"But only the one that doesn't wear orange and blu--OO!"
Yes, it's time once again to fire up the lights and cameras here at the Possumblog Sports Senter and bring you yet another fine week of big-time college football prognosticating!
As you recall from last week, the glorious Plainsmen continued their march by marking off yet another one of the weak and puny schools on its "'Merry Christmas' schedule", having a nice batch of barbecued Hogs for supper.
This week, however, the Tigers (5-1, 3-0 SEC) (.pdf link) face someone worthy of the name 'Tigers,' that being the Bengal Tigers of LS Ewww (4-1, 3-1 SEC).
A road game, to the legendary Tiger "Death Valley" Stadium down on the bayou, to play the current 3rd ranked SEC West team (Auburn being in 2nd), and the Purple'n'Gold looking for redemption from last year's heartbreaking loss to Auburn at Jordan-Hare--it all promises to make for a very exciting game.
LSU is favored to win this one by more than a touchdown, and they've managed to acquit themselves quite well this year against other SEC foes. Expect them to take the same route everyone else has against Auburn this year--go after QB Brandon Cox hard and often in the early going. This is especially effective in a loud place like Tiger Stadium, where if the quarterback gets rattled, the confusion and noise make it even harder to get things done. The solution? Well, Auburn can't wait until the second quarter to adjust like it did last week against those cute piggies. They staged a remarkable comeback based upon adjusting to the blitz and running past it, which finally broke the field open enough to take the pressure off Cox. Their superior depth then kicked in as the game dragged on, leaving Arkansas flat-footed on their little trotters.
LSU cannot be done that way. Even though their cheerleading photos are pitifully lacking in number (thank heavens for Norwegian golfers), the football team still has some talented players. I'm not too worried about Auburn's stellar defense being able to keep LSU's scoring down, but the question is whether Auburn will be able to get enough points offensively to make up a win. Meaning it'll come down to special teams, as it so often does when these two teams play. Punt and kickoff returns, field goal blocking, and skillful punting I believe are going to be what decide things, in what I think is going to be a low-scoring knock-down, drag-out sort of game.
BUT, THAT IS NOT MY DECISION TO MAKE!
NO! For that honor (that is, predicting the actual score) belongs to none other than Possumblog Sport Cinter's Football Pickin' Chicken, Edward M.! Chet the E-Mail Boy is just now leading Edward M. into our offices after giving him a nice warm sponge bath. Chet remarks that Edward M. seems like an awfully big chicken. And friendly. I must agree. Several have asked what breed of chicken Edward M. is, and sadly, I cannot say for certain. We got him from a lovely seaside hamlet in Massachusetts, and that's about all I know.
ANYway, last week, Edward M. was very accurate, predicting a score of 38-21, when in fact it turned out to be 34-17. Pretty good for a chicken, I'd have to say, and especially for one who used a '67 Olds Delta 88 shop manual from which to select numbers. This week, Edward M. will be using a selection of liquor bottles we found inside of his coop, pointing with his beak to the numbers he believes will accurately predict the score.
And now, let's see--
It appears to be Tigers 17--Tigers 16.
There you have it folks! If you have ESPN, I guarantee it will be the best game you've seen all year. If you don't, well, listen to it on the radio like I have to do, and I guarantee it will be the best thing you've heard all year.
Posted by Terry Oglesby at October 21, 2005 02:09 PM