FULLTIME, FUNTIME:
Holy hell, that was fun. Cam catches a pass for a TD and throws for a bunch of yards but never has to strain himself; Dyer finally gets going the way we’ve known he could get going; the defense does enough that there’s no real complaints; another 300 yards on the ground; Houston Nutt gets half a hundred hung on him. After Dyer’s 30-yard run, we got to let our blood pressure fall for just about the entire rest of the game. (There was maybe a flutter after the onsides recovery, but only a flutter.) That was the dominant game we’ve been waiting for all season.
Maybe most satisfying was how energetic and how focused Auburn was. That post I wrote earlier today about how tired they had to be? Forget it. They are not tired. They look like they’re only gaining strength. That we got that dominant game now–when there were so many reasons to expect a letdown–speaks volumes about how dialed in and well-managed this team is.
Auburn fans keep getting asked: what does Gene Chizik do? What he does is have his team completely ready to blow out Ole Miss on the road in Week 9 of an undefeated season when his team is ranked No. 1 and his quarterback is the Heisman front-runner. You ask me, that’s pretty freaking impressive.
…
Newton popping cotton candy on the sidelines:
and the touchdown catch:
… waiting on footage of side judge asking for wristband. — JDH
Pregame 4:00 p.m. CDT: No Daren Bates today, probably no T’Sharvan Bell. Not a surprise in either case. — GJH
Pregame 3:30 p.m. CDT: Chris Shelling Jr. — with a steady hand and a roving, roaming camera that shoots straight and true — checks in from Ole Miss:
Pregame 2:20 p.m. CDT: Hey guys, Jerry here. I finally got around to writing a pregame post for Ole Miss; you can read it here. Better late than never, I guess.
The beat writers are at the stadium. Nothing to report yet. Bu I’ll go on the record as saying I’m glad Auburn is getting to wear blue, since they’ve been a bit better in those unis than the whites so far this season. — GJH
Pregame 1:52 p.m. CDT: Predict-O-Nomics is up — late again, but through no real fault of Mac’s. And even if it was, it’s not like he hasn’t already written two other columns and taken a trip to Vegas this week. The Model has us winning 39-23, by the way.
If you’re interested, my latest attempt at blogging is up at al.com, and even more unnatural than before. They asked me how it felt for Auburn to be No. 1 in the BCS.
I answered, in part: It’s a calm, confident relief… a peaceful easy feeling on the verge of happy tears.
So yeah.
(I’m thinking of posting my first contribution here at TWER — the immediately post-Arkansas Bo vs. Cam theme gets more poignant with every new interview Bo grants to anyone but me / Auburn Magazine).
So… something we haven’t talked about is the spell Ole Miss might be trying to cast tonight with it’s stadium atmosphere. They ask their fans to wear blue, but ask us to wear our home jerseys… so they can wear white.
Then there’s this whole “Yell-O” business:
And finally comes news of some 3-D jumbotron experiment they’re trying at half-time… as if two quarters of Cannonball Cam isn’t going to be up close and personal enough.
Cause for alarm? Cause for embarrassment? Cause they’ve got nothing else to be excited about?
Also, in case you missed it, here’s Jerry’s Q&A with Red Cup Rebellion. — JDH
Pregame 12:40 p.m. CDT: His method acting immersion into Bama culture for Talladega Nights has Auburn tainted in the mind of Will Ferrell, who picked Ole Miss to win on the set of GameDay by quipping: “Last time I spelled Auburn, there was no D.”
Take note, Bama ticket office copy editors. — JDH
Pregame 12 p.m. CDT: Did you miss it? It’s pretty good — ESPN Gameday’s piece on the year-long, life-saving friendship of Zac Etheridge and everyone’s favorite Rebel, Rodney Scott.
Hard to believe it’s been a year. And even harder to believe that Etheridge is actually back and playing like he’s playing. That first tackle is going to be…
And now it’s time for more fun with Oregon’s play cards… ’cause apparently they really can be fun, especially for the kids, as demonstrated by Mira Plexico, daughter of the one and only.
Brilliant. “Dial up The Elmo...”
I’m also fond of this Auburn-specific “imPoster” from EDSBS:
Pregame 11:33 a.m. CDT: This is Jeremy… and this is my first GameDay Post, first to start, at least. It’s exhilarating. It feels like fall outside, it feels like fall in my heart. Gentlemen, ladies, computers of the BCS – we have ourselves a football team.
For just how that football team will match up tonight against Ole Miss, Justin’s preview is required reading (and includes not a single Akbar reference!) — dude skipped a test just to scout film of Ole Miss vs. Arkansas. Well, I don’t know if he actually skipped a test, but the point is he probably would have. I shared a Bible verse with him upon news that he would be the one to attempt to fill the shoes; I think it is safe to say that he has taken it to heart.
By the way, his controversial, NSFW pre-season “Damn it feels good…” opus was one of many victims of the gestAUpo’s great Cam Cleansing — if Newton starts quoting actual scripture in his teleconferences, I’m sure AU Inc. will send Zondervan a cease and desist — but has been resurrected at Vimeo like so many innocents before it.)
(For a more PG, heart-warming video, check out a preview for the next episode of Auburn Football: Every Day… “All I do is read… every time I step up in the building, everybody’s books go up.”)
Oh… and speaking of required reading: is this the best Leaves of Turf yet? It almost certainly has the best line: Syllables of Lutzenkirchen.
More anon… in the meantime… your thoughts?????? — JDH
Having a Pre-game lunch with the mistress of the playcalling cards, Miss Mira. Commentary to follow. Mira says Ole Miss may have prepared for the Elmo, so let’s go with the Taz tonight. (I’m pretty sure both = Cam running for daylight.)
Fun-ish fact: if we drop tonight’s game, bama wins out but loses to Miss State, & Miss St wins out, the Lil Bulldogs go to Atlanta. Hrmmm.
that piece on Scott and Etheridge sure was special.
Your team might be a redneck if you schedule your bye week around NASCAR’s Talledega 500.
He called their mascot the Land Sharks.
Checking in from freezing cold Camp Bondsteel. Seriously, the temperature got down to 23 last night, and there is already snow on all the hills and mountains around us. I don’t think AFN is picking this game up, so it looks like I’ll be back to watching the pirated feeds and trying to be quiet so that I don’t wake my roommates. That sucks. But, at least I can still watch the game. And we seem to do the best when I’m sitting here actually watching (I didn’t watch any of the Clemson game (was in the hospital), and missed the first half of the South Carolina game right up until our TD drive. So hopefully I bring the team some good luck whenever I’m here commenting on the gameday thread.
WAR EAGLE, and GO, GO, GOD2ILLA!!!
War Eagle, Walt! And everyone else. I’ll be trying to hang out here as much as I can during the game.
I am less worried about Georgia than I was when this game began.
Setting up shop at Buffalo Wild Wings amidst the grieving Mizzou fans. Ordering the boneless Rebel Black Ack-Bear wings and fretting…
Maybe I should’ve gone to Olive Garden and ordered the Mon Calamari instead.
Okay, well, that’s not good.
Much better. Cam has now done everything but kick an extra point. I’m still not sure why he didn’t make the tackle on that Ole Miss run.
I’m checking in from one of the many places I work at here in Kosovo. Back to my room before too long. I’m watching the GameCast feed right now. I figure 2nd Quarter is when I’ll get to start watching. Looks like Gustav the Mad Scientist of Football’s gameplan was to come out throwing the ball. And it’s worked. I don’t know how Ole Miss got their one huge TD play, but other than that, the game has gone Auburn’s way for the most part. I just hope they can shut down this current Ole Miss drive and push through for another score to go up bigger.
Well, that’s not how you step up, D. Time for the offense to come back and show ’em how it’s done.
Malzahn’s fingerprints all over Tulsa win in South Bend. Let’s see him stamp it on Nutt.
What was/is Caudle doing in? Just saw that on the gamecast. Or did they get that wrong?
410 yards combined 1Q. Crazy. Really didn’t want to go through another Arkansas game.
Settling for a FG = drawing a knife during a shootout.
Caudle did a sort of reverse pass, Walt.
Good hold by the D, there. I think we’ll clean up this game if the D can just get a few good stops and the offense keeps pushing. I’m a little surprised that Gustav the Mad Scientist of Football’s plan was to throw this much. But then, God2illa has run so much the past few weeks, so why not take advantage of a suspect secondary and let him try to get a little less of a beating this week and next week? I don’t think we’ll see God2illa running too much unless he has to.
Well, crap. We knew he couldn’t have those sure hands every game all the time. Come on, D. Time to step up.
Heading back to my room now to watch. Hopefully the good luck of me watching the game the past few weeks will hold.
Well alrighty, Demond. That’ll work, too. I need to stop jumping to commenting too quickly.
Newton throwing the ball really well, receivers not helping out. great pass-pro, though.
OK, back at my computer in my room in my good luck spot. Glad to see we converted that interception somehow. Sure would be nice for the D to step up big, again.
Wow our tackling is pathetic.
Just like every other week, we’d be putting this game away if we could just stop giving up the big plays. This brilliant insight brought to you by anyone’s plain eyes.
Corey Lemonier getting major snaps in desperation at DE. Huge 3rd down here
I’ll take holding them to 3. And with that much time on the clock, we need to push down the field and get 7 before the half, come out in the 2nd half and stick the nail in with another 7. Come on, Tigers!
There ya go Demond!!!!! Wow, he’s good. Now let’s stuff them quick, and get the ball again before the half ends.
You know, Rodney Scott is now again my favorite Ole Miss player. Especially since it looked like he was looking all proud of himself after making that big block on O-Mac while Demond was streaking down the field.
Masoli saved them a bit on that one. I’m glad to see us call timeout when it was clear he didn’t get the first down, though. We need a big punt return and then shove it in.
AUBURN BALL!!!!! STEP ON THEIR THROATS TIGERS!!!!!!!! WAY TO GO D-LINE!!
Walt, re: Scott: LOLOLOL.
Time to put this game away, please.
Why do they need to show the Chizik reception at the airport? Come on Tigers, let’s put this away.
So they’re not going to talk about how Herbstreit said he thought it was a fantastic hire and that Auburn made an extremely smart choice in hiring Chizik?
Good kick, Wes. That pass to Blake should have been a TD. Thrown a bit behind him, but still could have been caught. I’ll take up by 17 and getting the ball back first in the 2nd half.
Yeah, Newton had a good half, but I wish he could have that last one back. I’ll also take a 17-point lead at halftime, though.
Humor = comparing Newton’s pass velocity to C Todd or B Cox.
Uh oh, we don’t need Demond to go down, too.
Good kick by Wes. But man we needed 7, there. We’re bad about coming out strong at first and then going flat on first drives in the second half.
Walt, by this point, we’re OK just burning clock and getting something. That’s still no punts in 8 possessions. I’m OK with it.
Excellent, excellent D, there. What a great call for that blitz.
The defense is starting to crank it up now. If we can get some stops, Katie Bar the Door.
Jerry, that’s very true. I didn’t really think of it that way. I guess I just really want to mudstomp someone.
And now they’re talking about the road game Tiger Walk. We ALWAYS do that.
Davie is so impressed with our Tiger Walk turnout at Ole Miss today. Wow– maybe we should start doing that for EVERY away game. Oh, wait.
Am I crazy to look at a 37-17 scoreline and be totally scared that we could be behind again in a couple of minutes??
What a heads up play by God2illa to slide in bounds rather than go out of bounds. He’s definitely an excellent game manager, too.
That knee doesn’t look too sore tonight.
Time to DYER!!!!!!! WAR EAGLE!
This “Curse of #1” thing is just terrible. I don’t know how we’re going to cope. Clearly the #1 curse is holding us to only 44 so far.
Ole Miss throat… meet Auburn’s feet (plural because of how many excellent rushers we have)…
“My name Peggy. You got problem?”
“This is Houston Nutt. I can’t stop the Auburn offense. I need to speak to a supervisor.”
“Supervisor is genius. I transfer.”
“Transfer.”
“Transfer.”
“Transfer.”
“This is Peggy.”
“COME ON!!!!!”