Arkansas Pregame

I only have two questions for tomorrow's game, but they're big ones!

1. Will Auburn's defense be able to contain the two-headed monster that is the Arkansas backfield?

McFadden and Jones perform for the home crowd before kickoff.

2. Which Cox will show up? The one that threw six picks and fumbled once the first three games, or the one that actually looks like a fifth year senior?

SEC Picks - Week 7

East

Florida - Off

South Carolina at North Carolina - Spurrier went 3-0 against the heels while at Duke. Not too much has changed with UNC's football program. The OBC now has SEC talent. This one could get ugly.
USC 28 - UNC 10

MSU at Tennessee - This will be the Great Pumpkin's first opportunity to get "Croomed". This is also the first time in several years that UT doesn't have an off week before the Bama game. Trap game? Nah, but it'll be closer than people think.
UT 24 - MSU 14

UGA at Vanderbilt - UGA is 0-2 in SEC East play. This is a must-win game for them. They'll get it done.
UGA 28 - Vandy 10

West

LSU at Kentucky - Sidelines shows Andre Woodson's pass efficiency game by game. His second to lowest rating was 66.71 against LSU last year. LSU's defense is better this year. Ouch.
LSU 28 - UK 17

Auburn at Arkansas - White jerseys? Fly in the ointment? This one is really hard to call.
Auburn 27 - Arkansas 20

Alabama at Ole Miss - Ole Miss won't be able to get it done this weekend, but they'll keep it close.
Bama 21 - OM 17

Road Game Streak? Even Better!

After I posted yesterday, I started to think about Auburn's loss to LSU in 2004. That's seven SEC road games in a row that Auburn has won. That's pretty impressive, but I'm not sure people are picking up on the real story here.

There's a slight difference for SEC teams when playing road games at LSU thanks to Gerry Dinardo. He successfully lobbied to have a 1982 rule that prohibited home teams from wearing white jerseys overturned. So LSU, like they did before 1982, wears white jerseys for their home games. Except now, they only wear them when playing SEC opponents.

What does this have to do with Auburn? It's pretty obvious, but let's take a look at their losses over the past few years anyway.

2007

vs. MSU

vs. USF

2006

vs. UGA

vs. Arkansas

2005

vs. Wisconsin (Capital One Bowl)

at LSU

vs. Georgia Tech

2004
Undefeated!

2003

at UGA

And there you have it. Auburn has't lost a game wearing white jerseys since November 15, 2003.

Auburn will be wearing white this weekend in Arkansas. The week after that, they'll be wearing their blue home jerseys at LSU. I'm not trying to jump ahead here. Arkansas will prove to be a very difficult game, but wouldn't it be cool if Auburn pulled a 1996 Vanderbilt against LSU? You know, just to stick it to them.

It's actually too late for Auburn to decline LSU's request to wear white jerseys at home. The NCAA rule book states,

Players of opposing teams shall wear jerseys of contrasting colors, and the visiting team shall wear white jerseys. White jerseys may be worn by the home team when the teams have agreed before the season.

What if the streak continues, and Auburn drops a few while wearing blue? What will become of the beloved blue jerseys?

Woah, slow down there, Antoine Carter! Let's not jump the gun on this one.

If Houston Nutt has anything to say about it, the streak will end this weekend. It'll take a lot more than my wacky "White Jersey Theory" to win that game.

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.

Vanderbilt Game Notes and Thoughts

Tuberville gets his 100th SEC win by totally domniating Vanderbilt. Auburn is starting to play like...Auburn.

Good

• Brad Lester is back!
  
• Cox was 14 for 17.
  
• Auburn converted 6 out of 11 third downs.
  
• Take away 1 Vanderbilt drive, helped by 2 bogus penalties, and Auburn would have had a shutout.
  
• Rodgeriqus Smith is stepping up as Auburn's much-needed playmaker at receiver.
  
• Dunn only had one reception, but broke like, 20 tackles to turn it into a 33 yard gain.
  
• Byrum booted one out of the back of the endzone.
  
• Tyronne Green was named "SEC Offensive Lineman of the Week" for his performance against Vandy.
  

Bad

• Jason Bosley sprained his knee. He could be out next week against Arkansas.
  
• Cox's lone interception was pretty boneheaded.
  
• Burns only threw the ball once.
• Auburn returned two kickoffs, and were called for a 10 yard penalty on both of them.
  

How were my pregame questions answered?

1. Will Auburn be awake for this one? Yes! Auburn looked wide awake for this one. Not only that, but Tuberville had the focused look on his face that he usually reserves for top 10 opponents.

2. Will Quinton Grove’s absence make a big difference? No. Neither was the absence of Aairon Savage, Tray Blackmon, or Merrill Johnson. I can't help but wonder how they would have looked at full strength. Either way, the future looks bright.

3. Will Cox throw the ball away (Vandy has 10 picks this season)? Yes. Cox had one pick. Aside from that, he played pretty well.

4. Will Borges show more creativity in his play calling? The beer was flowing and the grill was glowing so I can't really answer this. Did he really need to be more creative in this game? Probably not.

Broadcast Sidenote

I'm glad that LF shows games, but the production needs to improve beyond camcorder status. Also, can we do without American Karaoke loser, Chris "Nickleback-like-crappy-vocals" Daughtry every few minutes? Granted, it's better than the Brooks and Dunn, "AAAAooooooooo, let's play some footbaw", but so is slamming my testicles repetitively in a car door. Coincidentally, that's better than having to listen to Daugherty as well.

Week 6 Results

I went 6-2 for week 6. That brings my overall record to 39-12.

This week, the East went 0-2 against the West.

East

USC 38 - UK 23
Discussed here.

UT 35 - UGA 14
Slow start. Check. Coach on the hot terlet. Check. Beat a favored, highly ranked team on national TV. Check. Is Fulmer a more rotund, in your face version of Tuberville?

West

LSU 28 - UF 24
Great teams find a way to win. LSU is a great team.

AU 35 - VU 7
Domination. More on this one later.

UA 30 - UH 24
Most of the fans didn't see Houston's last drive that almost put the game into overtime. Apparently, Bama's intensity left with the fans.

Ark 35 - UTC 15
Was Arkansas looking ahead to next week?

MSU 30 - UAB 13
Auburn fans were sweating well into the fourth quarter during this game. MSU continues its domination over Conferense USA teams with this win.

OM 24 - LT 0
Ole Miss is an enigma. There, I said it.

Vanderbilt Pregame

The big questions of the day are:

1. Will Auburn be awake for this one?


2. Will Quinton Grove’s absence make a big difference?


3. Will Cox throw the ball away (Vandy has 10 picks this season)?


4. Will Borges show more creativity in his play calling?

I’d love for number 1 and number 2 to be “Yes”. If Auburn is awake, everything should fall into place. If they aren't, I'd like to know what's going on the night before home games.