Good morning, football fanatics! Once more the mighty oaken doors of Possumblog Sports Center are kicked open for yet another round of our weekly commentary on the virtues of the glorious Auburn Tigers!
This week the #3 ranked Plainsmen (2-0, 1-0 SEC) come back home to the Loveliest Village after sojourning to Starkville to silence a cowbell convention, which they did convincingly to the tune of 34-0.
Despite the Tigers looking quite fit overall, there have been a few scriveners in various media outlets who have expressed worry that the Bulldogs were able to lock down the Tiger running game so well. I am still not convinced that it was necessarily all due to the efforts of the Mississsippians, however.
Maybe I've just heard too much from the conspiracy mongering folks living down in the fever swamp, but I have feeling ol' Coach Tub might have been sandbagging a bit. I think the staff knew Miss State was going to concentrate on Kenny Irons, and went ahead and let them (and everyone else who might go by the initials of LSU) think they really had slowed him down. The stats certainly don't lie, do they? Now, it's not that Auburn wouldn't have wanted to run more yards, or that Mississippie State wasn't physical, but maybe there was the sense that it wasn't worth worrying too much about, and maybe the coaches had a sense that the pass game needed a workout, and the running backs needed to stay healthy for our guests from Baton Rouge.
Grist for the mill, I suppose.
Anyway, the Tigers looked balanced, and practiced, and poised, and made very few mistakes.
WHICH WILL BE CRUCIAL THIS WEEK--seeing as how our SEC Championship Hope-Dashing Opponents from the Bayooo will come calling.
This has gotten to be a big ticket over the years. Obviously it's not the Alabama game, which around here counts for everything, and it's not the Georgia game, which is the South's Oldest Rivalry, but the fact is that whoever wins this contest has had a way of winding up as SEC champion, and by extension, a contender for the not-quite-mythical national championship. So while there are other regional games of similar intensity, there is nothing else right now that matches it in national implication.
Therefore, I am predicting (along with everyone else) that this is going to be a good one amongst a host of good ones this weekend.
LSU is flashy hot right now, with lots of points scored against Lou-Lafayette (big deal) and Arizona (better, but still not quite all that), while Auburn has been much more staid and workmanlike in its two outings. All the various people who know things are predicting yet another titanic struggle this year--another nail-biting single digit win by one side or another, but for once, I'm going to go way out on a limb here.
I say Auburn is going to startle everyone with a wide-open passing attack throughout the game, and not just on 3rd and long. I predict you'll see every possible short and long route they have, and you'll see them on 1st downs just as much as on 3rd. NOT ONLY THAT, you are going to see a whole 'nother running game, as well--no three yards and a cloud of dust stuff, but some wild wacky stuff. Why? I think it goes against what everyone is expecting, and it jibes with my thoughts that the Blue and Orange Tigers have been deliberately conservative to now. On defense, they've been strong and solid, and I don't think they'll give anything up to LSU, BUT, I think LSU is going to continue what they've been doing. This will theoretically make them easier to plan against--they're already doing exciting stuff, so if you know how to stop that, what are they gonna do, go conservative? Nah. If the Blue can hold on defense, I think you're gonna see something not seen in a while. A blowout. Yep. You heard it here first. BUT MORE ABOUT THAT LATER...
Right now, it's time to discuss one of the best secrets to top team performance, and for once, we find an opponent who seems to have even less consideration for the young ladies in its valiant young cheerleading corps than we do. Although our computing department has let us down once more by not bringing us the very newest photos of our brave cheersters, we still have an edge on the Bayou Bengals. One plain ol' team photo is it, folks. Sheesh.
Now, some might say that this oversight by the Cajuns is MORE than made up for by the Golden Girls, who don't have a Bea Arthur or Estelle Getty anywhere. It would be hard to argue that point.
Still, I have to give this one to the home team.
AND AS FOR THAT SCORE PREDICTION--as I said, I'm in a limb-going-out-on mood this week, and feel like it's going to be quite a zingy show for the host team. My prediction this week then is...
AUBURN 30 -- LSU 13
That might not sound like a blowout, but given the recent past history of the series, that's a LOT of distance between winner and loser. IF IT DOESN'T TURN OUT THIS WAY, I can still guarantee you that this is going to be a super game, and I can say that even if the unthinkable should happen and LSU manages to make us run out of time. If you can watch it or listen to it, it would be worth it because it'll be a whim-doozy no matter what.
Kickoff 2:30 Saturday from Jordan-Hare Stadium, with television coverage provided by Katie Couric.
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!
Surely to GOODNESS you don't think I'd let you leave without first honoring our third POSSUMBLOG STUDENT ATHLETE OF THE WEEK!
This week the arrow of fate points to Rachel Shanks, a long-shanked 5'-10" volleyballer. Miss Shanks is a junior pharmacy student, and plays as an outside hitter.
Haling from the lovely town of Madison, Alabama, she attended Bob Jones High, and in addition to having some good heightiness to her, she also has a brainy head up at the very top of her muscular shoulders, with a place in the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society, and the Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society, and was named the COSAM Outstanding Freshman.
SO, congratulations to Rachel as this week's PSAotW!
AND THAT'S STILL NOT ALL!! For all you poetry and tiger lovers...
THE TYGER
By William Blake
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare sieze the fire?
And what shoulder, & what art.
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?
What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
This game worries me. Perhaps I'm taking the comments of those media types too much to heart. Still last week showed that while Kenny Irons could be slowed down, he's not the only talented running back AU has. Brad Lester broke some nice runs and you'll recall was the starting back last year before he got hurt.
NOW, do you suppose Coach Borges could figure out a way of getting both Irons and Lester on the field at the same time? I seem to recall.....
Posted by: Southtrek at September 15, 2006 08:19 AMHmmm--yes, Big Al might be able to have MORE than one talented back in the backfield at a time...
Auburn could obviously lose this one, and from what I've seen they're almost a four point underdog, but I don't think they will lose by being too conservative on offense.
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at September 15, 2006 08:34 AMIt should worry you Southtrek, for we have Charlie, the "big ole hunky Tiger bird," on our side.
Posted by: Janis Gore at September 15, 2006 11:10 AMWell, yes, okay, I was wrong on the score, but Auburn DID pass the ball a lot. The big problem was that LSU seemed to have figured that out early.
Good grief, how I hate games like this. They angry up the blood something fierce.
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at September 16, 2006 06:27 PM