game day: the deep south’s oldest rivalry
good morning auburn fans and welcome to your morning briefing. today’s contest pits our bcs-ranked #2 auburn against a scrappy georgia squad more than capable of playing pass-and-catch.
it goes without saying that this game is a must-win. aside from being 10-0, with one more win clinching a birth in the southeastern conference championship game, and staring down the prospect of a national championship, it has been a whopping five years since auburn has taken the win in this rivalry game. a win in this series needs to come sooner than later.
a quick anecdote that i like to tell about a georgia fan before we delve into some game day material:
my day job as a motorsports talent scout takes me to racetracks all across the country. in 2008, on a bitter, cold day at iowa speedway in newton, iowa, i was proudly showcasing my garage/pit credential on a navy blue auburn lanyard. walking around the garage following a practice session, i stopped to look over a car that had just come off the track. a rather frumply-looking gentleman that happened to be a georgia fan, riding a high from their sugar bowl win against mighty hawaii, eyed the lanyard and the following transpired:
gentleman: “auburn?”
me: (moving around a little in hopes that he would get discouraged and leave.)
gentleman: (walks closer to me so he knows i can hear) “auburn?”
me: (realizing i’d have to take part in the convo) “yes, auburn. i’m a die hard.”
gentleman: “man, auburn sucks. the georgia bulldogs are my team. have you seen our team this year? we’re going to win that championship. we’re loaded.”
me: “well, i don’t know if i would say that. there’s a lot of strong teams this year, especially in our conference.”
gentleman: “no … you don’t understand. we’re l-o-a-d-e-d.”
me: “oh, then clearly, i can’t argue against that — i think we might actually have something for you guys this year.”
gentleman: “no way, man. we’re going to whip everybody. matt stafford and our running back. you know, that good one? the black one? we’re going undefeated. ya’ll ain’t beating us. remember last year when we wore the black jerseys against you guys and the whole team was dancing? wasn’t that cool?”
me: “yep, sure was. that was exactly what i was thinking to myself as it was all going down.”
gentleman: “i don’t get why people like auburn. it ain’t like they ever win anything.”
me: (acting like my cellphone vibrated. picked it up, held it to my ear, started talking a waved off the whackjob. later texted all of my auburn fan friends exactly what just happened).
**
game plan? contain quarterback aaron murray. shut out wide receiver a.j. green. that’s about it.
unfortunately, that’s much easier said than done. the auburn defensive back unit will have a devil of a time reeling in green. it will probably be junior cornerback neiko thorpe matched up with him for size purposes, but the better fit would be putting senior cornerback and kick return specialist demond washington — shorter, but considerably faster than thorpe with major leaping ability — in front of green. since i’m not ted roof, i don’t know which cornerback look we’ll be giving the georgia receivers, but i do know, green will be licking his chops if he lines up and sees thorpe standing across from him. if that happens, thrope is going to have to play the game of his life.
as for guarding murray, a surprisingly mobile field general, the triangle of defensive tackles nick fairley, zach clayton or mike blanc, and senior linebacker josh bynes could aptly keep the freshman gunslinger honest.
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offensively, this will be the first time this year that auburn has seen a 3-4 defense as fast as this. linebacker justin hunter is the chief adversary to nick fairley in southeastern conference defensive player of the year honors.
but whatev. we have a pissed-off 250-pound monster taking snaps at quarterback. come and try us.
how cam newton responds on the field to this week’s round of bizarre allegations will be the topic de jour in the college football world, but i doubt that’s really going to be an issue. this won’t be cam’s symphony — that will be saved for a possible conference championship game matchup against the florida gators — but today will help newton’s heisman case from a statistical standpoint.
a big reason for my confidence in newton today is sophomore wide receiver emory blake. blake is auburn’s most improved skill-position player, going from a total of nine receptions for 66 yards and zero touchdowns last season to 17 receptions for 306 yards and five touchdowns this year (an average of 18 yards per catch). blake is the third receiver trooper taylor has been searching for since mid-2009 and with senior wide receiver terrell zachery moving on after this season, the sophomore is peaking at an opportune time. not only is blake motivated by playing for an undefeated team and a possible national championship, he is also attempting to cement his spot as a starting receiver for auburn in 2011.
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anticipated starters on offense: quarterback - cam newton; tailback - mike dyer; h-back - philip lutzenkirchen; wide receivers - darvin adams, terrell zachery, kodi burns; offensive line - lee ziemba, mike berry, ryan pugh, byron isom, brandon mosley. you’ll also see: emory blake, onterio mccalebb, quindarius carr. notable absences: a.j. greene.
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anticipated starters on defense: defensive line - antoine carter, nick fairley, zach clayton, nosa eguae; linebackers - craig stevens, josh bynes, daren bates; cornerbacks - neiko thorpe, demond washington. safeties - mike mcneil, zac etheridge. you’ll also see: mike blanc, t’sharvan bell, eltoro freeman. notable absences: aairon savage.
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post-game player ratings will be posted today. log on to thejunglecat.com about an hour after the conclusion of the game to check out how auburn’s key players graded out.
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i’ll be tweeting my thoughts during the game. as always: not everything i say will be ice cream, puppies, and unicorns. follow along at @auburnjunglecat if you can handle it.
@davidsmith28 @auburnjunglecat
the jungle cat is an online magazine dedicated to auburn tigers football, written by david smith, the creator of twenty8.
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