Week 10 Review

The second shot at the 11th, all of the 12th, and the tee shot at the 13th hole at Augusta are nicknamed "Amen Corner."

Yes we are here at that fabled time of year for an Auburn fan, Amen Corner. Of course to be exact when Pat Dye borrowed that term to describe Auburn's late season schedule he was including former regular SEC rival Florida along with Georgia and Bama. Since the SEC went to divisions Auburn's "Amen Corner" has shrunk to just Georgia and Bama. However that is more than enough with a three game losing streak to Georgia and Bama about to bring their second consecutive undefeated regular season record into the game.

However let us take a quick look at this weekend first... the weekend got off to a great start when the nation's #1 running back (according to ESPN), Michael Dyer, committed to Auburn. It has definitely been awhile since Auburn brought in a recruit as highly ranked as Dyer. Of course that commitment is worth as much as my "picks" last week till Signing Day.

To the game... as noted elsewhere it was just a beautiful day on the plains (one of the few this season on gameday). My family and I were settled in for my youngest son and daughter's first Auburn game... and then they both start completely melting down. It was nap time and they were plenty tired from the walk to the stadium and not getting a good nights sleep the day before. So... thank goodness we were playing Furman.

THE GOOD

It was nice to see us completely dominate an outmanned opponent offensively and defensively and get it over with by halftime. As Will notes that did not happen last year and it did not happen several times over the last few years of the Tuberville era. Everyone is raving about our bloated QB stats but again I give just as much credit to the line as both quarterbacks had five minutes to throw each time and there were wide open receivers all over the field. Our offensive line is really playing well and I hope it carries over to this week.

THE BAD

Not much bad about games like this unless you get somebody hurt and we did but only one I know about. Travante Stallworth is probably out for the season with a knee or ankle injury. It should not be a big impact but it is about the worst thing that happened Saturday.

THE UGLY

As I said above there was not much bad or ugly about this game but there is certainly one thing. My gosh WE HAVE THE WORST PUNT RETURN GAME I HAVE SEEN IN AUBURN HISTORY. Mr. Louis giftwrapped Furman's first touchdown by trying to field a punt over his shoulder inside the ten yard line (???!!!???). I mean that is punt return 101! Let it go! No pulled punches here, it is completely ridiculous for our punt return team to be this bad this late in the season. As I have continually said, if we would have stuck with Mario Fannin the entire year I think this would be a strength instead of a glaring weakness. Instead everytime one of these guys makes a mistake we jerk him and go to the next guy. Fannin has a lot more game experience than any of these other guys and is a game changing playmaker. We were dumb not to stick with him.

Now back to Amen Corner. It is Georgia week. Georgia is just a special game. Not only is it the oldest rivalry in the south it is also the closest rivalry. The series record is nearly even and a few years ago the total points scored in the rivalry was dead even. While everyone in this state blathers on about Bama and Tennessee the stats show that rivalry is not as old or good as Auburn and Georgia. Also while the rivalry as turned nastier over the years it is still nowhere near the hate-fest that Bama is. It is a much "friendlier" rivalry and the schools are so connected since two of their greatest coaches were alumni of the opposite school in Vince Dooley and Pat Dye. There have been many other connections beside that as well.

I mentioned that this weekend was my youngest son's first Auburn game. My first Auburn game was the 1978 Auburn vs. Georgia game. It was very memorable as it was one of the last times Auburn came out in the ORANGE jerseys. I remember even as a nine year old kid thinking we looked like Tennessee. So my first game was a Mark Richt-like jersey switch. I think Barfield tried it a couple of times the next year before they retired them for good. The game was also memorable as it ended in a 22-22 tie. My dad always gives me a hard time as I kept bothering him to get me a coke and when we went and got it Joe Cribbs scored a long touchdown.

There have been so many more special Georgia games over the years that it would be hard to list them. Both our Heisman winners clinched the award against Georgia. In most of our biggest seasons the Georgia game was usually a bit bigger or better game than the Bama game. The rest of the time it is usually a great game as well. Everyone continues to pile on last year's Auburn team but they played a great game against Georgia and were very close to winning that game. Unfortunately everyone is piling on this years Georgia team and I think they are better than that. It is looking like it should be another great game in a series full of them.

Ah, it is time for Amen Corner and with apologies to WBE this will not be remembered as a good season without at least one win in these next two games. War Eagle and Burn the Bulldogs.