to its second BCS national championship last season.

Now the two most runoriented teams of the last 10 years in the SEC are spreading it out.

Auburn and Arkansas, with the arrival of Bobby Petrino as head coach, will join the Spread offense party.

The Spread offense that once seemed only popular among smaller schools looking to get a leg up on a bigname opponent is no longer viewed as a gimmick among coaches in the SEC.

" It's hard in this league to consistently pound and pound the ball, " Tuberville said. " People were ganging up on us.... You know, if we wanted to consistently say, ' OK, we're going to stay with winning eight, nine games and sometimes maybe win 10, ' I think we could have stayed with the two-back offense. "

But that's no longer the case among the coaching elite or in the recruiting arena, where coaches are always trying to trump each other, Tuberville said. And that's why his new Spread, he contends, is unlike any other in the nation.

It's the Tigers' trump card.

" Everybody says, ' Well, some teams run this, ' " Tuberville said. " Not like we run it. "

The new system under offensive coordinator Troy Franklin is centered around the tailback.

" We do have two good running backs in Ben Tate and Brad Lester, " Tuberville said. " But your quarterback is also considered a running back [in this offense ]. "

The change will be one of drastic measure for the Tigers, who have consistently ranked among the top rushing teams in the SEC since Tuberville's arrival on the plains in 1999.

Tuberville made the first drastic change to the offense in December after the Tigers ranked 101 out of 119 teams nationally in total offense per game and lost to rival Georgia, 45-20. Tuberville enticed Franklin to leave Troy soon after the resignation of Al Borges and subsequently implemented one of the most talked-about Spread offenses in the nation.

Tuberville was so confident in the new offense, which Franklin has used to set up book deals and speaking engagements to the tune of almost $ 200, 000 in extra income each year, the Tigers implemented portions of the quick-fire attack eight days before the Tigers' Chick-fil-A Bowl on Dec. 31.

The Tigers beat Clemson in overtime, 23-20, running 93 plays on offense and racking up 423 yards off a seasonhigh 43 pass attempts and 47 rushing plays. The transition to the Spread offense during the spring, as a result, has been easier for one of the most powerful running teams in the SEC since 1999.

" We will still run the football, " Tuberville said. " You got to be able to run it to win. You got to be able to control it.... But your quarterback now is also considered a running back. "

The offense will also require the use of more than one quarterback, Tuberville said.

"... It will be fun to watch. Is it a gamble ? Really not. "

While Auburn manages to easily transition to a Spread look, Arkansas' Petrino said his team's learning curve hasn't been as hard to overcome as some believed either, as they transition to the Power Spread. Senior quarterback Casey Dick threw for 404 yards in Arkansas' spring game in the new system.

Beforehand, he had never thrown for more than 228 yards in his collegiate career. And for good reason - the Razorbacks led the SEC in rushing five of the last six years while ranking near the bottom nationally in passing yards per game. The Razorbacks haven't had a quarterback throw for more than 2, 000 yards since 2004. Simply put, Fayetteville is where the biggest culture change in offensive philosophies will occur this season.

" I do understand that it's a process, " Petrino said. " I think I do understand that - in the game of football - building and changing a program, that it is a process. That's what we're working really hard at. We have to do a great job of practicing. We got to do a great job of getting better at our positions, at our technique and our fundamentals. "

That process, like at Auburn, will take some patience though.

" Well, I would think if you asked my family, they would say I'm really, really patient. But that obviously isn't true, " said Petrino, who went 41-9 as coach at Louisville running the same offense. " I'm not real patient. I like things done, you know, right away. I think you can go fast. I think you can move and get better in a hurry. "

The same case at Auburn, where they too will never ditch the run game but are in dire need of big-play ability.

" Last year I can count on one hand how many big plays we had over 15-20 yards, " Tuberville said. " And, you know, it's tough when you're trying to win in this league consistently by playing defense and just trying to play smash-mouth [on offense ]. We're still going to do that, but hopefully this offense is going to help us be able to score from a long distance a little bit more often. "