Sometimes I hate being right

Over at Dawg Sports, I offered this bit of "analysis" before the game, which I have repeated to many people (though usually not in written form):

It seems like recently every Georgia team has had some major flaw that gets corrected just in time for the Auburn game; in 2006 it was Stafford’s inexperience and in 2007 and 2008 it was a defense that loved to give up points. That trend being noted, I fully expect Auburn to lose the turnover battle by 3 on Saturday night. If we can keep from giving the ball away, I like our chances (even with a suspect defense). If Cox and Co. protect the ball and Martinez’ defense takes the ball away from our offense a few times, it may mean a presidential term’s worth of consecutive victories for the Red and Black.

Final turnover margin:

Auburn 2
Georgia 0

And once again Willie Martinez finds his magic just in time for the Auburn game (albeit a quarter late this time). If we played Georgia in September instead of mid-November, I'm positive we wouldn't be oh-for-our-last-four against the Bulldogs. Possible wins include: 2006, 2007 and 2009. Not saying we'd have won three of those four, maybe only one, but in '06 and '07 Georgia started slow and finished strong, and in '09 Auburn started strong and finished poorly. It's not out of the question to say that Auburn playing Georgia when, say, South Carolina always plays them would have an effect on the outcome of the games.

Bitterness aside, Auburn currently is on a very bad trend. Look at our current streaks against all other SEC teams (in alphabetical order):

Alabama: L1
Arkansas: L2
Florida: W2
Georgia: L4
Kentucky: L1
Louisiana State: L3
Mississippi: W1
Mississippi State: W2
South Carolina: W4
Tennessee: W5
Vanderbilt: L1

We currently own losing streaks against six of the other eleven SEC teams, and in two weeks (barring the upset of the year) will have losing streaks of at least two games to our three main rivals: Alabama, Georgia, and LSU. I'm getting tired of not beating our rivals.

Oh well, 7 wins this season is beyond my expectations. The future looks bright in Auburn. Hopefully Tyrik Rollison turns out to be the real deal. War Eagle, and beat Bama!

It's Auburn-Georgia week! Wednesday

1996 was Jim Donnan's first season in Athens, and the Bulldogs limped into the Auburn game with a 3-5 (2-4) record. He was still dealing with the mess that Ray Goff left behind, but would improve the program to at least decent status over the next few years. Auburn, meanwhile, was beginning to feel the slide in the Terry Bowden regime that came with lackluster recruiting, but they came into the game at 7-2 (4-2) and fighting for the team's first SEC Western Division title. The '96 game was similar to the '99 game in that it marked the up-and-coming coach with the worse team (record-wise) picking off the older coach whose program was on the downside. Unfortunately for Auburn fans, it was the Tigers on the short end of the stick.

This was a memorable game in the series for two main reasons. First, one of the most iconic pictures in college football history was taken at this game when Georgia's mascot, Uga V, lunged at Auburn wide receiver Robert Baker after he reeled in a touchdown pass. If you've never seen this picture, you've probably never watched Auburn or Georgia or college football period:



You know what would be even better? If we had a live tiger on the sidelines and it lunged at A.J. Green after a touchdown on Saturday! (I'd rather Green not score, but this would be some consolation) Baker's touchdown helped Auburn to a 28-7 halftime lead, and they seemingly had the game in hand. Of course, followers of this rivalry know that Georgia would come back in the second half to tie the game at 28 on the last play of regulation (marking the second consecutive trip the Bulldogs made to Auburn that ended tied after regulation), and thus the second thing that made this game so memorable occurred: Auburn and Georgia were involved in the SEC's first overtime game. Not only that, but at four overtimes it was the longest college football game in history until an Ole Miss-Arkansas tilt a few years later. This game also single-handedly caused the NCAA to change its overtime procedure to force teams to go for two after touchdowns starting in the third overtime. It truly was a historical game!

I still remember watching the game in a Knoxville hotel room (remember, this was during the time in my life when I went to many UT games and mostly rooted for the Vols) with two of my Auburn friends from school. When Dameyune Craig was stopped short on a 4th down in the 4th overtime, my friend Brian ran out of the room, screaming "Oh God, we're going to the weed eater bowl!" I'll never forget that moment, even if I didn't have a dog (pun intended) in the fight. Hopefully Saturday night's game turns out a little bit better for the Auburn faithful.

Not sure what I'll write about tomorrow, but check back and check it out! WAR EAGLE.

It's Auburn-Georgia week! Tuesday

In 1999, first-year Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville started his career on the Plains with a 3-0 record after victories over Appalachian State, Idaho, and Louisiana State. However, an injury to starter Ben Leard caused the Tigers to lose their next five games in a row before a homecoming victory over Central Florida left them at 4-5 (1-5) going into the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry. Georgia's fourth-year head man, Jim Donnan, had his Bulldogs at 6-2 (4-2) with losses to UGA's main SEC East rivals, Florida and Tennessee (this would be a theme in his time in Athens). Even though Leard's injury hurt Auburn in the middle portion of its schedule, he would suit up for the game against the Dawgs.

I don't know all the details about this game, but I have to imagine that even though the home team hadn't won in the series since a 37-27 Georgia win in Athens in 1991, the Bulldogs would be the favorite in this game, and probably by a pretty decent margin. In many respects, the 1999 game was similar to the 2009 matchup. Georgia's program was beginning to feel the heat from its fans over its inability to beat Tennessee and Florida, and the general downward trend the program was on; Auburn, behind a first-year head coach, was trending upwards (even despite taking some in-season lumps) after the disastrous end to the previous regime. We can only hope Saturday night's game turns out as well as the 1999 version.

Auburn jumped out to a 31-0 lead at halftime before cruising to a 38-21 victory between the hedges. Leard set the Auburn single-game passing yardage mark with 416, and Auburn picked up some much-needed momentum heading into the Iron Bowl. They would finish the season at 5-6, but finished the following regular season at 9-2 and in the SEC Championship Game before ultimately finishing 9-4 with a Citrus Bowl loss to Michigan. Georgia, on the other hand, would finish the season at 8-4 after a win over Mississippi, a loss to Georgia Tech, and an Outback Bowl win over Purdue. Donnan would be fired after posting another 8-4 season in 2000 with losses to rivals South Carolina, Florida, Auburn, and Georgia Tech.

Check back tomorrow (especially if you're a Georgia fan) as I chronicle the 1996 game! WAR EAGLE.

It's Auburn-Georgia week! Monday

The Auburn-Georgia rivalry is a special one for fans of both teams, for many reasons: the two schools have shared a number of coaches and athletic directors, Auburn gets many of its students and athletes from the state of Georgia, the teams have met every fall since 1898 with the exception of one year when the country was in a war, etc. The rivalry is a special one for me personally for a couple of reasons: a good portion of my family is from Georgia and as such are die-hard Bulldog fans, and I have attended both institutions. I got my bachelor's from Auburn in 2007 and will be getting my master's from Georgia in six months. I still root hard for Auburn in every single game (if you've ever read anything on this blog ever you should know that), but the intense hatred I used to hold for UGA has subsided to just a general dislike since I started here. In the past two years since I've lived in Athens, for example, LSU has passed Georgia on my "most hated" list.

The game is extra special for me this year, as it represents my alma mater coming to visit me, rather than the other way around, as it usually is. I get to spend some time with some old friends from Auburn, as well as see all of my current friends at Georgia. I am borrowing a friend's student ticket to the game, so my orange and blue-clad self will be in the belly of the beast, but I trust that the folks I attend the game with will help keep me out of too much trouble.

Anyways, what I'd like to do once per day this week is take a look at some great moments and memorable games from this rivalry. I'll spare you a sappy introduction the rest of the week and cut right to the chase. Today, I'm profiling the 2005 Auburn-Georgia clash in Athens, which is the last Auburn victory in the series.

***

I have already said that this game is my second-favorite Auburn game to attend (only behind 2006 Florida). It was a back-and-forth affair that wasn't decided until John Vaughn booted a 20-yard field goal with six seconds left. I may even say that this game was the most well-played game by both teams I've ever seen. There was a little bit of everything: offense, defense, special teams. All in all, it was a special night for an Auburn fan to be in Sanford Stadium. Here's the obligatory video:



If you're a betting man (or woman), it may be safe to bet that the 61 total points mark in the 2005 game will be eclipsed in the 2009 edition. Both teams have featured suspect defenses this season, and both have performed at least decently on offense.

I'll be back tomorrow with another moment (that has yet to be decided) from this series, and hopefully give a little more in-depth detail on it (more detail on the '05 game can be found at the post I linked to a few paragraphs up). Until then, WAR EAGLE.

SEC Power Poll

As far as the Auburn-Furman game is concerned, only the first half really matters as far as Auburn's performance goes. We had over 400 yards of offense and 42 points, and held the Paladins to 60 yards and three points. It doesn't matter that we gave up 28 points in the second half to them, because most of the people who played on defense in the second half wouldn't even start for my hometown Alabama A&M Bulldogs. That's about all the pixels I'm going to use talking about that game.

This week, I'm going to have daily posts with great moments from Auburn-Georgia to get everyone in the mood for the first leg of Amen Corner. I hope this feature will be a good one, but I make no promises. I'm excited and apprehensive about the game; on the surface, I think we should win, but at the same time, it seems like every single year Georgia has a major flaw that they fix just in time for the Auburn game. That said, I fully expect the Bulldogs to never turn the ball over against us. More on that game in the upcoming week, here's the power poll:

1. Florida
2. Alabama
3. Tennessee (playing better than LSU right now)
4. Louisiana State
5. Arkansas
6. Auburn
7. Mississippi State
8. South Carolina
9. Georgia
10. Mississippi
11. Kentucky
12. Vanderbilt