I think the shellacking, and the reevaluation, are going to come when Notre Dame faces LSU. It may not revamp the whole system, but it might call into question ND’s special status wrt the BCS.
Yep, running it down Auburn’s freaking throat is the way to go all right! Just give the ball to McFadden 28 times and he’ll roll for 145 yards. When he needs a breather give the ball to the runner that had the second best season in the SEC, McFadden’s backup Jones. Give it to Jones 13 times and he’ll get you 104 more. Oh, wait……McFadden and Jones will be busy playing for Arkansas that day!
Surely Nebraska has a runner that’s as good as Ken Darby, who came within a few yards of breaking Shawn Alexander’s all-time rushing record at Alabama. Darby: 48 yards in 16 carries. Ok, then Nebraska must certainly have a tailback in the same league as LSU’s tandem of Vincent and Broussard, right? Oh, wait! Vincent and Broussard combined for 32 yards on 16 carries.
Well, since the “cram it” thing doesn’t look very promising, let’s use the Georgia Plan. That involves having five straight recruiting classes rated in the top-ten nationally. Then have those players sleepwalk through most of the year. Then slip ‘em some No-Doze and tell them the only way to salvage their season is to beat their oldest rival in the 110th renewal of the series.
For whatever reason, the team wakes up! While the UGA blogs were griping all week about firing the wide receiver coach because he couldn’t even teach kids to catch a ball, the coach was working hard! Against Auburn they caught everything that was thrown in their general direction. The defensive coordinator, equally maligned for not being able to tell his kids how to get interceptions becomes a genius overnight and they pick off four. Great plan!
But does Nebraska have players that are the result of five straight top-ten recruiting classes? No? Well then……
Enough with the smack talk and on to a realistic analysis:
For whatever reasons it looks like both of these teams are approaching this game with a level of intensity greater than is usually associated with non-National Championship bowl games.
I look for this one to be one of the hardest played of the bowl games this year. Nebraska needs to get their team together, play hard and do the things that they do best. Be ready to play for a full 60 minutes.
This Auburn team isn’t overloaded with raw talent. Several of the beat writers that follow Auburn have stated that this year is coach Tommy Tuberville’s best coaching job, compiling a 10-2 record with “smoke and mirrors” as one writer put it. The Tigers still beat the teams currently ranked #2 and #4 in the BCS standings.
Injuries are a part of football and everybody has some, but some years a team gets more injuries than normal, and those injuries come to key players. That has been Auburn’s story this year. QB Brandon Cox has played the last nine games with more wrapping on him than an Egyptian mummy. Pre-season AA running back Kenny Irons was injured in the season opener. At various times through the season, Irons sat out two complete games and played three snaps in another trying to get “healed up”. That never happened completely. Who knows if a six week layoff will heal one or both of these players? Injuries to the O-line and D-backs this year have been too numerous to mention here.
Suspensions: Tuberville continues his iron-fisted policy for dealing with players getting into, um, situations. Fans praise this policy in the off season and then cuss it when big games loom, but it is what it is.
Two starting linebackers will not make the Cotton Bowl trip. It should be noted, however, that these same two were suspended for the LSU game in which LSU took only one snap inside Auburn’s 20-yard line, and that snap resulted in a five yard loss. So is it good that Auburn won’t have two starting LB’s? Certainly not, but Auburn has already demonstrated that they can play good defense without them.
The loss of backup running back Brad Lester could be a bigger problem. Lester rushed for 466 yards, averaged over five yards per carry and is Auburn’s leading touchdown maker with 9. His running style is very different from Irons’s and swapping the two in and out has served to keep opposing defenders on their heels. Lester has been important to Auburn’s offense to the extent that Tuberville’s final comment to the sideline reporter before the Alabama game was: “For us to win this game, Brad Lester has to stay healthy”. Now he’s suspended, so whatever.
The Tigers have a couple of other adequate running back replacements, but neither provides the contrast in style that Lester does.
My prediction? Auburn 24, Nebraska 20.
Now, let’s hear from some Nebraska fans!
I take it, my time travelling friend, that YOU haven’t heard the news.
I think you both mean Reggie Ball.
As a NU alum, I harken back to the good old days. Why, when I went to school there, we won 3 national championships in 4 years. Those were the days when we were just too physical for SEC teams (62-24 over Florida, 42-17 over Tennessee).
Nowadays, I’d take that score above as optimistic. I’d like to think Callahan has us going in the right direction, but I harbor no illusions about us being a national championship contender. We are overmatched talent-wise with Auburn, so I have to go with “that’s why they play the game”
If it will help your feelings any, I’ll tell you that I sat in Auburn’s stadium in 1982 and watched Dave Rimmington, Turner Gill & co. lay a 41-7 whuppin’ on Auburn. They were awesome! That was a pretty good Auburn team, too. They finished 9-3 including a win over Boston College in the Citrus Bowl.
Yea, I didn’t even realize I wrote Bush. And I didn’t hear about his academic thing. This might be interesting!
I don’t get the NFL Network, so I’m going to have to go to a bar to see Rutgers play. That still pisses me off.
First of all, USCDiver, good catch. Of course we were talking about Reggie Ball, but in a football thread it’s good to have somebody around factchecking.
Second of all, JC of Mars, great fucking post. I don’t necessarily agree with all of it (more on that later) but that’s the quality of post/analysis that I expect out of the Dope. Makes sense that it’s coming from an SEC fan.
Now on to your points — sure Nebraska doesn’t have McFadden OR Jones. BUT everyone in the freaking stadium knew that they were coming and Auburn couldn’t stop ‘em. And it’s not like the AU defense works out against cupcakes. Kenny Irons is a brilliant runningback. They should have been prepped and able to stop that run. Sure they stuffed Alabama this year - big freakin’ deal. On the other hand, the LSU win was impressive. I was definitely impressed and I thought / still do think that Auburn is a quality team. (Although I think that Les Miles couldn’t coach his way out of a paper bag - give him some time to ruin all that talent down there).
My major point being — If I’m Nebraska, I’m damn sure going to work hard to establish the run if I want to win. Because that’s how Arkansas beat Auburn.
Now, lets talk the “Georgia” strategy. Georgia won by… let me get this straight… recruiting better players? Are you serious? Look - Georgia is down this year. They’re playing with a freshman QB and their receivers have had a case of the dropsies all year. And the defense has been much maligned for a reason - they haven’t been effective… Until the Auburn game - when for the first time all year, Willie Martinez brought some pressure. This allowed the athletic corners to start actually making plays instead of letting the QB find a guy open in the middle of the field (which is what happened ALL year). They used the same strategy to beat Tech.
Georgia brought their A game against Auburn - but do you expect anything less? How many times has a shitty Auburn team fouled up a decent Georgia season (and vice versa). They’re big time rivals - the rest of the season is basically irrelevant (ask USC - and since we’re talking SEC football right now, I’ll say "the other USC).
My point being — pressure Cox. Because that’s how UGA beat Auburn.
Now I’ve suggested two strategies to beat Auburn (and which did beat Auburn) and you disagree with them. What strategies would you suggest a team adopt to beat Auburn? Or should you just go ahead and TP Toomer’s Corner now? 
My prediction? Auburn 10, Nebraska 6.
Oh - and since I just remembered - Rice v. Troy. Another asswhupping. What is going on this bowl season?
Oh, by the way — do we have any New Mexico or San Jose State fans in the house? Or maybe somebody who closely follows the WAC or the Mountain West to give us a little perspective?
I think I’ve only seen NM play one quarter - and I only saw the Boise State game for San Jose State (good game though). Like to know a little more though. If not, don’t worry — it’s still college football.
Hey! You gotta’ separate my post into two parts. That stuff above this line: “Enough with the smack talk and on to a realistic analysis”: Is pure and simple fun. Below that line is more in tune with truth, justice, and the American Way.
Here’s how I’d beat Auburn:
I’m not familiar enough with Nebraska to know what their team’s strengths and weaknesses are. It doesn’t do much good to suggest running it up the middle if the O-line and running backs are sub-par. That’s why I am hoping some Cornhusker fans will check in with their analysis about what Nebraska has to do to win the game.
No, I expected exactly what happened in the Auburn/Georgia game. Two days before then, I wrote a tale about the Ga/Aub series for a small group of internet football junkies. It ended with the following paragraph:
If I was a betting man? Here’s what I’d do: I’d take Georgia to win. Forget about points, and look for a bookie that would give me 2/1 or 3/1 odds. Everything about the history of this great rivalry says it’s gonna’ be a Dawg-Day Afternoon.
You seem pretty up on college football, Doctor Who. So when you get cut, what color blood spurts out?
Another fun fact about 1982, here was our out-of-conference schedule:
Iowa
New Mexico State
at Penn State
at Auburn
Compare that with this year’s OOC: Nicholls State, Troy, La Tech, and USC (okay, one good one)
We finished #3, with our only loss being at Penn State, who won the national championship. That game is infamous in Nebraska lore, as Penn State caught a crucial pass 50 yards out of bounds. There were t-shirts issued with a diagonal sideline: “Penn State sideline”
What sucks about the Cotton Bowl is it is on at 6:00 A.M. Hawaii time!! :eek:
I just don’t see that happening after New Years Eve. So I may be cheering a little less vigorously in the morning. So Auburn will have the edge the first half.
Sweet. Mind if I ask where you post? I would have agreed with your post — but for this reason: the game was in Jordan-Hare. You know how it goes with UGA-AU. Take the road team.
Right back atcha, good buddy.
Red & Black. And I cut myself frequently just to look at those marvelous Georgia colors. 
Seriously though, I follow as much college football as I can during the season. It’s far and away my favorite sport — and I like sports so that’s saying something. Being a Dawg fan, obviously I watch the SEC with a microscope. Which is probably why I fully expect the Auburn defense to go all War Eagle on Nebraska. (Well that and that and watching Nebraska get embarrassed by Oklahoma in the Big XII Championship).
What? You were planning on sleeping? No, no, no, my friend. Pace yourself so that you PEAK at 6am.
… and since nobody seems to want to post about SJSU or New Mexico, how 'bout addressing the Papajohns.com bowl. That’s right, friends, the HISTORIC Papajohns.com bowl (try the new Superman Pizza!) featuring East Carolina v. South Florida. Any thoughts? I’d take the Bulls just because I’ve seen them play a couple of games. Anybody want to give me some East Carolina perspective?
My entire household are diehard Cal fans, but my daughter is going to San Jose for grad school. So we’re rooting for the Spartans today…although nobody here has ever seen them play. So I can’t add any insightful analysis to today’s game, other than Go Spartans!
Well, remember that the Mountain West was once part of the WAC as a 16-team conference. So they’ve probably played each other in the past. Personally, I can’t remember the last time the Lobos were very good.
My parents don’t get ESPN and even being in Albuquerque doesn’t mean that the game can be seen over-the-air. So I have no idea how good or bad the game is.
As a USC fan, the bowl season has kinda lost some luster for me. Of course, I’ll want to see the Pac-10 do well (way to go, Oregon :rolleyes: ) and rooting for Cal won’t be so bad as they are playing someone from Texas. But I’ll be damned if can put much enthusiasm into hoping UCLA looks good. I hope the bus crashes! 
Hawaii bowl? Who cares anyway?
I am looking forward to seeing LSU dismantle notre dame. That will be high entertainment! Arguably, I should want nd to win, as it would help us in the final rankings, but NO WAY will I root for nd! And sorry bout that Heisman, Brandy. Maybe next year. Oh yeah, maybe NEVER!
Eh, whatever. I’m going skiing.
Doctor Who, I don’t regularly post on a football message board. I’ve got a group of about 20 friends/relatives scattered from Oregon, through the Gulf Coast and up as far as Maryland. A few times a season somebody may e-mail something about a team or game. Nothing organized.
MSNBC has a college football message board, but I guess the SDMB spoiled me with regard to message boards. That one is overrun with trolls and their sock-puppets and TPTB don’t seem to care.
Posts there can be edited after the fact, so people tend to make outrageous claims and when you call them on it, they either delete their post or abandon it to start a new thread with exactly the same BS. Then there’s the guy that says he’s a student at Duke working on his Master’s Degree in journalism, but insists that “looser” is the proper spelling for loser.
I wouldn’t recommend that MB to anybody. I don’t spend very much time on a computer, but if anybody knows of a good college football message board, I’d like to check it out.
Since you’re a Dawg, I guess it won’t be much of a hijack to paste the article I wrote before this year’s AU/UGA game. It’s entirely subjective…
Auburn vs. Georgia, Part 110
This Saturday Auburn and Georgia will play for the 110th time in the oldest football rivalry in the South. This game is, by far, both teams’ best rivalry. It lacks the bitterness and hatefulness that surrounds the Auburn/Alabama and the Georgia/Georgia Tech games.
This game is more like a family reunion out in the country. A couple of cousins have a disagreement and go out behind the barn to settle things. Pretty soon they come back, bloody and muddy and the loser has to buy the winner a beer.
The two schools have amazing ties:
Auburn’s winningest coach, Shug Jordan, played at Auburn and then was an assistant at Georgia for ten years before returning to his alma mater. Georgia’s winningest coach, Vince Dooley, played and coached at Auburn before he took the job in Athens.
Pat Dye, who won four SEC championships at Auburn in the 1980’s was an all-american player at Georgia. Georgia’s long time athletic director, Joel Eaves, played at Auburn and as Auburn’s head basketball coach once led the tigers to 30 straight victories. Now the Auburn basketball facility is named after a man who spent most of his career as a highly successful AD at Georgia.
Auburn’s mascot is the War Eagle. Legend has it that an Auburn student was wounded while serving in the Confederate army at the Battle of Atlanta. A wild eagle was also somehow wounded in the battle and the wounded soldier and wounded eagle both came back to Auburn, recovered, and thus the first War Eagle came from the State of Georgia.
I have read that an Auburn veterinarian gave a bulldog to a friend of his that was a Georgia supporter. This dog became the first “Uga”, thus the line of “Uga” bulldogs originated at Auburn.
The list could go on and on.
The two teams have been better at breaking each other’s hearts than any other opponents. A few examples:
1942: Georgia finishes 11-1, beats UCLA in the Rose Bowl and wins the National Championship. The only loss? 27-13 to Auburn.
1970: Sugar bowl officials are in Auburn to offer their bid to the Tigers after they win. Georgia comes in as a big underdog. Georgia 31, Auburn 17, buh-bye Sugar Bowl!
1971: The only time both teams are undefeated when they play. It was crazy in Athens, Ga. that day, with thousands of fans on the railroad tracks that overlook the stadium. Pat Sullivan threw four touchdown passes, leading Auburn to a 35-21 win. It has been said that his performance against Georgia on national television is what sealed his Hiesman Trophy.
1986: We call it the “Fire Hose” game. Georgia fans call it the “The Game Between the Hoses”. On a freezing cold night, Georgia came in as a three-touchdown underdog. Auburn was the leading contender for the SEC crown. Georgia 20, Auburn 16. Buh-bye, Crown! After the game a few dozen Georgia students stormed the field to dig up bits of turf. The Auburn groundskeeper had his helpers turn a firehose on them to get them off the field.
Only problem was that the guys with the firehose were Auburn students. After they shooed the kids off the field, they turned the water onto the thousands of Georgia fans who were still in the stands cheering their win. The long streams of freezing water made a beautiful sight as they arched through the stadium lights and soaked the Bulldog faithful! I’ve often wondered if that water had turned to sleet before it hit them Dawgs.
The firehose incident touched off a stream of criticism in the Birmingham papers, ‘Bama supporters calling Auburn “classless”. We thought it was funny.
After Auburn beat ‘Bama in the next game, one of my all-time favorite bumper stickers became popular with Auburn fans. It read simply: “The Good We Hose, The Bad We Beat”. Cool or what?
1994: Auburn is 9-0 on the season and riding a 20 game winning streak. Georgia lost to Vanderbilt and was blown out by Florida 52-14. That’s a Florida team that Auburn beat at Florida field. Georgia, 23, Auburn 23, and the tie breaks Auburn’s win streak.
1999: All Georgia has to do to get to the SEC championship game is beat Auburn. Auburn comes into Athens as a three-touchdown underdog, having lost five of its previous six games. Score at halftime: Auburn 31, Georgia, 0, and Auburn cruised on to a 38-21 win. C-ya’ SEC game!
On and on it goes, in the series in which the VISITOR has won about 65 percent of the games. That’s right, this rivalry has a home field DIS advantage.
Auburn has the overall series lead, 53-48, with 8 ties. In four of the last six games, the winning points have been scored with less than two minutes left. The underdog has won 6 of the last 10 games.
All of which brings us to Saturday, when, at the least, Auburn has an Orange Bowl bid riding on the outcome. Predictions? As an Auburn guy, I won’t pick against my Tigers. I’ll say Auburn 37, Georgia 35, with Auburn getting a field goal as the final seconds tick away.
If I was a betting man? Here’s what I’d do: I’d take Georgia to win. Forget about points, and look for a bookie that would give me 2/1 or 3/1 odds. Everything about the history of this great rivalry says it’s gonna’ be a Dawg-Day Afternoon.
See y’all Dull-Dawgs Saturday!
I’m sure since money means nothing to the NCAA they’ll happily reevaluate Notre Dame’s special status.
Just wanted to let you Auburn fans know how good-looking NU’s cheerleaders are.
I only go to the biggest and most prestigious football games, so I’m going to the Motor City Bowl in Detroit on Tuesday.
Does anybody have the slightest idea about Middle Tennessee State? I follow the MAC and think that Central Michigan is a pretty good team but I’ve got no clue about MTSU.
No fair! With a cutie like that on the sidelines, our guys won’t be able to concentrate on football.
All is lost, all is lost…
MTSU beat Vanderbilt last year. I’d think they will represent well, but I don’t really know much about them.