Another week is in the books and it was a special one. The countdown to kickoff officially dipped below the century mark and Paul Finebaum’s return to the college football world became official. Well, that was half-special anyway. Oh speaking of half-special, I just described Finebaum’s audience. Let’s begin shall we?
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Can Auburn handle LSU up front like 2010?
War Eagle, everybody! It’s time now for another Auburn opponent preview. On September 21st, Auburn gears up for its first road trip of the season, to face LSU in Baton Rouge. At first glance, LSU is a team gutted by graduation and early entries to the NFL. The Tigers lost 11 underclassmen off last year’s roster, and only return 2 defensive starters. Add in new offensive coordinator Cam Cameron, and some off the field problems, and LSU looks vulnerable in week four.
However, recent history is against Auburn in this one. Not since the infamous “Cigar Game” in 1999 has Auburn won in Baton Rouge. The game has not even been competitive in Death Valley since Tommy Tuberville left Auburn. One of the keys has been the quarterback position. Auburn took rookie Jason Campbell in there in 2001 and lost 27-14 in a game that wasn’t as close as the score indicated. A dysfunctional offense in 2003 did no better, in a 31-7 blowout. Brandon Cox got only his second road start in 2005, and if Auburn would have had any semblance of a passing game in that one, history would not remember 5 missed field goals and an overtime loss. With veteran Cox in 2007, Auburn held a lead for much of the game, but a 17 point 4th quarter meltdown left the visiting Tigers with a 30-24 loss. In 2009, Chris Todd’s arm was ailing, and Auburn took a 31-10 beating. In 2011, Clint Moseley was given his first start ever, and it was an exceptionally ugly game for the Tigers, a 45-10 loss. Can Auburn go into Baton Rouge and win with the current crop of QBs on the Plains?
If you’ve ever wanted to know what a “trap game” is, LSU’s opener is exactly that. They play former BCS-buster TCU in Arlington, Texas in a made for TV evening matchup. LSU will be tested early in the Jerry Dome. Following the opener, LSU has moribund UAB at home, followed by bowl team Kent State, before playing Auburn. LSU follows the Tiger battle with Georgia in Athens, MSU in Starkville, Florida at home, Ole Miss in Oxford, Furman for homecoming, then an off week. Following the break, LSU has Alabama in Tuscaloosa, then Texas A&M at home. LSU finishes the regular season with a black Friday matchup with Arkansas in Baton Rouge. I don’t think I’d trade schedules with them!
It’s another year, and another round of questions about the LSU offense. It seems each year that LSU is seen as a team with strong defense and special teams, and an average at best offense. That will need to change this year, with a lot of new faces on the opposite side of the ball. LSU does have the advantage of 9 returning starters on offense, including starting quarterback Zach Mettenberger. What’s odd about this year’s offense is a thinning tailback situation. The past few years, it’s seemed like LSU had a bottomless stable of great backs. With the multiple arrests and suspension of formerly likely starter Jeremy Hill, LSU has only three scholarship guys right now, Alfred Blue, Kenny Hilliard, and Terrance Magee. That’s a pretty good trio, though. LSU worked extensively on the passing game this past spring, with mixed results in the spring game. There were a lot of big plays down the field on the reserves, there was clearly work still to be done on the screen game.
The only returning starters on the defense are senior linebacker Lamin Barrow, and senior safety Craig Loston. However, a number of the new starters on defense have contributed significant minutes in the past, starting with junior tackle Anthony Johnson, who was for all intents and purposes a third tackle starter in 2012. Regardless of who winds up starting, LSU does have the talent to be strong in the front seven, and will try to force Auburn to pass. LSU’s last look at a Gus Malzhan-style offense was last New Year’s Eve in Atlanta, against Clemson. Tajh Boyd had a big day throwing the ball in the Clemson upset win, but LSU shut down the run, holding Clemson to just 99 yards on the ground. Auburn will have to have some success throwing the ball to have a chance in this one.
LSU seems to always field brutally effective special teams units, and this year may be as well, although a good number of newer players should be on the field this time. Gone are the spectacular legs of Brad Wing and Drew Allemon, though. Can LSU continue to be special in the kicking game with a couple of walk-on starters replacing those two? Junior kicker James Hairston was the kickoff man last season, and he was effective there. Heir-apparent sophomore punter Jamie Keehn did have 12 punts last season, for a 43.7 yard average.
Unit matchups, after the jump!
PUNT, BAMA, PUNT
In 1972, Alabama was 10-0 and heading toward a sure National Championship. Then on December 2nd of that year something went terribly wrong. They showed up at Legion Field to play the then 8-1 Auburn Tigers.
With the nickname of the “Amazins” the Tigers had astounded everyone by giving up an average of only 13.5 points per game, despite LSU hanging 35 on them in their only loss of the season in Baton Rouge.
Alabama dominated the first 3 quarters of the game and looked unbeatable. Auburn, down 16-3, could only manage one Gardner Jett field goal and looked like they were headed for a second loss of the season and a second tier bowl game.
Then as the headline in the Birmingham News said, “Lightning Strikes Twice”.
After holding Alabama on 3rd down and with less than 10 minutes left in the game, Greg Gantt lined up to punt.
Then “IT” happened.
I can find no better way to describe what happened next than the text of legendary play by play man Gary Sanders’ call of the play.
“Johnny Simmons is going back as a single safety, Mitchell and Langner on the…uh…line of scrimmage coming from either side to try to block the kick. Auburn trying to go after it, here’s the snap, they got it! Blocked kick! Ball’s back to the 25, picked up on the bounce at the 25 yard line, and in for a touchdown is David Langner”
Now, with 90 seconds left on the clock, the second lightning strike in the words of Sanders.
“Greg Gantt standing on his own 30, Auburn will try to block it. Auburn going after it, here’s the good snap…it is blocked! It is blocked! It’s caught on the run! It’s caught on the run! And he’s gonna score! David Langner! David Langner has scored, and Auburn has tied the game!” Roger Mitchell has blocked the kick and it is tied 16-16.” Note: Sanders mistakenly gave credit for blocking the kick to Mitchell instead of Newton. Mitchell actually did block the extra point that proved to be the final margin of victory.Gardner Jett kicked the extra point and won the game 17-16. I have a friend who uses that number as the combination to locks and entry passwords.
Alabama had time to come back but one of the heroes of the game, Langner, intercepted his second pass of the game with 55 seconds remaining. Only the “Camback” from 2010 rivals this as the greatest win against Alabama. Ironic isn’t it that the two greatest comeback wins over Alabama were orchestrated at the hands of a Newton.
Bill Newton blocked both punts and was obviously the other hero. Newton, whose wife Sarah, is on the Board of Trustees representing District 7, says fans never want to stop talking about that day. I am certainly one of them.
Auburn denied Alabama their shot at the National Title and went on to pound Colorado, 24-3 in the Gator Bowl.
I was not fortunate enough to be at the game but I remember the call like it was yesterday with Gusty Yearout, the AU color man, screaming like a maniac in the background. It still brings goose bumps and tears today. Somewhere I have a 45 rpm record of the last portion of the radio broadcast but could not dig it up. Actually you can download it or a ringtone on www.puntbamapunt.com. Hmmm, a ringtone for Auburn-Alabama game week. Sounds right.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one.
What does the average Alabama football player get on his SAT score? Drool.
Two Auburn fans have been walking in the woods for eight hours when they stop and one turns to the other and says, “I’m cutting the next Christmas tree we find, lights or no lights.
This has been a hard mentality to sell for Auburn Head Coach, John Pawlowski
Auburn opened and closed its 2013 SEC Championship tournament run on a blistering afternoon in Hoover, Alabama by falling 6-3 to the Crimson Tide. Auburn started out strong plating 3 runs and chasing Alabama’s starter early in the ball game. However, Alabama chipped away at the lead until finally tying the game in a climactic 6th inning that saw Alabama send 7 men to the plate and score only 1 run. The death blow came in the bottom of the 8th when Alabama’s offense came alive and Auburn’s defense wilted in the heat. The Crimson Tide took a swift 6-3 advantage and never looked back. Auburn quietly exited 1-2-3 in the 9th.
Once again, Auburn baseball is back to square one and looking for answers. One has to wonder what this means for the future of John Pawlowski and the program overall going forward.
The Auburn Baseball Team is set to play a big game today when they take on Alabama in the first round of the SEC Tournament in Hoover.
As our Senior Editor, Jay Coulter said , “The stakes are pretty high.” A possible NCAA Regional is riding on the game for both teams and with it, at least one coach’s job could be on the line.
In addition, the winner moves on – the loser goes home. And then there’s that other thing … beating your arch rival.
Neither fan base wants to ever lose to the other – in anything. So it’s a big game, the biggest for both programs all year.
But for Auburn it may be even bigger. As Track ‘em Tigers member Buddy Ro commented here yesterday, ” There are rare opportunities for AU baseball to set the tone of the year for Auburn athletics …
“This game is much bigger than AU baseball.”
After disappointing bottom dweller seasons in the other two major sports, the baseball team carries the weight of redemption for the 2012-2013 athletic year.
While playing in Hoover should be a plus for Alabama, (it will almost be like a home game). the Tide will be facing one of the hottest teams in the league when they go against the Tigers.
Auburn enters the game riding a wave of momentum, having won their last three series against No.18 Ole Miss, No.19 Florida on the road, and No.11 Arkansas at home.
For the most part, the pitching has been there for Auburn all year. It’s the hitting and especially timely hitting that has sparked the remarkable turnaround.
If the Tigers can keep the hot bats going … they will win, keep their NCAA Regional hopes alive, and more importantly finish the Auburn Athletic year on a winning note.
Go Tigers, Beat Bama!
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Editor’s Note:
Auburn will send the SEC Pitcher of the Week, Conner Kendrick (5-3) to the mound and Bama will counter with the guy they believe to be their best hurler, Justin Kamplain (1-0). First pitch will be 30 minutes after the end of the first game (probably around 12:30).
The new 12-team SEC Tournament begins today at 9:30 a.m. when No. 6 seed Ole Miss plays No. 11 Kentucky in the first game
Auburn will face Alabama thirty minutes after the first game ends. The two have met four times this year with a split outcome (2-2). The last meeting saw Bama take a 2-0 win at Auburn despite the Tigers only giving up 2 hits.
The pressure will be on as the two rivals are playing to get into the 8-team double elimination second round.
The winner will face No. 2 LSU on Wednesday while the loser goes home and waits to see if they are selected for a NCAA Regional.
SEC Tournament Match Ups:
Tuesday (single elimination)
Game 1: No. 6 Ole Miss vs. No. 11 Kentucky, 9:30 a.m.
Game 2: No. 7 Alabama vs. No. 10 Auburn
Game 3: No. 8 Florida vs. No. 9 Texas A&M, 4:30 p.m.
Game 4: No. 5 Mississippi State vs. No. 12 Missouri
Wednesday (double elimination)
Game 5: No. 3 Arkansas vs. Game 1 Winner, 9:30 a.m.
Game 6: No. 2 LSU vs. Game 2 Winner
Game 7: No. 1 Vanderbilt vs. Game 3 Winner, 4:30 p.m.
Game 8: No. 4 South Carolina vs. Game 4 Winner
Thursday (double elimination)
Game 9: Game 5 Loser vs. Game 6 Loser, 9:30 a.m.
Game 10: Game 7 Loser vs. Game 8 Loser
Game 11: Game 5 Winner vs. Game 6 Winner, 4:30 p.m.
Game 12: Game 7 Winner vs. Game 8 Winner
Friday (double elimination)
Game 13: Game 9 Winner vs. Game 11 Loser, 3:00 p.m.
Game 14: Game 10 Winner vs. Game 12 Loser
Saturday (single elimination)
Game 15: Game 13 Winner vs. Game 11 Winner, noon
Game 16: Game 14 Winner vs. Game 12 Winner
Sunday (Championship game)
Game 17:
Game 15 Winner vs. Game 16 Winner, 3:30 p.m.
Conner Kendrick was named the Southeastern Conference Pitcher of the
Week today for his performance in last week’s 3-0 victory against the
No. 11 Arkansas Razorbacks.
In pitching Auburn’s first shutout in two years he struck out eight batters while allowing only four hits with one walk in 7 1/3 innings of work.
He has held opposing batters to a .257 batting average and leads the Auburn pitching staff with 74 strike outs.
Coach Pawlowski named him today as the starter against Alabama in tomorrow’s second, first round game of the SEC Tournament.
The Auburn IMG Network will carry the game on its baseball affiliates. And the game will also be broadcast live on FSN as well as on ESPN3.com – but only fans outside of SEC country will be able to view it as the net works will enforce viewing blackouts through out the south.
Give Auburn baseball coach John Pawlowski credit. In March, he was deader than a gathering of the Jay Jacobs Fan Club.
After starting out 1-8 in SEC play, most believed Pawlowski was destined to bring home Auburn’s third consecutive last place SEC finish in the Big Three sports. It was only a matter of time before former would be inserted into his title.
Now I know college baseball has never caught the imaginations of most Auburn people. Anytime we write a story about it, you can hear the crickets coming from the comments section. But by damned, this team and coaching staff has earned a little ink today.
If you’ve been too busy following football recruiting or cutting the grass, or just taking the trash out, then you’ve missed quite the comeback on the Plains.
Don’t look now, but Auburn is one of the hottest teams in college baseball. Winners of their last three series, two of which were against ranked teams, Auburn has gone 12-9 to close out the regular season.
Auburn dispatched of No. 11 Arkansas 11-6 Saturday afternoon, winning yet another series and finally giving Auburn fans something to cheer for the first time in more than a year.
Talk of a new baseball coach has turned to NCAA Regional play. How fitting that Auburn’s road starts with Alabama on Tuesday in Hoover.
In a win or go home matchup, tenth-seeded Auburn (33-22, 13-17) faces seven-seed Alabama (32-24, 14-14) in a mid-afternoon contest. The Tide lost two of three over the weekend to top-ranked Vanderbilt in Nashville.
The big question is whether Auburn has done enough to punch its ticket for post-season play. Pawlowski is cautious in his assessment.
“We didn’t start off good, but we certainly finished the conference pretty well,” he said. “I think we put ourselves in a very good position, but we have a lot more work to do.”
Both Baseball America and SEBaseball.com have the Tigers bracketed to go. However, a Tuesday loss could make the selection committee forget about Auburn as the week progresses and more conference tournaments are played.
A win over Alabama likely gets the job done.
Auburn catcher Blake Austin says there’s no doubt Auburn’s earned a trip.
“Oh, yeah,” Austin said. “We played three regional teams in a row, top-15 teams. We’re swinging the bats like a regional team, I think. Offensively, it’s like another gear hit since Ole Miss. Pitching has been there all year.”
The bigger question is, has Pawlowski done enough to save his job?
Again, it likely comes down to Tuesday against arch-rival Alabama. It seems unlikely Pawlowski survives if his team fails to earn a regional birth. So yeah, the stakes are pretty high tomorrow.
Count me among those pulling for him.
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