Possumblog

Mmmmm--BUFFALO WINGS!!

Break out the hot sauce and bleu cheese, it's time once again for POSSUMBLOG SPORTS CENTER!

The battered and fried #2(or #3, or #9 in the BSC rankings)-ranked Tigers (2-0 SEC, 3-0 overall) return to Jordan-Hare stadium this week after just barely escaping last week's intense defensive struggle against a rowdy band of Ragin' Cajuns.

Although the game was marred by two umpiratorial shillybobs (which were later upheld by an SEC review committee), it was still a tremendously hard-hitting game by two equally matched schools.

The one beef I have with the AU offensive line was that it allowed way too many sacks this past week, and Brandon Cox very nearly wound up off to the showers with a hurt leg from one too many blitzes.

Something to work on.

And poor ol' John Vaughn--still fighting that 'Other Tiger' mojo, cranked another one into the upright. But, as one of his teammates told him, he'll never miss another one against LSU ever again. He should be fine for the rest of the season. No complaints about that mauling defense, or the punting game, though--still doing yeoman's duty at shutting down all comers.

A good, hard-fought game, even if it did make my predictatory skills look embarrassingly lame in retrospect.

IS IT TIME TO REST THIS WEEK?

NO WAY!--What with the unprecedented move of having to play against the second place team in the AFC East Division, the Buffalo Bills! I can't remember Auburn playing an NFL team before, but just like the LSU game, it should be a whim-doozy of a match up. Now, Buffalo might have lost 3 of 4 of their preseason games, and be 1-1 in regular season play, but you have to remember the loss came to a very strong New England Patriots team who are sitting with a 2 in the power rankings right now.

And to make it even BETTER--the NFL knows how to do cheerleading. The Buffalo Jills (how cute!) have a very strong lineup and their squad page is full of all kinds of photos and statistics and white go-go boots!

So quite an exciting time--er, hold on a minute, let me get that phone.

Possumblog Sports Center!

Mmhm.

Really, now.

It's not?

There's two?

Well, that can't be right. Are you sure?!

Hmm.

Okay, well you're sure it IS in New York, right?

And it's not some high school team, either, right?

Sheesh.

Uhhhh, sorry about that, folks. And all that stuff about the Bills and Jills and stuff? Never mind.

Seems the Tigers will be taking on the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Well, it IS the first time we've played them, although we have played and defeated five other teams from the powerhousey Mid-American Conference over the years.

Coach Tuberville doesn't seem to discount their abilities, however, and vows that QB Cox will play. Which is good--every opponent is a serious one, and nothing feels better to a team like Buffalo than defeating someone you're not supposed to beat, such as, say, Auburn. As Coach noted,

[...] we are not a 'rolling ball of butcher knives' right now on offense. So we have to get better at running, throwing and blocking; all of it. We are not going to be able to do what we would like to do if we don't get better on offense. You don't get better without practicing or playing. [...]

Rollin' ball of butcher knives, indeed.

So, despite the lure of going easy, don't look for the Buffs to be shown any mercy on Saturday.

At least they do have cheerleaders.

Nonetheless, my PREDICTION OF FINAL OUTCOME looks like...

AUBURN 54 -- BUFFALO 7

Kickoff will be at 1:30 CT, with coverage via the Internets and on your Auburn Radio Network affiliates. AND A WORD ABOUT THAT--I sure would be tickled if WYSF here in Birmingham would do away with their delay on games that are televised. Especially after last week's stupidfest from the See B.S. broadcasters, I would dearly have wanted to mute the idiot box and just listen on the radio. But a five or ten second delay is too disconcerting to figure out--the play's over while the announcers are still announciating. So, please--do it for people like me.

You know, morons.

BUT WAIT, THAT'S NOT ALL!

It's time to name our 4th Possumblog Student Athlete of the Week!

But before we get to that, I feel I must address some concerns that have been voiced. It has been pointed out that every PSAotW has been a very tall, very attractive, very female, girl.

I do not have any idea why anyone would make a statement like this, and frankly I find it hurtful and demeaning that anyone would think me so shallow. But enough about me, on to our honoree of the week.

This week the award goes to the Tiger's striking (so to speak) Jorja Bell, a 6'-0" brunette who will be playing her first season (after sitting out 2005) at catcher on the very strong women's softball team.

Jorja, whose name I believe is pronounced 'Georgia Belle,' is from the Deep Deep South, namely Auckland, New Zealand. In that odd corner of the globe, she attended Epsom Girls Grammar School, and played on the Aukland U-17 and U-19 regional softball teams that won championships in 2002 and 2003.

Jorja is a junior this year and was named to the 2006 SEC Softball Good Works Team, and has been named to the SEC Honor Roll.

I never knew softball was so big in Kiwiland, and Jorja is something of a hometown celebrity due to her being whisked off to the wilds of Alabama to play her college ball. The Zealanders have a nice website for players off to other parts of the world, and Jorja has kept them filled in on the exotic world of Lee County. (Although she does need to do an update.)Nice photos, too--I apologize (or "apologise" for all you people who spell in English) but I simply had to steal one of them.

THIS is what a ball player should look like, folks:

Of course, it helps if they also look like this without the dirt:

SO, there you go!

Posted by Terry Oglesby at September 22, 2006 08:30 AM