The Gameday Post — BCS Championship Game

Updating throughout the day. Linking, linking, linking and random thoughts from TWER’s contributors. War Eagle!

[ETERNITY CST] See ya’ at Toomer’s.

Let’s War Eagle forever.

[Sometime CST] John’s final chart:

[9:36 p.m. CST] John’s chart for the first half… who KNOWS what it would like if we weren’t playing the game on Oregon-grown Slip’n’Slide Turf [click to enlarge]:

[5 p.m. CST] This will be my final post for the evening. (Some other writer might check in though. John might have some halftime statistics/diagrams for us to pour over. So check out this space from time to time.) I don’t know about you but I am YAHHHA HAHAHA CRAZY WITH ANTICIPATION right about now. And very, very very nervous. Thanks for checking in on the gameday posts this very special season. It’s been a blast. It’s great to be an Auburn Tiger! (Mostly because you usually are surrounded by other Auburn Tigers!) Anyway, on with another round of photography! And let’s beat those Ducks tonight! [– J.M.]

[4 p.m. CST] It’s Miller time on the East Coast. My celebration begins now! Speaking of celebration, here’s some photos from one Grace Byrd Moss aka Twitter’s #auburnwarriorprincess that she took at last night’s Charles Barkley pregame party.

… more coming in a little bit.

[3:45 p.m. CST] Sneak preview? Definitely. Jinx? Possibly. But here it is anyway. Send your angry letters to Jer.

I’m partial to the navy blue myself. [– J.M.]

[3:35 p.m. CST] Four hours left?!?!? Aaaack! Have I worried enough? We’ve got some more photos from Van coming. And another set of photos from Charles Barkley’s party last night. Sadly, the photos are “safe for work.” And Jeremy sends this video and text:

Auburn fans give their thoughts on cancellations and celebrations on Championship Eve

A potentially crippling winter storm cast a surreal shadow over the football watching plans of the Loveliest Village of the Plains yesterday.

Those who stayed put for the BCS National Championship game, as well as the thousands of Auburn fans who drove in for the viewing party in Auburn Arena (which the university canceled Saturday night) were faced with the possibility of power outages… and no TV.

[3:15 p.m. CST] Photos from one of TWER’s Men on the Scene (Van, aka One-Half Wishbone) pour in! I’ll post them here as fast as I can!

[12:45 p.m. CST] Wow. 38-35 Ducks is a popular pick with the experts at Rivals.com. (Note to my heart: Hang in there buddy. We can do this tonight.)

Terry Henley sits down with The Daily Home and talks about the national championship game tonight, Cam Newton and Iron Bowls:

Henley said that he would like to think he had played in the greatest Iron Bowl ever; one that came to be known as “Punt Bama Punt.” … However, he admits that this year’s Alabama and Auburn game was the greatest Iron Bowl victory ever. He said Auburn was able to come back because of an “excellent coaching job at halftime.”

Strong “greatest” endorsement by Henley! [– J.M.]

[12:15 p.m. CST] As Steve Miller crooned and as I mash a couple of his lyrics: “Big ol’ jet airliner … fly like an eagle … to the … um … desert?” al.com reports that flights have resumed out of Birmingham! Too late? I dunno.

Walt checks in below. The gang’s all here!!!!

Justin has a FANTASTICAL preview up on the site now. Go there. [– J.M.]

[10:40 a.m. CST] After all that waiting for today, time is moving at an impressive clip right now. Nerves can’t seem to keep up. My mind screams, “Are they ready?!?! Are YOU ready?!?”

What kind of duck is everyone eating tonight? My group of gameday friends in D.C. is ordering delivery Thai duck for the game. Anyone out there have an impressive recipe/story to share? [– J.M.]

[10:35 a.m. CST] al.com reports that flights out of Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport might resume at noon today. Keep your fingers crossed. It’s going to cut it close for some Auburn fans that might (or might not) actually have tickets to the game tonight. [– J.M.]

[9:45 a.m. CST] Two schools! Two winged warriors! A feathered fight to the death!

[8:45 a.m. CST] I still find it surreal. My mind just shut down at the beginning of the second quarter of the Iron Bowl. And everything after that has been dreamlike. Is this real? My wife and I have watched the Iron Bowl about seven times now on CBSC just to make sure it happened. Somehow our Tigers overcame.

There was a juncture in that game. I think that something happened … a shift in realities. The gods of the gridiron thought they’d be practical jokers. It was the McElroys dancing in the stands (I use “dancing” loosely here). That’s the point. The low point. The lowest of the low point for me. I felt sick. I was afraid. I had doubts. I seethed.

Now, it’s my favorite point of this season. How? HOW did the Tigers escape and win the Iron Bowl and win the SEC championship and win awards and now this? What feels like 293 days after the SEC championship game, our team is ready to take the country by storm tonight.

It is a long time coming. Read the words of Jerry. Kenny. Ben and the Wishbone. And John (I’m with his dad on the exhaustion of this year). Just a few voices of hundreds of thousands … millions? … of Auburn fans out there today waiting for destiny. Will our Tigers overcome again? Is there a tighter team on the planet right now? I mean, tight like brothers from coaches to players? I doubt it. You can’t break their spirit. You can’t beat ’em down. That’s our biggest strength: Auburn spirit. That orange-and-blue X-factor. That’s what the Oregon Ducks will be unable to beat tonight. [– J.M.]