Auburn v Ole Miss preview
Well, this update is coming pretty late and most of you will likely not see it until after our game is over but at least I'm doing one this week. Pre-P.S. - If you don't think you can read all of my thoughts here, please at least skip to the end to read about Chucky Mullins.
Auburn kicks off at 11:30 in the morning at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, MS. Auburn has a very good all-time record against Ole Miss at 22-8 and AU is 7-1 when playing at Oxford. I believe it is a good thing that we are playing early in the morning. I believe this is always a good thing for a team going on the road in the SEC. When you play in the early time slot, the home fans don't have all day to get hyped up and inebriated. This has to be an advantage for the road team or at least take some advantage away from the home team.
From all the practice reports I have read this week, it appears that Auburn has had one of the best practice weeks of the season so far. Everyone has been upbeat and energetic and most of the injured players are back healthy or at least close to being healthy. More on that in a second. This week needs to be the week that Auburn finally puts together a complete game in all aspects of the game. Here is what I see happening in those aspects of the game.
Ole Miss offense v Auburn defense
The QB for Ole Miss is Brent Schaeffer, who is probably still having nightmares from when he was a lowly freshman at Tennessee and got pounded by Auburn in Knoxville. I haven't seen Ole Miss play very much, but I have read where other people describe Schaeffer as "an interception waiting to happen" and I do know that they are 114th in the country in passing offense. This bodes well for an Auburn defensive unit who, at times, have shown they can give up some yards through the air (cough, cough, Tulane). Their main running back is BenJarvus Green-Ellis. If you've never heard of him, yes, that is his real name. I'm not making that up. Green-Ellis has shown some flashes this year that he can be a threat to run the ball. He is currently 3rd in the SEC in rushing with 88.2 yards per game. The news on the Auburn defense is that we are going to have Aairon Savage back this week but we might be playing without Tray Blackmon who has had a host of minor problems this week. I believe we will do very well on defense this week and definitely hold Ole Miss to single digits.
Auburn offense v Ole Miss defense
The only real threat Ole Miss has on defense is Senior LB Patrick Willis. He is leading the SEC and is 8th in the country in tackles. As Coach Tuberville says, he is probably one of the best defensive players in the country. We figure out a way to block him consistently and I believe our offense racks up big yards against Ole Miss. Brandon Cox is finally back healthy again. He showed us that last week, completing 16 out of 19 of his passes against Tulane. One incompletion was one that was thrown away and another came from a Tre Smith drop that I think my 3 year old nephew could have caught. So, in essence, Brandon only made one bad throw last week. I don't care who we were playing, if our quarterback is accurate, he's accurate. It also helps that he was protected from being pummeled like he was in the first half against Florida. By the way, Brandon hasn't been sacked since that first half against Florida. Six quarters and counting. Let's hope our line can continue to hold up. Speaking of which, our line survived through an injury scare this week. When Jason Bosley went down against Tulane with a knee injury, everyone was fearing the worst. An MRI revealed that his knee was only bruised and that he would not need surgery or anything. Thank goodness! Coming down the final stretch here, another O-line injury is not what we need right now. But in fact, not only is Bosley back, but our original starting Center, Joe Cope, is almost back to being healthy and is likely to play against Arkansas St. next week. Actually, he is listed as the 3rd string Center for the Ole Miss game, but I don't expect to see him in the game unless things really go badly. And how about our running backs? Oh my goodness! I'm glad we got to see Ben Tate do his thing against Tulane. How cool is it that with our 2 starting running backs injured that we have to "settle" for a guy as awesome as Ben Tate?! Running Back U is alive and well. And to add to the legend, here is the reason that Ben Tate is playing the rest of the year instead of redshirting. The night before the Florida game, Auburn got a verbal commitment from the No. 5 Running Back recruit in the country in Enrique Davis! And we are still actively recruiting Caleb King who is rated as the No. 1 Running Back recruit in the country! Wow! Can't wait to see how these guys are going to turn out. Stay tuned. Speaking of Running Backs, Kenny Irons and Brad Lester will be back in full force tomorrow after having some nagging injuries recently. Kenny is blaming it on a senior year curse for him. Apparently he suffered some injuries in his senior year of high school as well. Anyway, Irons has had turf toe and some other things while Lester has the embarrassment of everyone in the country talking about his groin because of a pulled muscle. Well, they are finally set to play a game healthy. Hooray! Look for us to run for at least a couple hundred yards against the Rebels.
Final Thoughts
Auburn seems to be finally putting things together and I believe we are finally due for a big game where we actually look good on both sides of the ball. The players realize that from here out, they need to be impressive in their victories and prove they they deserve the right to play a big bowl this year (if not the biggest). I believe we will start to do that tomorrow. Auburn 34 Ole Miss 7 WAR EAGLE!!!!!
There is a very sad yet touching story underlying the game tomorrow which you will probably hear plenty about whether you are watching or listening to our game. Saturday marks 17 years to the day when Ole Miss' Roy Lee "Chucky" Mullins hit a Vanderbilt player at a funny angle which left Chucky with 4 broken vertebrae and permanent paralysis. He passed away 2 years later from a blood clot stemming from the injuries he sustained. It is touching to read about how the Oxford community pulled together to help him and his family. You can go read all about his story here. An interesting note is that Auburn's Zach Gilbert is a cousin of the late Chucky Mullins. Although Ole Miss retired Chucky's jersey, Zach Gilbert wears his number 38 for Auburn and does so, of course, in honor of Chucky.
Auburn kicks off at 11:30 in the morning at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, MS. Auburn has a very good all-time record against Ole Miss at 22-8 and AU is 7-1 when playing at Oxford. I believe it is a good thing that we are playing early in the morning. I believe this is always a good thing for a team going on the road in the SEC. When you play in the early time slot, the home fans don't have all day to get hyped up and inebriated. This has to be an advantage for the road team or at least take some advantage away from the home team.
From all the practice reports I have read this week, it appears that Auburn has had one of the best practice weeks of the season so far. Everyone has been upbeat and energetic and most of the injured players are back healthy or at least close to being healthy. More on that in a second. This week needs to be the week that Auburn finally puts together a complete game in all aspects of the game. Here is what I see happening in those aspects of the game.
Ole Miss offense v Auburn defense
The QB for Ole Miss is Brent Schaeffer, who is probably still having nightmares from when he was a lowly freshman at Tennessee and got pounded by Auburn in Knoxville. I haven't seen Ole Miss play very much, but I have read where other people describe Schaeffer as "an interception waiting to happen" and I do know that they are 114th in the country in passing offense. This bodes well for an Auburn defensive unit who, at times, have shown they can give up some yards through the air (cough, cough, Tulane). Their main running back is BenJarvus Green-Ellis. If you've never heard of him, yes, that is his real name. I'm not making that up. Green-Ellis has shown some flashes this year that he can be a threat to run the ball. He is currently 3rd in the SEC in rushing with 88.2 yards per game. The news on the Auburn defense is that we are going to have Aairon Savage back this week but we might be playing without Tray Blackmon who has had a host of minor problems this week. I believe we will do very well on defense this week and definitely hold Ole Miss to single digits.
Auburn offense v Ole Miss defense
The only real threat Ole Miss has on defense is Senior LB Patrick Willis. He is leading the SEC and is 8th in the country in tackles. As Coach Tuberville says, he is probably one of the best defensive players in the country. We figure out a way to block him consistently and I believe our offense racks up big yards against Ole Miss. Brandon Cox is finally back healthy again. He showed us that last week, completing 16 out of 19 of his passes against Tulane. One incompletion was one that was thrown away and another came from a Tre Smith drop that I think my 3 year old nephew could have caught. So, in essence, Brandon only made one bad throw last week. I don't care who we were playing, if our quarterback is accurate, he's accurate. It also helps that he was protected from being pummeled like he was in the first half against Florida. By the way, Brandon hasn't been sacked since that first half against Florida. Six quarters and counting. Let's hope our line can continue to hold up. Speaking of which, our line survived through an injury scare this week. When Jason Bosley went down against Tulane with a knee injury, everyone was fearing the worst. An MRI revealed that his knee was only bruised and that he would not need surgery or anything. Thank goodness! Coming down the final stretch here, another O-line injury is not what we need right now. But in fact, not only is Bosley back, but our original starting Center, Joe Cope, is almost back to being healthy and is likely to play against Arkansas St. next week. Actually, he is listed as the 3rd string Center for the Ole Miss game, but I don't expect to see him in the game unless things really go badly. And how about our running backs? Oh my goodness! I'm glad we got to see Ben Tate do his thing against Tulane. How cool is it that with our 2 starting running backs injured that we have to "settle" for a guy as awesome as Ben Tate?! Running Back U is alive and well. And to add to the legend, here is the reason that Ben Tate is playing the rest of the year instead of redshirting. The night before the Florida game, Auburn got a verbal commitment from the No. 5 Running Back recruit in the country in Enrique Davis! And we are still actively recruiting Caleb King who is rated as the No. 1 Running Back recruit in the country! Wow! Can't wait to see how these guys are going to turn out. Stay tuned. Speaking of Running Backs, Kenny Irons and Brad Lester will be back in full force tomorrow after having some nagging injuries recently. Kenny is blaming it on a senior year curse for him. Apparently he suffered some injuries in his senior year of high school as well. Anyway, Irons has had turf toe and some other things while Lester has the embarrassment of everyone in the country talking about his groin because of a pulled muscle. Well, they are finally set to play a game healthy. Hooray! Look for us to run for at least a couple hundred yards against the Rebels.
Final Thoughts
Auburn seems to be finally putting things together and I believe we are finally due for a big game where we actually look good on both sides of the ball. The players realize that from here out, they need to be impressive in their victories and prove they they deserve the right to play a big bowl this year (if not the biggest). I believe we will start to do that tomorrow. Auburn 34 Ole Miss 7 WAR EAGLE!!!!!
There is a very sad yet touching story underlying the game tomorrow which you will probably hear plenty about whether you are watching or listening to our game. Saturday marks 17 years to the day when Ole Miss' Roy Lee "Chucky" Mullins hit a Vanderbilt player at a funny angle which left Chucky with 4 broken vertebrae and permanent paralysis. He passed away 2 years later from a blood clot stemming from the injuries he sustained. It is touching to read about how the Oxford community pulled together to help him and his family. You can go read all about his story here. An interesting note is that Auburn's Zach Gilbert is a cousin of the late Chucky Mullins. Although Ole Miss retired Chucky's jersey, Zach Gilbert wears his number 38 for Auburn and does so, of course, in honor of Chucky.