5-star QB visiting Auburn this weekend

So news broke late last night that former Florida QB Cameron Newton will be visiting Auburn this weekend. He was Tim Tebow's backup before stealing a laptop or something, which got him in a pinch of trouble.

He's been at JUCO in Texas the past year and just led his team to a national title. Some Auburn fans are wondering what this means for QB of the future, all-star, savior Tyrik Rollison. Between vague Facebook messages about improving his life and the start of something new, as well as bringing Newton in, some think Tyrik's reign at the top of Auburn mountain could be over before it starts.

Who really knows. But no fan in their right mind would turn down Newton, who checks in at 6'6'', 247. No word yet on if his verbal skills match that of another super-size QB, one JaMarcus Russell.

BOOM

Thoughts....

Not a lot of news out of Auburn right now, but here's what I've seen lately:

- Auburn had several players named to various all-conference teams, but none included Darvin Adams. For a sophomore receiver who had a breakout season in the SEC, this was very surprising. Hopefully this will give Darvin some fire to prove himself further next year.

- Auburn started bowl practice for the Outback Bowl today. They will play Northwestern on New Year's Day in Tampa. Northwestern's last (and only) bowl win was in 1949. If Auburn is looking to build momentum and prove themselves as a championship contender for next year, they had better not lose this game.

- QB Tyrik Rollison, who is under indefinite suspension from coach Gene Chizik, was not at practice today. It seems like most Auburn fans have anointed him QB of the future, so we'll have to see how this plays out. I was one of these fans, so if his era is over before it begins, I will be extremely disappointed.

- Basketball season is beginning to hit its stride, so I'll have to start counting the days until baseball season. Don't get me wrong, basketball is pretty sweet, but the beginning is hard to watch after football has just ended. Of course NBA is pretty much out of the question, unless I get the rare chance to see my Charlotte Bobs hit the court.

War Eagle!

Iron Bowl Video Series - Part 4

The greatest celebration ever, led by my main king Q Groves. This was also Alabama's last regular season loss. Here's hoping for another one tomorrow!

War Eagle and Happy Thanksgiving!

Iron Bowl Video Series - Part 3

My namesake. This was during brighter times for Auburn, and has to be the greatest call Rod Bramblett has ever made.

I'm also enjoying posting these because I don't have to think up new stuff to write. I mean it's not like I update everyday anyway, but you catch my drift.

Iron Bowl Video Series - Part 2

The following is perhaps the greatest speech given in the history of man. Pat Dye led the 1989 Auburn Tigers to a 30-20 victory in the first Iron Bowl ever played in Jordan-Hare Stadium. Alabama was undefeated heading into the game, but on December 2, 1989, it was Auburn's day.

If mankind had the technology for a time machine, I'm pretty sure this speech would be played before D-Day, at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and when the Berlin Wall fell.

Iron Bowl Video Series - Part 1

Throughout the week I'm going to be scouring YouTube for the greatest in Iron Bowl memories and moments. Although this wasn't in the Iron Bowl, it is one of the greatest interviews in the history of media. Enjoy.

Iron Bowl 2K9

Well the Iron Bowl is here, and Alabama will head into this game undefeated for the second straight year. This team has pretty much annihilated every offense they've faced this year, so Gus Malzahn is going to have to draw up one hell of a gameplan to beat Rolando McClain and company.

Surprisingly, this year's Iron Bowl has featured a little bit of trash talking heading into the week. Even with the terrible, awful things the two fan bases wish upon each other through message boards and such, I haven't heard a whole lot of chatter from these teams in awhile.

So here we go.

When asked about this year's Auburn team, Alabama QB Greg McElroy said, "It's not going to be any pressure. It's just going to be the same old team that we played last year."

This is a truly ridiculous statement. First of all, since all of the players are still in college, how old can they possibly be? 21, maybe 22 at the oldest? To call a team elderly is a new and bold strategy that may or may not backfire for Mr. McElroy. Considering this guy played behind that fatty Chase Daniel in high school and then the mighty JPW, he probably has a skewed sense of reality.

Also, McElroy really didn't do that much in last year's game. Sure he threw for a touchdown late in the game, but by that time I know that most of the Tigers had turned it in. One can only hope that the Auburn defense will figure out a way to introduce McElroy to Pat Dye Field many times, just like his ole buddy Brody Croyle.

The next comment I'm going to share with you comes straight out of the Crazy-verse. Comments by Ochocinco a.k.a. Child Please pale in comparison to this sort of lunacy. Alabama punt returner and CB Javier Arenas grew up in Florida, and apparently never heard of the football giant we like to call Auburn until he moved to the big city up in Tuscaloosa.

He said, "When I heard Carnell Williams went to Auburn, I thought it was a Division III school."

You may be asking, "Whaaaaa?"

Arenas hails from Tampa, Florida, where I'm pretty sure Auburn may have been once or twice on a recruiting visit. It is now obvious that Arenas was not recruited by Auburn, and was probably himself headed for the I-AA ranks before Bama scooped him up.

EDIT: It appears he was also recruited by Florida Atlantic. Are they D-1?

I am truly flabbergasted by such a display, but credit to Arenas for not knocking Auburn down to I-AA, but spiraling toward Division III and football anonymity.

Well, I've got to go rest my head after reading comments from these two media wizards. Hopefully the Auburn players can store these nuggets and use them as inspiration for leaving cold, lifeless bodies of Crimson Tide players on the field at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

I'll be back later on as more lunacy emerges.

War Damn Eagle!!

BEAT BAMA

Georgia Week Is Here

As we move into Amen Corner, we first have this weekend's game with the Georgia Bulldogs. The Deep South's Oldest Rivalry has given us many things, but few things greater than when it combined my love of Golden Flake potato chips with the inspirational abilities of Tommy Tuberville.

An open letter from SGA President Jacob Watkins

Friends,

I heard a story yesterday that I felt is worth sharing with you all. In the heat of the battle against LSU on Saturday, Kodi Burns took a shot to the chin that cut open his lip and knocked out two of his teeth. Kodi came to the sidelines with the teeth in his hand. The trainers sewed his mouth up, wiped off the blood and Kodi went right back in the game and ran the ball as hard as ever. He never quit.

The game was a tough, tough loss, but none of our players ever quit. They scored their only touchdown of the night on the last play of the game.

One thing I noticed was that the LSU student section got there early, stayed late and made a lot of noise until the very end. They made the difference for their team.

We play Ole Miss on Saturday in a game that we need to win to become bowl-eligible. Between now and Saturday, you might see signs or stickers that simply say "11:21, be the difference." We had those signs and stickers made to remind all of you that kickoff is early on Saturday. It's at 11:21 a.m and you need to be there to "be the difference." We need to get there early, stay late and be loud to show our team we are behind them no matter what.

This season is not even close to being over. There are some big games left that we can win, but we need your help to give our team the home-field advantage that Jordan-Hare Stadium has always been known for!

11:21. Get there early. Stay late. Be loud. Be the difference.

War Eagle!

Jacob Watkins
Auburn University Student Government Association President

Patrick Trahan - Trash Talker

So this week Auburn plays the Ole Miss Rebels. Most years I expect to beat these guys, but as we've seen the Auburn season go from bad to worse, I may be in for another tough game against the Fightin Nutts.

I was reading an interesting article earlier previewing the game and explaining the situation of Linebacker Patrick Trahan, a former Auburn Tiger who is now at Ole Miss.

Trahan faced some academic issues after playing for Auburn in 2006, and transferred to community college the following year rather than face academic suspension. For a player that finished with a whopping 11 career tackles, he sure does think he's going to stick it to Auburn this weekend.

Trahan said, "I hope they boo me," Trahan said. "That'd be pretty cool. They should. After the game, they might boo me even more."

Wow Mr. Trahan, very bold. He went on to say he is glad the former staff is gone, but would've liked to beat them one more time.

"It felt good last year when they lost and the coaching staff was there," Trahan said. "It would have been better if they were still there, but it's kind of cool that they're not."

There's a couple things about his comments that strike me. First of all, the comment about Auburn fans booing him. Since he only played at Auburn one year and barely contributed, I don't think the Auburn faithful are going to be clamoring to get revenge on this former "superstar." In fact I'm pretty sure 90% of the current Auburn students have no idea who he is.

Secondly, I don't know why he is so vindictive toward Tommy Tuberville's staff. It was a staff that recruited him, gave him a scholarship, and eventually a chance to play. Now it is no one but Trahan's fault that he failed himself out of school and into this situation. For a guy that's not enough smart enough to attend classes, these comments strike me as just plain dumb. I was fortunate enough to have a class with the guy, and unless his notes were in his cell phone, I can guess he didn't do very well in that course.

So I urge the few of you that know who this guy is not to give him the satisfaction of being booed on Saturday. Don't acknowledge someone who insists on blaming a coaching staff and not himself for his problems. Save the cheering for the players that matter. The ones in orange and blue.

War Eagle

Navy Nightmare/Spookfest

Well it looks like Auburn-Ole Miss on Halloween will be an early game, with kickoff set for 11:21 a.m. Central time. Hopefully the Auburn players will not be too sleepy for the Navy Nightmare, but we'll see.

While getting up early pretty much sucks every time, this is good news for all you Spookfest fans. This early game will give you plenty of time to enjoy a spooky Halloween after the game is over, hopefully celebrating a win over the most disappointing team in the SEC. That's right Ole Miss. See above picture if you doubt that.

War Eagle!!

Seriously?

So I wasn't able to watch the Kentucky game on Saturday night, but I'm not really sure I missed much. Chalk it up to whatever you want, but losing to Kentucky for the first time since 1966 is a total embarrassment.

It doesn't matter if Kentucky has talent, everyone in the SEC has talent. It also doesn't matter that they're coming off three games against Florida, Alabama, and South Carolina, and were extremely hungry for a win.

Kentucky should never beat Auburn at home. Never. It's nothing against them, but if Auburn claims to be a football school, you simply don't lose in your own stadium to teams like that.

It's now been two straight years with two losses to traditionally bad SEC East teams. Just like last year, I'm sure Auburn had multiple chances to win the game, but failed.

I haven't even mentioned that Kentucky was starting a new quarterback. Looks like the infamous back-up curse still lives. Let's just hope the Tigers don't knock Jordan Jefferson out of the game on Saturday night. If so, it could be a long game.

I think this loss was made even worse by the fact that Bama has once again started 7-0, and moved up to #1 in the AP poll. As much as I hate to say it, Alabama has the right mindset about games like Kentucky. It's simply unacceptable for them to lose those games, and they never expect to. It also takes a lot of talent to get there, and I know myself and all Auburn fans are excited about the players Coach Chizik and his staff are recruiting to the Plains.

Next week's game against LSU in Baton Rouge is a huge test. Come out and win the game, and Auburn could be right back on track, headed for a 8 or 9 win season. Lose the game, or get blown out, and Auburn is suddenly facing 2008 Part 2. I sincerely hope the Auburn fans will stay behind the team and help them try to get this thing fixed.

Auburn can and will play better. When, I don't know. But this season is not over. Chizik and co. are building what we can all hope will be a championship contender in the future. Stay faithful.

War Eagle!!

Kentucky Preview/Score Prediction

On Saturday in Auburn, two teams in desperate need of an SEC win will meet as Kentucky takes on Auburn. The Wildcats are looking to avoid an 0-4 start in conference play, while the Tigers are trying to rebound from their embarrassing 44-23 to the Arkansas Razorbacks last weekend.

Kentucky will be without regular starting quarterback Mike Hartline, who tore his MCL in a 28-26 loss to South Carolina last week. Except for a 41-7 loss to Florida, Kentucky has played decent in the SEC. They hung with Alabama for a half before going down 38-20, and of course took the Gamecocks to the wire last week.

In my opinion, Auburn should always have enough talent to beat Kentucky. That certainly doesn't mean that will happen this year, but I expect it to. Auburn is a team looking to regain its confidence, and I know Gene Chizik is preaching that to his players this week.

Kentucky has been mysterious about their starting QB this week, and will not name a starter until Saturday. Auburn will still need a good effort to stop the 'Cats offense, who has some playmakers. It's amazing that we're seven games and Auburn's defense has still not had a statement game. Look for that to come this week.

Also look for Gus Malzahn's offense to stay cranked up for 4 quarters after stumbling in the first half against Arkansas. The guy is too good to be slowed down for long, and I just don't think Kentucky has the bodies to keep up with Auburn's offensive firepower. It may take a little while, but Auburn should put up some points.

Despite Kentucky being hungry, I think Auburn is hungrier right now. They know they have to win this game to keep up with Alabama and LSU, and perhaps move back into the national rankings. With a trip to Baton Rouge looming, Auburn knows the significance of playing well in this game. They won't be looking ahead, not under Gene Chizik.

Auburn wins 34-17.

War Eagle!!

I'm Back...Kinda

Much like the Auburn football team, I decided to take last week off, which explains my lack of posts. The disaster that was a 44-23 loss to the Razorbacks taught us that Auburn's not quite as good as some of us may have thought. However, I don't think they're nearly as bad as they looked Saturday.

A combination of key turnovers, poor special teams play, and overall miscues led the Tigers down a terrible path that can happen quite a bit in SEC road games. Just ask Georgia.

Kentucky is this week, and Auburn will look to bounce back in a big way while preparing for LSU in Baton Rouge in two short weeks. I'm going to try to digest some Auburn stats, and I'll be back in a day or two with my Kentucky preview.

War Eagle!!

Auburn-Tennessee Score Prediction

I've been watching some pretty decent games today. Kentucky was hanging with the Crimson Tide until they busted off a 97-yard drive, swiftly followed by a fumble return for a TD and a 21-6 halftime lead. Don't be surprised to see UAT blow them out in the 2nd half.

Clemson is also losing to the mighty Terrapins of Maryland at halftime, 17-13. This makes me happy. Should Maryland hang on, their wins this year would be against James Madison and Clemson. The other Tigers better kick it in gear.

But now for more pressing matters, tonight's Auburn vs. Tennessee game in Knoxville. Much of the talk this week has been centered around the Gus Malzahn-Monte Kiffin chess match, and with good reason. This will likely decide the game, as I don't believe Tennessee is going to be able to catch Auburn if it turns into a shootout. Tune in to ESPN tonight at 7:45 to watch.

My prediction: Auburn - 28 Tennessee - 17

War Eagle!!

Three Keys to Auburn Victory against Tennessee

As we all expected, Auburn took down a greatly inferior Ball State team last weekend. Their 54-30 win, while impressive at times, left a lot of questions to be asked on the defensive side of the ball.

The Tigers currently rank 8th in the SEC in total defense, giving up an average of 327.8 yards/game. Even more disturbing is Auburn's rank of 10th in the SEC in scoring defense, giving up 24.2 points/game.

When you look at Auburn's opponents so far, there have been some decent offenses going against the Tigers. Lousiana Tech and West Virginia both feature experienced playmakers at the skill positions. Still, giving up 30 points to Ball State, even with the second half largely featuring second and third team players on defense, is inexcusable.

The Auburn defense is going to have to grow up fast. This weekend's test at Neyland Stadium in front of 100,000 people will not be easy, and the exact same thing can be said for going on the road next week to face Ryan Mallet and Bobby Petrino's Arkansas offense.

With that being said, here are the three keys to victory that Auburn must achieve to beat Tennessee:

1. Clamp down on the Tennessee rushing attack - Just as Auburn will look to pound the ball against the talented and deep UT defense, the Vols will look to find holes in the Auburn defense to pile up some big numbers running the ball. Tennessee has two solid running backs in Monterio Hardesty and the young phenom, Bryce Brown. If Auburn can contain these two and force Jonathan Crompton to try and beat Auburn with his arm, the Tigers will have a good chance.

2. Give Chris Todd time to make throws - The Tennessee defense is about as talented top to bottom as any defense in the country, much less the SEC. Obviously everyone knows about safety Eric Berry and his knack for big plays. Just like the Auburn defensive gameplan, Tennessee will probably stack the box, similar to what West Virginia did in an attempt to slow Auburn's running backs down. If Todd can hit his receivers for decent gains, this will eventually open up holes for Ben Tate and Onterrio McCalebb to take advantage of later in the game.

3. Do not commit special teams errors - One of the only negatives about Auburn's season so far has been special teams play. Auburn ranks 10th in the SEC in kickoff return yardage and 11th in punt return yardage, both of which have to improve. The Tigers have also muffed several punts, which could be very costly in a tough road game. Auburn's field goal unit has been excellent so far this year, converting 6-6 field goals and 23-23 extra points. If this game comes down to a field goal at the end, I'd have to feel pretty good about Auburn's chances right now.

This game certainly could go either way. Both schools are still looking to make up for last year's failures, and are using each other as sort of a measuring stick right now. Auburn is going to have to play an excellent game on defense, and take advantage of any mistakes that Crompton might make. The Tiger's secondary currently leads the SEC with 8 interceptions, and must bring pressure to force Crompton back into his old interception throwing habits. Also, the offense has to use big plays to its advantage, and play well in front of the gigantic hostile crowd.

Hopefully Auburn can come out early and take the wind out of both the Tennessee players and fans. In 2004, Auburn took a 31-3 halftime lead, and cruised to an easy victory. If Auburn can pull away early, this could be yet another chance for Gene Chizik to make a statement to the rest of the league, as well as the national media.

I'll be back later in the week with my score prediction.

South Carolina/Ole Miss

I was at the South Carolina-Ole Miss game tonight in Columbia, covering for GamecockAnthem.com. Let's just say that Ole Miss, at least for one night, appeared very beatable.

Several weeks lie between now and the October 31 game in Auburn, and Ole Miss could improve a great deal before then. However, their schedule is about to get a lot tougher and this game could be devastating for a team that had so much hype coming in.

Auburn should be able to move the ball on the OM defense, and it will be interesting to see how the Gus Malzahn-Houston Nutt matchup will play into the game. Certainly Jevan Snead will have better games than the one he had in Columbia tonight, but if Auburn can apply a decent amount of pressure, they can slow him down a great deal.

Either way, it's going to be a huge SEC matchup on Halloween and you never know what could happen. But if they were playing next weekend, I would feel very good about Auburn's chances.

But congratulations to the Gamecocks for their first ever home win over a Top 5 opponent.

War Eagle!!

McKenzie Back on D

According to Evan Woodberry of the Mobile Press-Register, on-again off again tight end Gabe McKenzie has officially moved back to defensive end.

I'm not entirely sure this will have a huge impact after McKenzie missed all of spring practice and has played very few minutes this season, all at tight end. Whether it's offense or defense, any Division-I player has to go through a lot of coaching and game-planning to make an impact.

Gabe is certainly a huge talent, and coming out of high school was Rivals' #8 defensive end. The guy has played on defense before at Auburn and has been good. Who could forget his interception against LSU in 2008 that nearly propelled Auburn to victory?

This is a guy who still has time to make noise at Auburn, especially with Tracy Rocker coaching him up. If he is ready to go, look for his minutes to build in the coming weeks.

West Virginia Postgame

As much as I wanted to be, I was not in attendance at the game that took the place of 2001 Florida as some of the worst weather Auburn has ever played in. According to many people, this was the best performance of the Auburn student section ever, as the students stayed in their seats cheering throughout the rain delay.

When the skies finally parted, the West Virginia points quickly started coming as fast as the thunderstorm that had preceded them. Auburn quickly fell behind 14-0, thanks to a couple of big plays from West Virginia QB Jarrett Brown and RB Noel Devine.

At this point, the Auburn team separated itself not only from the 2008 squad, but many before that as well. They quickly battled back, only trailing 21-20 at halftime. A great deal of this comeback was due to the play of two of Auburn's most perilous positions the past few years: quarterback and wide receiver.

Although the defense would prove very opportunistic in the second half, it was the play of QB Chris Todd and WR Darvin Adams that truly saved the day for the Tigers. Combine with those 6 turnovers, and you have the only way in the world Auburn was going to pull that game out.

You may not find a QB-RB combination more talented or more elusive than Jarrett Brown and Noel Devine. They are playmakers in every sense of the word, as Auburn saw in the first half. Still, a relentless and opportunistic defense was too much for them to overcome, even after gaining over 500 yards of total offense.

Certainly Auburn can't continue to play this way and hope to win week in and week out in the SEC. But to get a win as big as that despite the early deficit and haunting memories of last year's game, is immeasurable in its worth for the Tigers.

Next up is Ball State and their 0-3 record. They are so awful I may skip straight to the Tennessee preview coming up. Auburn will win this game, by a lot, and look very good doing it.

Oh and go get your Trooper Towels people, he truly is the man!!

"Sittin’ on G, Waitin’ on O, you know I’m ready to go!"

War Eagle!

Of Course Where Would I Be Without This...

Just Goin' Crazy...

Welcome and War Eagle

Welcome and War Eagle!

My name's Paul Stewart, a 2009 graduate of Auburn University and some would say slightly insane Auburn football fan. Although I'm getting off to a late start here during football season, I'll try to give you some insight and commentary on Auburn Football as we plow ahead under Gene Chizik. The season has certainly gotten off to a good start with a win over West Virginia last weekend. Most importantly, the players and coaches survived that hurricane that hit right at game time.

I'll try to think up some weekly features once I get this thing going a little bit. We'll also feature some guest writers and contributers, such as fellow Sewell Hall Alum Cannon "Big Dip" Simpson and Shnax Reynolds.

I'll try to give you kings a West Virginia feature later this evening as I figure out how to use this thing.

See ya!