THE RUNDOWN
Week 9: Ole Miss. Constant weather delays turned the game between the Rebel Black Bears and Arkansas into a 5 hour affair that ended 38-24, with only a handful of die hards sticking around till the end of the game. The Rebels may have lost by 2 TDS, but they are making strides by putting up 512 yards of offense with Masoli doing almost all the damage (327 passing. 98 rushing). Unfortunately for Auburn the Rebels (3-4) are peaking at the worst time and will be primed for the Tigers come Saturday night.
Worry Level: Cabin Fever (Might look scary, but halfway through you’ll be laughing and wondering why you were so worried).
Week 10: Chattanooga. At the start of the 4th quarter Furman led Chattanooga 28-10. With almost 7 minutes left in the 4th it was 36-28 Chattanooga… Yes, you read that right. The Mocs improve to 5-2 and host Elon this week. UT-Chat should be 6-2 coming into Jordan Hare. They may be an FCS team, but they certainly appear to be a good one ,which helps in the computer rankings.
Worry Level: Casper
Week 11: Georgia. The Dawg defense stood up to the test on the road; they may have allowed 423 yards but they forced 4 turnovers, which helped Georgia jump out to a 28-3 lead. Georgia had only 290 yards of offense, and threw the ball only 12 times, but it was all they needed to beat the Cats, 44-31. This was the same Kentucky team who beat South Carolina last week and gave Auburn fits the week before. After starting 1-4, Georgia has righted the ship. Color me worried.
Worry Level: Dawn of the Dead (The Dawgs have risen, could get intense.)
Week 12: Alabama. Went on the road to a bad Tennessee team and got the backups plenty of playing time in a 41-10 win. The Vols jumped out to an early 7-0 lead and kept it close at halftime 13-10, but it was all Alabama (7-1) in the second half. The Tide wore down a pitiful Tennessee team and ran away with it. Since the cachet-killing loss to South Carolina, people are starting to realize that Bama is one of the most boring teams in the country to watch. The Tide is off this week as they get ready for LSU.
Worry Level: The Shining (terrifying, but not as scary as the book… admit it, you thought I’d go with this)
THE CONQUERED (AND THE CONQUERORS)
Arkansas St. Beat Schnelly and Florida Atlantic 37-16 to improve to 3-5. The Wolves are kind of off this week – they play Middle Tennessee next Tuesday on ESPN2
Mississippi State nearly let one slip away in Starkville, but the Bulldogs were able to put UAB away in the end, 29-24. State improves to an impressive 6-2 with the losses coming to Auburn and LSU. It’s a pretty impressive job by Dan Mullen. The Bulldogs host Kentucky this weekend.
Clemson hosted and handled Georgia Tech, 27-13. Kyle Parker is still hurting from the Auburn game and has yet to play up to par, but Andre Ellington is still taking care of business rushing for 166 yards. Clemson (4-3) travels to Chestnut Hill this weekend for a winnable game against Boston College.
South Carolina struggled to put Vandy down in Nashville, 21-7. While the Gamecocks almost doubled up the Dores in the yardage department, they struggled to put points on the board. This week they face a tough test as they travel to Arkansas. South Carolina remains in the driver seat in the East, but they still have to travel to Gainesville, and my money is still on the Gators to get to Atlanta.
Louisiana Monroe traveled to Murfreesboro, TN this week and shouldn’t have gotten off the bus. MTSU won easily, 38-10, dropping the Warhawks to 3-4. It’s only going to get toughter – they host the conference-leading Troy Trojans this weekend.
Kentucky was looking for another home win this week when Georgia came to town, but the Dawgs jumped them early and the Cats couldn’t recover. The Wildcats fall to 4-4 and travel to Starkville this weekend.
Arkansas jumped out to a 21-0 but fell asleep at the wheel against Ole Miss thanks to 90 minutes of rain delays. Mallett didn’t finish the game, but the Hogs didn’t need him to. Arkansas held on to win 38-14. They host South Carolina this week.
THE OVERALL PICTURE
As exciting as Auburn likes to keep things, we can’t look past anyone. Ole Miss is improving and you can’t look past any SEC road game. Georgia is playing their best ball of the year and have things back on track. (Thankfully that game is at home.) And Alabama is still looming large at the end of the season. But smile Auburn fans – a BCS game is certain with two more wins. And the championship game? They can’t keep us out this year.
The trap scenario of the Ole Miss game does scare me, but I honestly believe this is not the type of team to overlook anybody. Not even Chattanooga.
I’m heading over to Oxford for the game this weekend. I don’t have tickets, but I’m willing to take my chances. Anybody else going to the game?
It’s not a trap scenario, “It’s a Trap!”
Maybe if gameday had decided to come to the game I would be worried, but there busy running Oregon’s chances. I am almost more worried about UGA then I am Alabama, they seem to really be pulling things together over there.
I’m hoping Malzahn’s hate of Nutt is enough to ensure the team doesn’t fall asleep, but I have faith that AU will be ok this weekend on the road.
Somehow I have s feeling that this Ole Miss game will be Dyer’s breakout game.
Yeah, Malzahn should be able to head off the Nutt upset mojo since he has intimate inside knowledge of what Nutt is telling those guys.
Foy, I will be there. Wish I had known sooner I just gave away my other ticket to a guy from church. He’s gotta drive though.
i’m going too! can’t wait to hang out in the grove and watch my auburn tigers as the BCS #1!!! i think chizik will have our guys focused, but am a little anxious about a potential banana peal…
tigertracker, C’est la vie. I’m not too worried about finding a ticket. My brother-in-law teaches at Ole Miss, so it will be nice to visit and at least be in town with the Tigers. I did the same thing two years ago and my wife and I managed to luck into two awesome seats. Ticket or no, I will be there at Tiger Walk and enjoying the “tailgating” experience of the Grove.
Alex P, I like the way you think.
I hope Fla does make it to the SECCG….I really dont want to see USC again….Plus it will be nice to still say that Auburn owns Urban Meyer….But I think Fla goes 1-3 over thier last 4 and finishes 5-7.
How much power will it take to beat bama……
One Newton
Sorry, mikey, man, but I have to be an engineer for a second.
Newton would be the unit of force, a watt the unit of power.
SC/Arky is next week, and it’s in Columbia. SC hosts Tennessee this weekend. Arkansas hosts Vandy.
I’m not going to disagree with your analogy of Ole Miss, b/c I’m very worried about them right now, Hopefully, everything rings true and by halftime we have a laugher.
Massoli is the kind of QB that gives us alot of trouble historically. The LB’s better show alot of discipline and not start chasing b/c he could make us look really bad. The good thing is that Fairley gives us a great pass rush up the middle, making it less likely that Massoli can scramble.
WDE!!