Hi folks!

It's time to predict the final score of this weekend's Orange Tiger Bowl. After last week's heart-stopping victory, Auburn fans are hoping for an easy victory to lower the blood pressure a little bit. I wouldn't count on it to be this week, though! Before we get to the predictions, we'll announce the winner(s) of last week's prediction thread.

I did a poor job of explaining the rules last week, and thus, there are several winners. First of all, I failed to mention that if a score is predicted twice in a thread, the person who picks it first is the winner. Second of all, I failed to mention that predictions need to be in by kickoff and that predictions given after the scheduled kickoff time would be discarded. That said, three people predicted scores that were only four points off from the actual final, and one predicted a score that was only three points off but after the kickoff, so I'm splitting the title for last week between:

tigertracker
Sparkey
azaufan
AU04Natlchamps

As for this week, even though they haven't been particularly impressive in beating two cupcakes, you just know Clemson is going to give Auburn everything they've got, just like last season. We better be ready for it, or it could get ugly in a hurry. As for me, I think the defenses improve and some sloppy offensive play leads to a lower-scoring game than we've seen thus far this season. Let's call it....

Auburn 27
Clemson 23

PS - As I mentioned earlier, the guidelines are as follows:

Please name the teams in your prediction; if you don't, I'm going to assume that you're picking Auburn to win. Get your predictions in by the scheduled kickoff (11 AM CDT). If a score is given more than once, the person who gives it first gets the tiebreaker. Another tiebreaker is closest to Auburn's actual score. Good luck!

After last week's near-disaster against the Utah State Aggies, I've been summoned from the deep to put up a prediction thread for this week's contest with the Mississippi State Bulldogs. I neglected to put up a thread last week, and seeing as how last season I created a prediction thread before each and every game (which we of course won), it seems like it could be a good luck charm. Hopefully the creation of this week's thread will close the holes in our defense and open up our offensive playbook just in time for the Starkville Pups.

Make sure that you include the names of both teams when placing a prediction. Otherwise, I will assume that the first score in your prediction is Auburn and the second score is the opponent. I will determine the winner based on point differential between the teams, and closest to Auburn's score will be used as a tiebreaker. I've been doing this for two years and have yet to be the closest, so here goes.....

Mississippi State 28
Auburn 31

Auburn currently has three retired numbers in the football program, and after this season's team won the program's second national championship, that number is bound to increase. While Cam Newton and Nick Fairley were the best two players in the nation this season (and arguably the best players at their position in Auburn history), I firmly believe the next retired number honor should go to a number that has been shared by two players for the past four years. Of course, I'm talking about number 18, Kodi Burns and Wes Byrum.

Kodi Burns came to Auburn as a highly recruited quarterback out of Fort Smith, Arkansas. His potential was so great, that Tommy Tuberville, noted defense-and-clock-control aficionado, brought in no huddle spread offense "guru" Tony Franklin to call the offense to Burns' strengths. Of course, we all know how that went. Kodi never panned out as a big time SEC quarterback, and eventually had to take a demotion to wide receiver for starting quarterback Chris Todd. It was in this moment that Kodi Burns endeared himself to the Auburn family. Instead of packing his bags and trying to be a quarterback somewhere else, he swallowed his pride and took his demotion like a true Auburn man. He stood before his team and told them to support Todd as the quarterback of the team; he put the team before himself. There is a video of this that I'm sure everyone has seen, but I can't seem to find it ANYWHERE online. If you can, post it in the comments.

Kodi didn't turn into an all-conference wide receiver. In fact, he only caught two touchdown passes in two seasons at the position. However, while playing the position, he walked the walk. His downfield blocking was excellent and helped spring countless big runs. He never once complained about playing time, and put his head down and did his job. On and off the field, Kodi Burns has exemplified what it means to be an Auburn man for four years. I am proud to call him a Tiger.

Wes Byrum came to Auburn from Fort Lauderdale, Florida in the same recruiting class as Kodi. He replaced John Vaughn in his freshman season, and immediately inserted himself into Auburn football lore by kicking the game-winning field goal against Florida in the Swamp. Twice. He has had a stellar career at the kicker position, and leaves school as Auburn's all-time leading scorer. It was only fitting that the BCS national championship game came down to his foot, and he of course delivered like he has so many times before.

It is unlikely that either of these players sees much time (if any) in the NFL. They may play in a lower league like the CFL for a few years, but they aren't going to attract the attention of the big time teams. That's okay. Being an Auburn man isn't necessarily about having otherworldly talents and being a first round draft pick. Being an Auburn man is about giving your best effort all the time, never complaining, and getting your job done. When these two players were recruited to Auburn, their job was to bring home the first national championship in half a century. They put their noses down, didn't complain, and got the job done. The number 18 should be retired and credited to both of these men. War Eagle, guys. We couldn't have done it without you.

War Eagle!

It's hard to believe that our Auburn Tigers will face the Oregon Ducks in the National Championship Game one week from today. It goes without saying that next Monday night's game is the biggest in Auburn football history. Fortunately, it's also the biggest in Oregon football history, so you can expect both teams to come out a little nervous. It has all the makings of a classic shoot-out, with two of the most prolific offenses in the country squaring off in the desert. I can't wait!

It's been about a month since our last prediction thread, so I had to go digging to find the winner of that thread. By and large, the predictions were the furthest off from the actual score of any prediction thread since the 65-43 Arkansas beatdown. However, one prediction (single-digit points off) stood out from the rest (double-digit points off). Congratulations go out to commenter UglyJoe, whose 63-17 prediction was only 7 points off the actual final score of 56-17.  UglyJoe is our first repeat winner this year, and the other thread that he won was the Arkansas thread. I guess UglyJoe has a knack for knowing when Auburn is going to go off offensively! Congratulations on your two-time addition to the winners' board!

Game 1 (Arkansas State): Sparkey
Game 2 (Mississippi State): Col.Angus
Game 3 (Clemson): Jumpn_JackFlash (PERFECT)
Game 4 (South Carolina): Todd92
Game 5 (Louisiana-Monroe): SandMountainTiger
Game 6 (Kentucky): AU04Natlchamps
Game 7 (Arkansas): UglyJoe
Game 8 (Louisiana State): buddy Ro
Game 9 (Mississippi): DarthTiger
Game 10 (Chattanooga): kerr024
Game 11 (Georgia): watchupdoc and WarDamnZach
Game 12 (Alabama): Foy Onion
Game 13 (SEC Championship): UglyJoe

I don't know about y'all, but I'm starting to get butterflies in my stomach for this game. I'm constantly nervous, and having trouble sleeping. I'm dreaming about the game. Maybe I need a new hobby! Anyway, I think the key to this game will come down to how well our defensive line can cause problems for Oregon's offensive  line. It's the only way we can possibly stop their blur offense. Hopefully Nick Fairley and company saved their best game for last and they camp out in the Ducks' backfield. If that happens, I am confident Auburn leaves the desert with a crystal football in tow!

So now, for my prediction (drum roll please)...

Oregon 38
Auburn 41

P.S. - Entries are accepted until one hour before kickoff (6:30 PM CT) and if a user enters two scores, only the first counts. Also, if you only give a score and don't designate which score belongs to which team, I will assume that you are picking Auburn to win by that score.

War Eagle!

Before I get started with the particulars of this week's prediction thread, I want to offer up an apology. I apologize to all the commenters and authors I called "crazy" or "insane" in the preseason for thinking Auburn would win 11 or 12 games this season. I was clearly wrong, and you all were absolutely right. I am pleased to say I was wrong about Cam's accuracy and all-around abilities. I've never been so happy to be wrong in my life!

Last week, I thought my 34-29 prediction (6 points off) had the win until I came across commenter Foy Onion's prediction. His 31-28 prediction was only 4 points off the actual score, and gets his name on the weekly winners' board. Nice work!

Game 1 (Arkansas State): Sparkey
Game 2 (Mississippi State): Col.Angus
Game 3 (Clemson): Jumpn_JackFlash (PERFECT)
Game 4 (South Carolina): Todd92
Game 5 (Louisiana-Monroe): SandMountainTiger
Game 6 (Kentucky): AU04Natlchamps
Game 7 (Arkansas): UglyJoe
Game 8 (Louisiana State): buddy Ro
Game 9 (Mississippi): DarthTiger
Game 10 (Chattanooga): kerr024
Game 11 (Georgia): watchupdoc and WarDamnZach
Game 12 (Alabama): Foy Onion

This weekend, we get the privilege of playing the South Carolina Gamecocks yet again. We defeated Cocky earlier in the season, 35-27, in Jordan-Hare. South Carolina held an early 13-point lead that was largely fueled by two Auburn fumbles. The Tigers forced four 4th quarter turnovers to emerge from the game victorious. While I think the two first half fumbles hurt us, we cannot count on getting the four takeaways; South Carolina will give us their best shot, and we better be ready for it.

One thing you'll undoubtedly hear this week leading up to the game is that it is difficult to defeat a team twice in one year. Don't believe it. Since the SEC started playing a championship game in 1992, there have been five rematches (this will be the sixth). The team that won the regular-season matchup is 4-1 in the rematch. Why is that, you may ask? Well, usually the team that won the first game is the better team, and thus they are better in the rematch.

What is the point of saying all of this? I think that Auburn is the better team, and we'll prove it again on Saturday. Don't count South Carolina out; they still have the ol' ball coach on the sidelines and you can guarantee that they will give us their best shot. However, their best shot (just like Alabama's) won't be good enough.

Auburn 41
South Carolina 31

P.S. - Entries are accepted until one hour before kickoff (3 PM CT) and if a user enters two scores, only the first counts. Also, if you only give a score and don't designate which score belongs to which team, I will assume that you are picking Auburn to win by that score.

War Eagle!

Well folks, it's that time of year again. Time to face our most hated rivals from the other side of the state, the Alabama Crimson Tide. Auburn enters the game at 11-0 and Alabama enters at 9-2, but that doesn't stop the Vegas oddsmakers from having the Tide as a 3- or 4-point favorite (depending on whom you ask, as of today). Hopefully that will fire up our guys even more than they're already fired up (although I doubt there's much more room). While the SEC West title is already wrapped up (thanks to our victory over Georgia and Alabama's loss to LSU), there is still a ton riding on this game. Namely, bragging rights and a shot at a national championship. This is the biggest Iron Bowl since 1994, when both teams entered the game undefeated. If you're not absolutely jacked up for this one, then you need to see a doctor immediately; your heart may not be beating.

For the first time in the two-year prediction thread history, we had a tie in the Georgia predictions. Since I haven't established a method for a tie-breaker, we'll just have to deal with it. Maybe I can explore tiebreakers next year. Anyways, congratulations this week go out to commenters watchupdoc and WarDamnZach for each offering predictions (45-31 and 48-28, respectively) that were only four points off. Congratulations to the both of you, and welcome to the weekly winners' board!

Game 1 (Arkansas State): Sparkey
Game 2 (Mississippi State): Col.Angus
Game 3 (Clemson): Jumpn_JackFlash (PERFECT)
Game 4 (South Carolina): Todd92
Game 5 (Louisiana-Monroe): SandMountainTiger
Game 6 (Kentucky): AU04Natlchamps
Game 7 (Arkansas): UglyJoe
Game 8 (Louisiana State): buddy Ro
Game 9 (Mississippi): DarthTiger
Game 10 (Chattanooga): kerr024
Game 11 (Georgia): watchupdoc and WarDamnZach

By the time this Saturday's Friday's game gets here, it will have been 13 days since we last played a game. It will pretty much be the same for Alabama, since they only had a scrimmage against Georgia State inbetween the two dates. This will be Auburn's toughest test to date this season by far, and easily the toughest road game we've faced this season. It will take our best effort to emerge out of Bryant-Denny victorious, but I think we'll be focused and ready to turn in the best effort. It will be an Iron Bowl for the ages! Buck Fama!

Auburn 34
Alabama 29

P.S. - Entries are accepted until one hour before kickoff (12:30 PM CT) and if a user enters two scores, only the first counts. Also, if you only give a score and don't designate which score belongs to which team, I will assume that you are picking Auburn to win by that score.

War Eagle!

Believe it or not, the Auburn Tigers have a game this weekend, and it's against our oldest rivals, the Georgia Bulldogs. I find it extremely difficult to concentrate on the game given the whirlwind of information swirling about what Cam Newton may or may not have done. In fact, it's hard for me to even look forward to the game considering the dark clouds hovering over the program, whether we deserve them or not. All of that said, it's time to try and focus on the Bulldogs. I know that the team is doing so, and that's good enough for me.

Last week's game against Chattanooga saw a record-low turnout in the prediction thread. I thought that would mean I'd have a better shot at winning the contest, but alas, the congratulations this week are in order for commenter kerr024, whose prediction of 62-20 was only four points off the actual score. Nice work! Welcome to the weekly winners' list!

Game 1 (Arkansas State): Sparkey
Game 2 (Mississippi State): Col.Angus
Game 3 (Clemson): Jumpn_JackFlash (PERFECT)
Game 4 (South Carolina): Todd92
Game 5 (Louisiana-Monroe): SandMountainTiger
Game 6 (Kentucky): AU04Natlchamps
Game 7 (Arkansas): UglyJoe
Game 8 (Louisiana State): buddy Ro
Game 9 (Mississippi): DarthTiger
Game 10 (Chattanooga): kerr024

This week's game is hard to figure out, given the uncertainty surrounding Cam Newton. This year's Georgia club is not the greatest, but you can guarantee they are going to give us their best game. And considering the situation Auburn finds itself in, you can bet your bottom dollar that the Dawgs smell blood. Is Auburn good enough to beat Georgia, even if Cam Newton doesn't play? That's hard to tell. Will the Aaron Murray-A.J. Green combination shred our secondary? Probably. Will it matter? I hope not. This team has lost to the Bulldogs for four consecutive years; the only current Tiger who has ever tasted victory against them is safety Aairon Savage, who was in his first year at Auburn when we beat Georgia on the Cox-to-Aromashodu miracle. Medical hardships are the only reason he's still around. You would think that everyone else on the roster never having beaten Georgia would be enough to get them pumped up for the game. I think it will, and even if we have Barrett Trotter calling  the plays, we'll score enough points to beat UGA.

Georgia 27
Auburn 38

P.S. - Entries are accepted until one hour before kickoff (1:30 PM CT) and if a user enters two scores, only the first counts. Also, if you only give a score and don't designate which score belongs to which team, I will assume that you are picking Auburn to win by that score.

War Eagle!

After navigating a four-week SEC slog without a loss, our Auburn Tigers return home to take on FCS Chattanooga. I don't really have a ton to say about this game, other than we should wipe the floor with the Mocs and get our reserves some playing time. If you're going to the game, please make sure to yell extra loud for me when Kodi Burns is announced as a senior. He's been through it all at Auburn and kept his head up and kept working. He's a true Auburn man.

Congratulations to commenter DarthTiger, whose 52-27 prediction was only five points off the final score. Nice work! Come on down to the weekly winners' list!

Game 1 (Arkansas State): Sparkey
Game 2 (Mississippi State): Col.Angus
Game 3 (Clemson): Jumpn_JackFlash (PERFECT)
Game 4 (South Carolina): Todd92
Game 5 (Louisiana-Monroe): SandMountainTiger
Game 6 (Kentucky): AU04Natlchamps
Game 7 (Arkansas): UglyJoe
Game 8 (Louisiana State): buddy Ro
Game 9 (Mississippi): DarthTiger

No analysis this week. Chattanooga doesn't deserve it. Just a score prediction, which is a WAG from left field.

Chattanooga 21
Auburn 59

P.S. - Entries are accepted until one hour before kickoff (11 AM CT) and if a user enters two scores, only the first counts. Also, if you only give a score and don't designate which score belongs to which team, I will assume that you are picking Auburn to win by that score.

War Eagle!

Many, many apologies for getting the prediction thread up so late this week. Real life can be a bitch sometimes! This week our NUMBER ONE Auburn Tigers travel to the Grove in Oxford, Mississippi to take on the Ole Miss Rebels Black Bears in a classic trap game. Games like this are when Houston Nutt is at his most dangerous. The Rebels Black Bears have a tremendous offense led by former Oregon Ducks QB Jeremiah Masoli. I can't wait to hear all the laptop theft jokes about this game between the two quarterbacks. Luckily, while the Rebels' Black Bears' offense is impressive, their defense is atrocious. As long as we don't kill ourselves with turnovers or killer penalties, we should be able to outscore them.

As for last week's prediction thread, commenter buddy Ro takes home this week's closest to the actual score award. His prediction of 26-19 was only four points off the actual, 24-17 score line. Nice work! Welcome to the weekly winners' list!

Game 1 (Arkansas State): Sparkey
Game 2 (Mississippi State): Col.Angus
Game 3 (Clemson): Jumpn_JackFlash (PERFECT)
Game 4 (South Carolina): Todd92
Game 5 (Louisiana-Monroe): SandMountainTiger
Game 6 (Kentucky): AU04Natlchamps
Game 7 (Arkansas): UglyJoe
Game 8 (Louisiana State): buddy Ro

As for some analysis for this week's game, Auburn ranks better than Ole Miss in total yards per play, yards per rush, yards per pass and passer rating, yards per play allowed, yards per rush allowed, and even yards per pass allowed and passer rating allowed. There's really not any way to look at this matchup and consider Ole Miss a better team than Auburn. The only things working against us in this game are the fact that the game is in Oxford, and Houston Nutt being due for his one ridiculous upset of the season. This game kind of reminds me of Auburn's trip to Fayetteville in 2005; we were clearly a better team than Arkansas that year, but the Nutt factor was enough to make any Auburn fan worry. We trailed at the half but pulled away in the second half for a comfortable win. I don't see this game being quite as comfortable as that one, but Auburn gets the W anyway.

Auburn 41
Mississippi 31

P.S. - Entries are accepted until one hour before kickoff (4 PM CT) and if a user enters two scores, only the first counts. Also, if you only give a score and don't designate which score belongs to which team, I will assume that you are picking Auburn to win by that score.

War Eagle!

Man, they just keep getting bigger, don't they? Last week's game against Arkansas was arguably the biggest game at Jordan-Hare since the 2006 LSU game. Well, this week's game against LSU is even bigger. The matchup of two 7-0, top-six teams is a tremendous game. People have been saying that the atmosphere in Auburn was electric last weekend; well, it needs to be even more electric on Saturday. LSU, despite their offensive struggles and seeming reliance on a Faustian influence, will bring everything they've got on Saturday. Knowing the history of the Tiger Bowl, ANYTHING can and will happen on Saturday night. Expect the unexpected.

I had to strain my brain to calculate the point differentials in last week's prediction thread, because almost nobody foresaw such a shootout. Congratulations go out to commenter UglyJoe for having the closest prediction to the actual, 65-43 score. His prediction of 52-41 was 15 points off the actual score, and gets him added to the weekly winners' list! Congrats!

Game 1 (Arkansas State): Sparkey
Game 2 (Mississippi State): Col.Angus
Game 3 (Clemson): Jumpn_JackFlash (PERFECT)
Game 4 (South Carolina): Todd92
Game 5 (Louisiana-Monroe): SandMountainTiger
Game 6 (Kentucky): AU04Natlchamps
Game 7 (Arkansas): UglyJoe

Good luck trying to come up with a prediction for this weekend's game. Looking at the numbers, I have a hard time seeing how LSU can outscore us. We won't get 65 (unless the game goes into a series of overtimes), but I doubt we'll be held in check much by the Bengal Tiger defense. Our defense is terrible, particularly against the pass, but LSU only threw for 103 yards (4.7 yards per attempt) against McNeese State last weekend. When Auburn has the ball, it will be a battle of gladiators. When LSU has the ball, it will be a cripple fight. The game may come down to special teams.

All of that said, I still believe Cam finds a way to get us on the board often enough, and Les's luck finally runs out.

Louisiana State 20
Auburn 33

P.S. - Entries are accepted until one hour before kickoff (1:30 PM CT) and if a user enters two scores, only the first counts. Also, if you only give a score and don't designate which score belongs to which team, I will assume that you are picking Auburn to win by that score.

War Eagle!

After a near collapse against Kentucky, our Tigers are gearing up for their toughest test to date against the 12th-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks. This will be Auburn's first CBS game with Verne 'n' Gary as the announcers since the 2008 Iron Bowl (vomit). Ryan Mallett and the Hogs will be an extremely difficult matchup for our subpar (to put it kindly) secondary. I believe the only way we can stop their offense is to bring the house early and often and hope to rattle Mallett. Of coures, this will likely lead to some big plays in the passing game, but we already know Arkansas will put up some points on Saturday. I also hope Tracy Rocker gets after his defensive line after their disappearing act against Kentucky, and that they come out fired up and really disrupt things along the line of scrimmage.

The season is halfway over (booooooo), and we have yet to have any repeat winners. Congratulations go out to commenter AU04Natlchamps for having the foresight to envision a close game in the bluegrass state. His prediction was only six points off the actual final score, so AU04Natlchamps is the newest addition to the weekly winners' list! Nice work!

Game 1 (Arkansas State): Sparkey
Game 2 (Mississippi State): Col.Angus
Game 3 (Clemson): Jumpn_JackFlash (PERFECT)
Game 4 (South Carolina): Todd92
Game 5 (Louisiana-Monroe): SandMountainTiger
Game 6 (Kentucky): AU04Natlchamps

I've had a hard time coming up with a score prediction of my own for this game, as I believe Mallett provides a tremendous challenge for our defense. I said in the preseason that Arkansas would be a game we would drop, but I also didn't envision Cam Newton being this good. Newton seems to have the ability to put the whole team on his back and simply will the team to a victory. It's hard to predict against that. Auburn gets a late defensive touchdown in an otherwise close game.

Arkansas 24
Auburn 34

P.S. - Entries are accepted until one hour before kickoff (1:30 PM CT) and if a user enters two scores, only the first counts. Also, if you only give a score and don't designate which score belongs to which team, I will assume that you are picking Auburn to win by that score.

War Eagle!

Our Tigers are sitting pretty at 5-0 and ranked in the top 10, but now we're starting the stretch of the season that will determine whether this is a good team or a great team. Luckily for us, most of these games are at home. This weekend's game, however, takes us to the confines of Commonwealth Stadium, home of the Kentucky Wildcats. On the heels of a blowout loss at Arkansas, the 'Cats beat us last season 21-14 in one of the ugliest games I've ever seen. We hit rock bottom a week later against LSU. Something tells me those three games are going to go a little bit differently this season. Mean Gene has said that last year's game will have no bearing on preparations for this year's game, but you have to imagine the players see things differently.

On to the matter of last week's closest pick. Congratulations go out to commenter SandMountainTiger for being only seven points off. Nice work! You get added to the weekly winner's list!

Week 1 (Arkansas State): Sparkey
Week 2 (Mississippi State): Col.Angus
Week 3 (Clemson): Jumpn_JackFlash (PERFECT)
Week 4 (South Carolina): Todd92
Week 5 (Louisiana-Monroe): SandMountainTiger

Kentucky is a team that started the season strong against weak competition, but they have struggled against Florida and Ole Miss in the past two weeks. Their schedule doesn't get any easier over the rest of the season, and they will be very hungry for a win over Auburn to stop the losing skid. Expect the Wildcats to come out swinging, and give us their best shot. As for my pick...

Auburn 37
Kentucky 20

P.S. - Entries are accepted until one hour before kickoff (5:30 PM CT) and if a user enters two scores, only the first counts. Also, if you only give a score and don't designate which score belongs to which team, I will assume that you are picking Auburn to win by that score.

War Eagle!

Sorry to get the prediction thread up a little later this week. I don't have any real excuses, other than the fact that this week's game isn't as important and thus, I've spent less time thinking and reading about it. Hopefully you will all forgive me.

Congratulations are in order for user Todd92 for being last week's closest to the actual winner! His prediction of 35-24 was only three points off. Nice work! You get added to the week-by-week champions board!

Week 1 (Arkansas State): Sparkey
Week 2 (Mississippi State): Col. Angus
Week 3 (Clemson): Jumpn_JackFlash (PERFECT)
Week 4 (South Carolina): Todd92

Todd also told everyone in his prediction to "Write it down damnit", making him the second straight winner to be adamant about his predicting ability. I'm taking notes.

As for Louisiana-Monroe, there isn't really much to say. They gain 4.6 yards per play and give up 5.6 yards per play. They got their first win of the season last weekend, a come-from-behind one-point squeaker of a win over FCS team Southeastern Louisiana. I'm not entirely sure what this means, but 49 FBS teams can claim transitive wins over them. This is not a good team. On the other hand, aside from the Mississippi State game, Auburn's defense has been very consistent with the number of points given up (26, 24, 27) in the other three games. All of this is to say I think the following will happen (I think I will be right on the nose, and write it down damnit):

Louisiana-Monroe 24
Auburn 59

PS - Entries are accepted until one hour before kickoff (10? AM CT?) and if a user enters two scores, only the first counts. Also, if you only give a score and don't designate which score belongs to which team, I will assume that you are picking Auburn to win by that score.

War Eagle!

Our Tigers are 3-0 and ranked around #15 in both polls heading into this weekend's massive showdown with South Carolina. While we were busy slugging it out with Clemson, South Carolina was busy resting in a boring 38-19 victory over FCS Furman. Hopefully we'll be at (near) full-strength and full-stamina on Saturday.

As to last week's prediction thread, BIG congratulations go out to Jumpn_JackFlash for guessing the prediction right on the nose. Not only did he correctly predict the score, he confidently stated he would do so! I believe this is the first perfect prediction we've had in the year and change we've been doing the prediction threads. I thought my 31-28 prediction (8 points off) would be a good challenger for the title, but I was wrong (as usual). Jack is the next addition to the week-by-week winner's list!

Week 1 (Arkansas State): Sparkey
Week 2 (Mississippi State): Col.Angus
Week 3 (Clemson): Jumpn_JackFlash (PERFECT)

South Carolina runs a ball-control offense with freshman sensation Marcus Lattimore that will be difficult on our defense. On the other hand, they have tall, game-breaking receivers that we must account for. Stopping Carolina's offense will be a tall task for our defense this weekend.

On offense, South Carolina has a stout run defense but a shaky pass defense. This means we need Cam to be at his very best in order to open up the defense for the running of Dyer and McCalebb.

My prediction? Ted Roof's defense continues its resurgence and the offense doesn't take a half to get going en route to a surprisingly lopsided home victory.

South Carolina 17
Auburn 34

P.S. Entries are accepted up to one hour before kickoff (5:45 CT on Saturday), and if you give two scores, only the first score counts.

[Ed. note: Bumped from the FanPosts with paragraphs added in the intro. -Year2]

At the time of this writing, every SEC team has played three games in three weeks, with no team taking its bye week yet. We know this because Alabama has not played a conference game yet, and it has been mandated by the SEC offices that each SEC team must have a bye before playing Alabama (har har).

Unfortunately, three games in three weeks for each team means that we are already a quarter of the way through the SEC regular season. Three games also seems like a perfectly arbitrary time to take a look at the teams in our conference based on their offensive and defensive yards per play (ypp) output to date.

Why yards per play? Well, it breaks down a team's yardage to the very lowest level of granularity. Not all 400-yard total offense games are created equal, and ypp helps to sort out the differences between these types of games. Yardage totals after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

War Eagle!

Well, that game didn't go nearly like we expected it to! War Eagle Atlanta's 3-2 rehash pick was the only one that didn't go over the final 17-14 margin, but I am selecting each week's winner based on the point differential between teams. Congratulations to user Col.Angus for being only 13 points off with his prediction of 23-21! The colonel gets to be the second addition to the week-by-week winner's list:

Week 1 (Arkansas State): Sparkey
Week 2 (Mississippi State): Col.Angus

This Saturday Auburn takes on the Tigers of Clemson under the lights at Jordan-Hare. ESPN's College Gameday will be on the scene for what promises to be an exciting day of Auburn football. Clemson is a difficult team to get a pulse on, as they've beaten up on North Texas and Presbyterian in their only two contests thus far. I have no reservations saying both Arkansas State and Mississippi State would beat those two teams, and we've arguably been more impressive in those two games than Clemson against their two cupcakes. Don't expect a cakewalk; Clemson is a tough team that will be playing for ACC pride this weekend. They will give us their best shot. That said, my prediction...

Clemson 28
Auburn 31

War Eagle!

This week we have an abbreviated prediction thread time period. All apologies, but considering we have a Thursday night game during a week with a Monday off, time is short (just ask the football team!).

Congratulations to commenter Sparkey, whose prediction of 45-24 was the closest of anyone (9 total points away from the final). Sparkey gets to be the first name on this week's week-by-week prediction thread winners list. Congratulations!

Week 1 (Arkansas State): Sparkey

As for this Thursday's game, Mississippi State's impressive 49-7 win over Memphis has me extremely nervous. I think Dan Mullen is a heck of a coach, and the fact that it's a road Thursday night game is cause for concern. Auburn hasn't allowed fewer than 20 points on defense since September 5, 2009 against Louisiana Tech (that's right, it's been 13 straight games of at least 20 points allowed). Expect the Bulldogs to run up the yards AND the points in this one. We can only hope that War Cam Eagle and company can match them on the scoreboard. It's amazing to think about how this game could turn out compared to the last time we ventured into Starkville.

Just as last week, entries are accepted up to one hour before kickoff (5:30 Central on THURSDAY). Good luck to all predictors! As for mine......

Auburn 48
Mississippi State 41

War Eagle!

We are currently five days away from the first game of the 2010 season, and it can't get here soon enough. It's hard to believe that we're almost here, but the eight-month college football hiatus is finally coming to a close. I thought I'd continue a tradition from last season and set up a prediction thread for this week's game. I'll keep tabs of the "closest to the actual" winners for each week's game. Good luck to all predictors! Entries are accepted until an hour before kickoff (5 PM Central).

Arkansas State is a Sun Belt team, but a decent Sun Belt team. In recent years they've beaten Texas A&M and put a scare into eventual Orange Bowl champs Iowa. They're not a team to be taken lightly, and I don't think Coach Chizik and company are doing so. The Vegas line (as of right now) is 31 points. Seems a little high to me, but those folks usually know what they're doing. As for my prediction...

Arkansas State 10
Auburn 39

Seeing as how tom s. complained about the volume of NCAA tournament content in the main page post comments, I thought it would be a good idea to create a thread dedicated to VEB March Madness discussion. This thread is here in the hopes that the main page posts' comment sections will remain college basketball-free while we hyperventilate over quasi-prospects and worry about when Matt Holliday will get healthier.

As I type this, St. Mary's is up 12 on 2-seed Villanova. If this result holds, my bracket is wrecked; but there's something just so likeable about St. Mary's, that I just don't think I would mind.

Happy Boogday and enjoy the madness!