Possumblog

What’s This!?

Why are all the studio lights glaring, and the music playing, and all these harried production people scurrying about on a Thursday!?

Because we’ve got a special Thursday Edition of Possumblog Sports Center, that’s why!

And why is that?

Because the still undefeated Auburn Tigers (4-0, 2-0 SEC) will be traveling into the heart of angry yardbird territory tonight to take on Steve Spurrier’s latest client, the University of South Carolina (3-1, 1-1 SEC), that’s why, and YOU need all the information you can get!

And why come to Possumblog Sports Center for that information?

It is a mystery.

BUT YOU’RE HERE NOW, so let’s sit back and take a look at what all is going to happen tonight. In order to do that, it might be good to look back a few days to this past Saturday, when I was once again proven incredibly wrong about the Plainsmen, in that I figured they would ride the Buffalo Bulls-not-Bills into the ground during the first quarter. BUT IT WAS NOT TO BE--buffalo being much larger and more recalcitrant than one might have been led to believe, they managed a very spirited offense and defense throughout the first half of the game. Auburn did come alive in the second half to make the Bulls into buffalosers to the tune of 38-7, but some debilities are beginning to show up with the men of Alabama Polytech.

Offensively, it was bland, but that can be attributed to a slow day passing with a crippled Brandon Cox at QB, and a benched Kenny Irons on the rushing side. It can also be attributed to something much more pernicious--let me say this, it’s one thing for LSU to be able to blitz and score a bunch of sacks, QUITE ANOTHER for Buffalo to be able to do pretty much the same thing. Were I Satan or his evil henchman Coach Spurrier, I would blitz every pass play.

Defensively, the Tigers are still strong and can’t be faulted--in fact, they might be a bit too good in one area. Quickness. They are incredible agile and quick to pursue, but they can be fooled into pursuing the wrong thing, quickly. Sometimes it can help to have a couple of options of what to do or where to go so you don’t get too far gone from the ball. Another thing is aggressive coverage downfield. Lots of bumping and shoving down there, which has its place, but it wouldn’t be nearly so necessary if the deep backs in coverage were better able to read receivers. Again, were I Super Steve, I’d be flinging lots of long passes, hoping for either miracle catches or the inevitable pass interference calls.

On the other hand, South Carolina has had a few problems of its own, and of a worser sort--barely beating Mississsiisispsiii State, getting beaten by Georgia, and then struggling to hang on to a 27-20 win over the mighty Wofford Terriers. They’re a better team than that, with better coaching. I have a feeling that will become evident when the first kickoff thumps into the air of Williams-Brice Stadium. The 45-6 victory over Florida Atlantic of the past week was notable since it is a better indicator of their potential, even if it was demonstrated on the likes of FlaAtl. Auburn, remember, could have nipped Buffalo in a similar manner--in theory.

“BUT!”, you say. Or ask. Or interject. Or exclaim. “But, what about the thing that is the surest indicator of success in a big-time college football program!?”

Well, let’s just say that there is one USC who knows how to highlight its cheerleading squad, and one that doesn’t. Sad, but no current pictures of any South Carolina games this year, and a very weak grasp of the whole idea of individual profiles.

And lest we forget--their mascot is a chicken named Cocky. Despite all the potential for causing all the blue-haired bluenoses to faint dead away by embracing all the double-entendre laden possibilities of such a mascot, in the end, it’s just a silly looking chicken. Look, if you’re gonna have a gamecock named Cocky, at least try to make him a little bit more hip--I would think someone more along the lines of Allan-a-Dale, as voiced by the dulcet-toned (and quite late) Roger Miller in Disney’s Robin Hood. Now THAT chicken was one cool cat! (Musicians, you know.)

I can’t be too hard on them, though, because the Tigers own website was only just recently updated with a few more pictures, and they continue to be marred by the inclusion of guys. But at least we have a cool mascot. And live eagles, which can swoop down and eat chickens like, well, like an eagle eating chickens. So I figure we win this contest.

AS FOR THE CONTEST ON THE GRIDIRON--This is going to be a hard one--SC will have home field advantage and the horned-and-leathery-winged spawn of Belial pacing the sidelines wearing headphones. I will throw my special sheep knuckle bones and now predict the final score to be…

AUBURN 24 -- SOUTH CAROLINA 17

Kickoff will be around 6:30ish Central, with television coverage by ESPN, meaning I won’t get to watch it. Which is fine, because My Name is Earl and The Office will both be on, and I can watch them while listening to the play-by-play on the radio.

BUT WAIT, THAT'S NOT ALL!!

Not a week can go by that we do not stop to honor Auburn's fine student athletes by awarding ONE lucky person the Possumblog Student Athlete of the Week!

This week we celebrate the braininess and sportliness of one Alicia Lenkiewicz, a 5ft-4in freshman on the gymnastics team. A native of the land of California, Alicia is starting out at Auburn in the math/science field and has already done well enough to be honored at the April Tiger Torch banquet for her classroom performance. In addition to her scholarship, she is also apparently a demon on the various equipage, as this article (with winsome photo) notes: "Lenkiewicz is one of the few female gymnasts that [sic] competes [sic] a Wyler kip, a men's high bar skill, on uneven bars. This E-level skill combined with a double front dismount makes for a unique and difficult routine that is sure to be one of the Tigers [sic] top uneven bar scores when the season begins in January 2006."

Mighty darned impressive! So we congratulate Leigh as the 5th PSAotW!

Posted by Terry Oglesby at September 28, 2006 08:10 AM