Okay, now it’s time for Auburn to finish up the EASY part of their schedule, and get on track for the brutal run that involves road trips to Florida, Arkansas and LSU in three of the next four games. Eeeek. But then again, what is Auburn’s record going into games as the underdog in the past few years? 6-1*. I think it might take an underdog situation to get the Tigers pumping on all cylinders, because so far this season I’ve only seen 2 ½ quarters of true Auburn football in three games: The final five minutes of the KSU game, and both second quarters of USF and MSU. What makes Auburn so much better when they are underdogs is that they come out swinging and never stop. I’d like to see a more aggressive Auburn team, even though it’s understandable that the coaches would keep a conservative offense with only one senior on the field. That’s enough rambling.

Note to the Fans: I want the crowd to explode in applause when Brandon Cox runs onto the field Saturday. I have never been more proud to be an Auburn fan than in the game after the John Vaughn meltdown against LSU. I was worried that the fans were going to give him a taste of the Auburn wrath, but I was shockingly and delightfully surprised at the maturity of our fans as the entire stadium erupted with applause and screams when John Vaughn came onto the field. But I have never felt like more of an idiot when the crowd erupted with boos after Cox tossed his second interception.

If we want to even have a chance of generating a decent season we are going to need Brandon Cox. Kodi Burns is the freakin’ man and he is going to piss off a whole lot of Bammers/Gators/Tigers/Bulldogs in the next 4 years, but we can’t honestly base our offense around an 18 year-old who only knows 5 plays and expect to see any a dramatic improvement. Kodi looked great in the second quarter against MSU and lead two great touchdown drives, but so did Brandon Cox in the second quarter against USF. Right now Kodi Burns is playing about as good as expected seeing, Brandon Cox on the other hand is playing terrible, but that means he is capable of much better. Believe it or not, the get-better-quick solution resides in getting Cox back up to speed, not replacing him. But as Auburn fans, we need to support the coaches who have come through for us again and again. If Tubs starts Brandon Cox, it’s because he gives us the best chance to win, not because he is trying to test the patience of the recently unruly Auburn fans. Same goes if they put in Kodi Burns, we need to support AUBURN regardless, not just support Auburn if they put in the quarterback you like better.

The key to winning this game is: turnovers (*GASP!*). If you think about it, that is the only thing really keeping Auburn from being 3-0. Knock the 13 turnovers we have this season down to a still unsatisfactory 7 and we are undefeated and likely in the top 15. About a quarter of our turnovers took place while we were in scoring position. It’s not like we are being run all over or that defenses are completely shutting us down on offense, we just keep giving the other team the ball either within our own 30, or on their 20. But it wouldn’t be logical to simply blame these turnovers on bad luck or being cursed by the football gods (or as the Bammers call them: Saban and the Bear), because they weren’t. We are losing the ball because we are sloppy, but we are sloppy because we are a very young team. About a half of our offense was in high school 15 months ago. But the good news is that in about two years, we will have so much talent and experience we won’t know what to do with it all.

Game Prediction:

This game has been reported as being somewhat of an experiment for Auburn as offensive lineman, runningbacks, and quarterbacks will all be scrambled throughout the game to determine who should start for the rest of the year. This traditionally is not a very good strategy for winning games, as these kinds of things usually take place in scrimmages and practices. It’s going to be hard to get a rhythm going if there is a different assortment of Auburn players in all the critical positions every series.

However, New Mexico State is the easiest team we will have played so far (which is the same thing we said about MSU… look out). This game is in the hands of the defensive backs since NMS tends to throw the ball deep and throw the ball often. Auburn NEEDS to make a few interceptions and get a ton of sacks if they want to win this game. It would also be nice if we could show up to the first quarter this game. The game is at 6:00, so we won’t have the issue of morning grogginess (Last 4 morning games: losses to MSU, UGA, and Arkansas and a close call against Ole Miss), and hopefully we won’t be as antsy as we were against USF and KSU in our first two night games.

If Auburn has no turnovers this game, then the game will be a blowout. If Auburn has a couple of turnovers, it will be a one or two touchdown win for Auburn. If Auburn puts in another 5 turnover stinker, then Auburn will lose in another close one. I say Auburn has a couple of turnovers, but gets a pair of turnovers in return to keep the game on an even playing field, Auburn wins without a third of their defense 35-24.

Other Predictions:

South Carolina at LSU
All this talk about the new SEC coaches Saban and Urban Meyer have completely shadowed how scary Steve Spurrier is as a coach. The game is at Death Valley and LSU seems to be firing on all cylinders this season, but I see the Gamecocks giving the Tigers a bit more than they bargained for. I don’t think it will be quite enough to pull off the upset, but I think that they will be able to expose a few kinks in the Tiger’s armor. The Tigers will pull through in a key fourth quarter drive to seal the win 35-27.

Penn State at Michigan
I love Joe Paterno. Just looking at the guy makes me happy. I mean how can you look at this face and not want to give the man a hug?

Kentucky at Arkansas
I’m glad we don’t have to play Kentucky this year. Andre Woodsen is not a problem that we need to be dealing with right now, because he might be the best quarterback in the SEC (excluding the chemical fusion of Brandon Cox and Kodi Burns: Krandon Bux). Kentucky makes another statement that they are for real as they put together an impressive 42-28 win over Arkansas.

Georgia at Alabama
Seeing how Alabama was a pass-interference call (any one of the thirty on the last drive would have done it) from being unranked and forgotten, and seeing how the opposite could be said about Georgia, these two are dead even. Alabama is carrying a good bit of momentum with them into this game, but Georgia is a BEAST on the road, again dead even. Both teams wear red and have stupid mascots. Dead even. Seriously though, a bulldog and an elephant? The two creatures are the two greatest arguments against evolution and the survival of the fittest. Anyways, this game could go either way, so of course I’m going to pick Bama to lose… 55-0.

War Eagle!