Auburn Tigers

[Jungle Rat]

The toughest team we'll face all year is during practice, so I get where he's coming from

We're talking practice right? Practice?

[Toemeesleather]

What ever year Auburn won it, 2010?, they beat Ky by 3.....

Bammer, (2009?) beat moribund Tennessee by 2.....AT home!

[Professor Tiger]

Auburn had a great JUCO signing day:

4* DE Davonte Lambert
4* S Derrick Moncrief

and the granddaddy of them all...

5* WR Dhaquille Williams. Although he verbaled to AU awhile back, a lot of us thought he'd eventually flip to LSU (he's from LA). He reportedly noticed how little Auburn passes, which would not exactly showcase his extraordinary talents. I guess that didn't bother him after all.

[aTm]

WHat were their signing bonuses?

[KeviNole]

They didn't get signing bonuses, silly child.

Their DADDIES got the signing bonuses, so it's ok.

[Professor Tiger]

Signing bonuses? That's SOOOOO T-town menswear. In the SEC (particularly Alabama) it's tricked out sports cars now.

Y'all are still stuck in the era of free shoes. No wonder the ACC hasn't been able to keep up with the SEC for so long.

[Professor Tiger]

Professor Tiger's Official BCSNC Analysis and Prediction.

FSU is for real. They are the #1 team in the country and probably deserve to be. They are talented and athletic enough to compete for an SECCG. Yes, they played a panty waste ACC schedule, but they blew out all their opponents, which is just what you would expect a #1 team to do. By contrast, we are 2 miracles away from being 9-3 and playing our bowl game in Jacksonville or Atlanta or Nashville.

Auburn does not match up well aganst FSU at all. On defense, our front 4 is very good, but our back 7 is shaky at best. We are not very good at pass defense. Murray, McCarron and Manziel all had field days against our secondary. None of them are as good as Winston. For us to win, we must put a LOT of pressure on him with our front 4, as the back 7 will have their hands full trying to cover FSU's fleet of excellent receivers. But if Winston has plenty of time to throw, he will light us up all night.

On offense, we are by far the best running team FSU has seen all year. We ran successfully on some of the best defenses in the country, and I think we will have some success against FSU. When we line up on offense and run straight at FSU, and start getting some first downs, FSU defenders are going to look at each other and think, "Hey, these guys are as big and strong and fast as we are. They're not scrawny and slow like Wake Forest and NC State." FSU's defense will face adversity for the first time all season. If that rattles them, we will score a lot of points. If it doesn't, they have the talent and speed to make some stops and limit our scoring. And cutting our touchdown production by even a touchdown might be enough for them to win if Winston has the kind of night I think he will.

I also expect them to stack the box against our offense. Other teams tried that, but it never worked. Often, we ran successfully against an 8 man box. The better defenses trusted their front 7 to stop our run. When they started getting gashed, they started cheating their secondary up to stop the run. That left a situation where, during the 8-10 times per game we actually passed, Sammy Coates was usually wide open. But FSU has the best secondary in the country. They can stack the box all night and single man cover our receivers knowing that our receivers will be covered like blankets if we ever try passing. Nick Marshall's passing credentials are suspect at best, and our receivers have shown an infuriating tendency to drop passes all season long.

Also, the bowl season has changed the evaluation of our regular season. Our wins over Georgia and Alabama don't look as impressive as both lost - Alabama rather convincingly. By contrast, FSU's win over Clemson looks more impressive as the fake Tigers beat a solid (albeit a choking Big Ten) tOSUc squad.

For Auburn to win, four things must happen:

1. We must contain and pressure Winston for 4 quarters. (It would help a lot if he falls victim to the Heisman curse, and has a rotten game all by himself, but we can't count on that.)
2. We must be able run consistently, often against 8-9 man fronts. Even though we are a pure run offense, we usually score quickly. But on Monday we need to sustain long drives, and keep Winston off the field as much as possible.
3. We must keep the game close into the 4th quarter, where the pressure and stakes are extremely high. Under that kind of pressure we have consistently thrived, whereas that is uncharted territory for FSU. Maybe the Noles can handle it, maybe they can't.
4. Nick Marshall needs to be able to throw a lot more often than he has all season, and our receivers need to quit dropping and make catches in crucial situations against superb DB's. That has not been a proven skill for us.

Can Auburn do all that? I have my doubts.

GENTLEMEN, AUBURN IS IN TROUBLE.

[The Gray Ghost]

I would echo Point 2 as the one path to Auburn victory - Keep Winston on the sideline. Run the ball successfully and run or pass - keep the ball in bounds. No one should touch the sideline unless they have to for a first down. Keep the clock moving and If at the end of the night FSwho has had 8-9 possessions instead of 12-13, Aubie will have a chance.

[Professor Tiger]

BTW, Ghost, happy Western schismatic heterodox Epiphany, more correctly called Theophany.

[KeviNole]

I completely agree with your analysis, Prof. Scarily so.

If both teams limit their mistakes on defense and turnovers on offense, it will be a lowish scoring, tight game. If our defense consistently plays out of position and/or doesn't maintain their assignment, we're in trouble (see: Missouri). If we turn the ball over, it will kill us.

Fortunately these would be out of character for us. Jameis has been know to throw INTs when he overthrows across the middle trying to do too much but otherwise has been deadly accurate. Devonta Freeman has one fumble all season (in the ACCCG). Since the BC game, the defense has been working on "eye discipline" and trusting their teammates to do the right thing and stay in position, and if you listen to the D's interviews all week, it's obviously the most important piece of the game plan.

I'll go ahead and say that this is the best FSU TEAM I've ever seen. We don't have ridiculous players on defense like we've had in the past but there are no weak spots either, just very good to great players at every position. The offense is very similar. In my opinion the only team that can beat us tonight is ourselves, and that's very possible as AU is the best team we've played this year and it's not close. But if we play well early, I wonder if AU can maintain the fortitude they've shown all year because this team is very frustrating to play against.

[aTm]

Florida State by 3 touchdowns.

[The Gray Ghost]

BTW, Ghost, happy Western schismatic heterodox Epiphany, more correctly called Theophany.

Help yourself to an extra piece of 3 Kings Cake today Prof. If you get the baby that could be the good fortune Aubie needs to win.

[Orangefreak]

Good luck tonight, Auburn.

WAR DAMN EAGLE!!!

[Orangefreak]

Son of a @#$%^!! How do you not catch that?! I thought I was watching a Tennessee, Worley to Adam Smith pass there for a second. ::shudders::

[Orangefreak]

False start. FSU. 3rd and 16 now? Excellent.

WAR DAMN EAGLE!!

[Orangefreak]

Fuckery.

[Orangefreak]

Wow. Beautiful reception by Auburn there.

WAR DAMN EAGLE!!

[The Gray Ghost]

Aubie's losing in the trenches.

[Orangefreak]

TD!! EAT IT ACC BIATCHES!!

WAR DAMN EAGLE!!

[Orangefreak]

Why does every team who is remotely associated with Indians do the damn tomahawk chop?

That's one good thing about the Redskins, they actually don't do that.