Hey Tiger fans! We’ll be updating this post throughout the day. Newer posts at the top of the page. Check in often!
UPDATE 12:10 p.m., from Jerry: I’ll be brief: there’s very little regarding the Cam story that I feel comfortable saying I believe. It’s so hard to know what’s true, what’s exaggeration, what’s rumor, what’s an outright lie, that over the past few days it’s been better to just shut down the critical thinking cap and hope. At times that’s seemed like a completely wasted, worthless hope, but when you’re talking about the weight of years of hope, the accumulation of season after season desperately wanting not just the perfect year but for that year to happen under the perfect circumstances and for it to come without the blight of Auburn’s past transgressions, when there’s that much hope already balanced on the slim edge of the razor … well, what’s another couple days of blind faith thrown on top of the pile?
So the thing I believe is this: that the people in charge at Auburn, the athletic director and compliance department and our football coaches, will do what is best for Auburn today. Maybe that means Cam starts. Maybe that means Trotter starts. I don’t know. I’m not going to pretend to know.
But either way, I believe that the action that is best for our football program and our institution will be the action taken. I haven’t always believed that of the people in charge at Auburn, but I do today. Whatever they decide, that’s going to be the right decision.
If it turns out that I shouldn’t even believe that, then, well, we’ll cross that hideous bridge when we get there. But for today: I believe in Auburn. I believe in our football team, Cam or no Cam. I believe they’ll beat Georgia. I believe, above all, even after all of this, we’ll be OK.
War Eagle.
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It’s the first game of Amen Corner. Today, unless something stupidly stupefying is released by our dear friends at ESPN, let’s think of Our Terrific Tigers, Malzahn’s perfected plays, Roof’s rough-housin’ rouges, moving the ball and pushing the ‘dawgs up and down and around and around Pat Dye Field today.
It’s the damn “Year of the Tiger” dontchaknow!?! And don’t you let anyone tell you otherwise. Smilin’ Jack? Get that snare, timpani and guitar ready! Horny horns?! Ready? Git it!
“… This is is Auburn’s year. Yeaaaaaaahh! Count off!”
Pregame 11:25 a.m. CDT: Custom-made cape worn by the brother-in-law of reader / pal audashdriver: — JDH
Pregame 9:40 a.m. EST: Mac’s Model is up. And how! –J.M.
Pregame 8:40 a.m. EST: OK, I’ve got to get Mac’s picks ready for prime time. Be back in a few. –J.M.
Pregame 8:25 a.m. EST: Phillip Marshall @ AuburnUndercover.com says Cammy Cam will start today (story was posted around midnight):
After numerous erroneous reports said Newton would not play in Saturday’s game against Georgia, AuburnUndercover.com learned he is expected to start.
HABOTN’s Twitter feed from 13 hours ago says: “Charles Bloom, SEC associate commissioner, said the conference has received no indication that AU will (or should) hold Newton out.”
Pregame 8:15 a.m. EST: Clinging to something, anything right now. Jay G. Tate (who, let’s face it, has a infinitely better grasp of what’s going on than you or me) offers a suggestion on the HABOTN.
Pregame 7:55 a.m. EST: Cruel. If it’s true, it’s cruel. I guess we can’t avoid it today. It forces its way into everything. Here’s Goldberg’s Blue Plate Special, asterisk edition. My thoughts? If Cecil Newton finally ‘fessed up to Auburn about this too … well … I don’t know right now. I can’t think straight. There’s that old sick feeling again. The feeling I tried to avoid feeling today. –J.M.
Pregame 7:30 a.m. EST: Do me a favor folks. Please. Well, two or three favors. Are you going to the game today? Yes? Carry the cheers of the two or three or 20 fans that can’t be there today along with you. Cheer for your sons and daughters overseas. Cheer for your dear old orange-and-blue through and through dad and mom, your grandparents who loved Auburn that maybe have passed on. Cheer when the Tigers prowl down the walk, hit the field, make the tackle, hit the seam, stroll into the endzone, hand the ball to the ref, hold up four fingers (for we know that’s when they’re the best). Our hearts have been hurting for, what, a week now? We need a release. Just do your part to make this a day to remember and let’s forget about all the slights for a just a few hours and not let them ruin the great feeling that we all had before. I know it will be a hard thing to do. There’s questions and fears in our hearts and heads. But I know PRIDE when I feel it. It’s a hard thing to kill. I’m real proud of these guys. I’m real proud of our seniors. They’ve been through so much in their four years at Auburn. You think you’ve suffered, questioned and wondered when the times were tough? Send our boys off with style folks! — J.M.
Pregame 7:15 a.m. EST: Good morning! Weagle! Weagle! Wake up eagle! As a very good friend of the site and of Auburn University, Auburn Elvis is taking care of business (TCB) once again. He used his photo zoomery whatsits to enhance Jeremy’s Reverse Tiger Walk photos, uncovering Gus’ clipboard secrets. Shocking? Sure. (But it’s really not a that much of a secret.) — J.M.
Yeah, I totally understand bama fans’ anger at these commentators last year over Ingram’s dad now.
How ’bout Darvin Adams on the kick coverage? He and Craig Sanders are the first two down there EVERY TIME. Darvin does NOT get enough credit in the media for just how fantastic a player he is.
Wow. Um, Josh Bynes just made the worst play of his career, there.
Grantham’s expression = something we’ve seen roughly 10 times already this year. There is no answer, Todd. Don’t hurt yourself trying to think.
CARTER! Dang, I wish we could have recovered that fumble.
GREAT DEFENSE! “Atlanta is only an hour and a half away.” Verne, that may be the most beautiful words I’ve heard you speak in a long time.
Now THAT was a great display by a defense that has not looked very good for most of the game. They really do show up in the fourth quarter.
Van, it really is amazing how that defense just suddenly seems to explode in the 4th quarter. It happens EVERY game. It’s why I never have worried about this team since the S.C. game.
Uga has given up. That should do it.
Playing for the FG, it looks like. Not sure how I really like that.
“The Most Overrated Mascot in College Football.”
Wow. Ball game, right there.
Would love to see God2illa get a rushing TD here.
We’ve outscored them 35-10 since the first quarter.
Oh come on. This could potentially be huge, ’cause that was close.
I want a painting of that last TD. Someone call Daniel Moore.
Another Arkansas-game touchdown….?
Nice, Junky. Moore does need to crank out a painting of Cam this year.
War Eagle, Auburn. War Eagle. What a game. What a player. What a team. War. Damn. Eagle.
Darvin Adams AGAIN on kick coverage! What an amazing football player.
Crap, I hate to see that about Murray. But at least it wasn’t an intentional late hit. He was falling down, and that looks nasty.
Wow, that was dirty. You can’t blame Fairley for that last play, either. He was falling down. But that was dirty as all get out on UGA’s part. But wow, I wish our players could have maintained their composure a bit more.
Okay that was bullshit. He was defending Fairley!
So… does this mean Blanc and Goggans have to sit out the Iron Bowl?
Bullshit though it may be, that would really, really, REALLY suck.
None of that should have happened. But you shouldn’t throw a punch.
Glad the AU players stayed on the sideline.
(I had to run and pick up pizza so I’m just catching up!)
Are you kidding?? TWO D-Linemen????
ATLANTA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In other Auburn-related news, Gorgeous Borges’ San Diego State Aztecs laid 35 on the vaunted TCU defense. Starters or no, Gary Patterson can’t be happy about that!
They have to sit the first half of the game for the ejection. I’m sure others will say they should be suspended for the game. Thankfully both are backups, but they ARE key backups. Proud of the Tigers for not coming off the bench. Fairley’s play there was NOT his fault. Going after him after that was dirty as hell.
What can you expect from the Fulmer Cup winners?
Great win. Hate we lost Blanc for a 1/2, especially since the UGA team was so upset on a block into the QB. I have thought since the year they pulled that crap against UF, that UGA was the new miami. Wonderful. Glad we put another 7 on them at the end. I can’t stand UGA. Special teams again wonderful.
Blanc is not a back up. We need him.
Clayton’s gonna need to have a monster first half…
Key moment of the game: The onside kick to start the third quarter. Brilliant call, brilliantly executed by our senior kicker who has done so much for us over his career, in his last game in the stadium.
I’ve gotta say, neither UF nor SC is doing a lot right now to scare me.
I think I’d like us to play Garcia and the Lamecocks again instead of Florida, something about the devil you know.
OK… I was listening when Fairley hit Murray, Rod and Stan said he was blocked into him, but apparently the entire state of Georgia is in an uproar right now, including their punk coach…
Is there any room for interpretation that it was a dirty hit???? (not that I care all that much…)
89EETiger… it was clean from my view. He was getting blocked, falling down, and already pretty much horizontal while momentum carried him forward. Maybe some of his earlier plays were questionable, but NOT that one.
Going after him directly after that? THAT was dirty. And it’s amazing that the thUGA fans are refusing to recognize how dirty their players were at the end of the game there, too.
The entire state of Georgia is 5-6 and probably not going bowling.
I gotta say, it’s weird to be watching an Oregon game and have Oregon NOT be the team in the horrendous uniforms.
UGA flagrantly put a hit on Fairley at the end there. That was inexcusably dirty. I can’t believe they totally get away with it while we get two players ejected over it. Absurd, but not surprising given the treatment we’ve gotten from officials this season.
I can’t say I’ve seen a more pathetic fan base than UGA fans have been over this. And that’s saying a lot. I used to enjoy this rivalry but not anymore. UGA ratcheted up the retoric and attitude a few years back with the dancing and sideline nonsense and it’s just gone downhill from there.
I don’t know if it bothered anyone else but the UGA band playing through the Veterans presentation during warm ups got on my nerves. No need to play through Glory Halleluiah 10 times straight while that was going on. We were trying to honor folks over in Afganistan.
And, only two teams this year tried going to the center of the field and circling up on the AU logo. LSU and UGA.
It was clear to me early that UGA knew Auburn would be emotionally charged and had a plan to exploit it. Which they did to perfection. As far as Fairley goes, he put the target on his back during the LSU game. I started hearing talk about the “dirty” Auburn defense right after that from another fan base. I knew other coaching staffa and players were going to be on high alert for anything he did from there on out. I guess UGA decided to take up the banner. Fairley appears to be mean as a snake and tough as nails so if you don’t want your QB hit, you better have a plan to block him. Simple double teams won’t do it.
Games and times like this really bring to light Auburn’s disadvantage of not being the “home team” in any metro area. Atlanta sports radio stations (one of which is an ESPN affiliate) have taken up the cause of calling AU and Fairley dirty and obviously choose to ignore their own players chop blocking him, calling the code red, and then leaving the bench during the scuffle.
We are EXTREMELY fortunate that the AU bench was level headed enough to stay put. But astonishingly enough, one of the AJC writers called Chizik classless and said he was still trying to rile up his team during the fight. How would he know this? Can he discern what Chizik was saying from the press box or his TV screen? I doubt it. If he were working them into a frenzy, I doubt they would have stayed on the sidelines while the UGA bench surrounded their teammates.
Now I am sure that good ole Pawwwwl and the al.com squad will be harping on the Fairley story all 13 days and have the mullett nation whipped into a fine lather by the time the Iron Bowl rolls around.
But since AU is considered a foe to the home team everywhere outside of Lee County, it has no bull horn with which to voice a defense or point out the bulldogs transgressions and we end up with a one-sided story about Auburn being dirty. That’s exaclty how the Pugh/Ramzey cop block incendent played out as well.
So it is for Auburn. I guess some things will never change.
WDE!
If you think the Fairley / AU being dirty thing is bad now, wait until the first time McElroy gets sacked by Fairley. If he happens to get hurt in some way (and I’m predicting he does), it doesn’t matter how it happens, that’s going to be proof enough in may people’s crimsom colored eyes that it true. They started this weeks ago so they are waiting on it.
ROLLLL TIDEEEEEE!!!!!!
YOU LOSERS AND CHEATERS!!!!!
So sad for you…have fun at the CAPTIAL ONE BOWL