EVER TO CONQUER, NEVER TO YIELD

First off let me start by retracting my prediction that John Vaughn would have his revenge. After watching a shanked kick hit the upright again, everyone knows Vaughn is a great kicker but LSU has his number.

It goes without saying WAR DAMN EAGLE! In a game that saw more speed and hard hits than any other game on separation Saturday, possibly in this decade, Auburn came out on top. Any fan across the nation has to tip their hats to both teams. It was what football used to be before the writers at ESPN and across the nation made it boring to play defense, even though time in and time out it is what wins championships. Auburn and LSU are among the best in college football right now, and it was sad to see a team lose a game like that and to drop below teams that would not want to see LSU walk into their field. It is proof while the SEC has weak teams just like the next conference (see Ole Miss and MSU), that their elite make it the best and toughest conference to play in and to win a championship in.



To the game...lets start with the offense. I look at it this way, Alabama won the national title with Jay Barker at quarterback. Why is this important you might ask? Because it was offense that was good enough to win every game. Now I dont think this was our best offensive go at it, our line was a little soft, kenny had flashes of greatness but did not seem like it was dialed in, vaughn missed a chip shot and cox was too hestitent trying to not make mistakes, but the bottom line is all your offense has to do it be good enough to win, especially when your defense holds a team to 3 points that was averaging 45. I think in the next couple weeks you will see a more focused offense that will key in on play action to set up everything, and Borges has not let us down yet, so a 7 point win is no time to start doubting him.

The defense. The scary part is there were times I thought we played really poorly and we still held LSU to no touchdowns, something that has not been done since the 90's. We are soft in the middle, but with the addition of Sears and Blackmon I think our linebacking core will be that much stronger. I did not like the fact that we did not show a lot of blitzes, but I will give Auburn the benefit of the doubt since we held some of the top receivers in the country to no TD's. Our speed was great, we swarm to the ball, tackling was good at times and bad at others, but overall we were prepared to play and that is a testament to the coaches and the players.

The Call. Wow I am tired of hearing about this. I get it, Bama fans and LSU fans are ticked. Bama fans all I have to say is get a life and worry about your own team who struggled to put 17 on the board by the half against Louisiana Monroe. LSU fans I can sypathise with, after such a hard fought game you never want it to come down to a call and I cannot say I would not be doing the same thing if I were them, but at the end of the day, whether the rule is right or not, it was the right call. Two reasons...1)If was knocked away (more than tipped) and therefore deemed uncatchable and pass interference cannot be called. 2)The play is not reviewable by the rules and it is a judgment call made on a bang bang play, and there is room for human error. Either way it is sad that this is now taking away from a game that was one of the best I have ever seen.

MVP. Kody Bliss! Without him our defense would have been put in 10 times worse situations and I think would have given up points. No one wants to give credit to a kicker for a defensive battle like that game, but without Bliss flipping the field everytime we went three and out on our own 20 we would have been in a lot worse shape.

It was a priviledge to be in the stands for such a game and remarkable to watch two teams so hungry to win that it came down to 5 yards. War Damn Eagle and congrats to both teams on a game that will be remembered as one of the greats.

------
Prediction for this weeks game...Auburn 56 - Buffalo 0, and I would be surprised to see Cox or Irons play more than a series or even a snap. Either way it will be a nice week to recover from such a brutal game.