Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Arkansas, a Pain in the A**...

Nutt to Tuberville: "Gotcha!"

Auburn (4-2) at Arkansas (3-2)

The Auburn/Arkansas game always seems to be downplayed a bit. I'm not sure why. It's one of those games that you can never predict.

Tuberville has gone into this game with a better record than Nutt six out of eight meetings, but he's only 4-4 against him (3-3 when having a better season). This of course is leaving out the only time these two coaches met while Tuberville was still at Ole Miss, which ended in a 34-0 win for Arkansas.

Nutt seems to do a better job of pissing in Auburn's cereal than any other coach. When he beats Tuberville, he really beats him. Arkansas has won by an average margin of 22 points in Nutt's 4 wins against Tuberville at Auburn. Take into consideration that for three of those seasons, Auburn went into that game 6-1, 4-1, and 5-0 while Arkansas was 3-3, 2-2, and 3-1. Auburn was actually the underdog for Tuberville's other loss against Nutt.

Everyone knows that Tuberville is good for laying at least one egg a season. In all honesty, most coaches are. At any rate, games against Arkansas make up a decent percentage of Tuberville's eggs. It's definitely clear why Auburn fans get a little nervous every year when the Arkansas game rolls around.

But there is some good news. Auburn has won their last two trips to Fayetteville. In fact, Auburn has done quite well on the road the past few seasons. RazorBloggers Network points this out, “…amazingly, the Tigers are 12-1 in their last 13 SEC road games since 2004.” The one loss was that wacky voodoo overtime game in Death Valley.

So where does the advantage lie this Saturday? Tuberville's propensity to lay an egg against Arkansas, or his ability to have Auburn well prepared for away games? I'm guessing neither. These are just coincidences derived from useless stats.

Here are a few more useless Tuberville (at Auburn) versus Nutt stats that you might find interesting:
  • Auburn has gone into the Arkansas game following a win seven out of eight times, losing the only time it followed a loss.
  • Arkansas has lost six out of eight games the week after playing Auburn, losing all four when Auburn won.
  • Auburn went on to win the SEC West two out of the four times they beat Arkansas, winning the SEC championship game once.
  • Arkansas went on to win the SEC West two out of the four times they beat Auburn.
  • The team that has scored over 20 points has won the game seven out of eight times. The only exception to this was the 10-3 Auburn win in 2003.
  • Both teams are 2-2 at home. For you math wizards, that means they're both 2-2 away as well.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Kentucky was a loss. Troy and North Texas werent. The fact is, we contributed to them being ranked so low in rush defense. No team that we face, win or loss, ranked or unranked, have been able to stop our run. We have been posting 300-400+ yards rushing on every team we play.

Unfortunately for you guys, you are going to fall victim to our 300-400+ yards rushing as well.

I like your site. Good stuff.