I woke up at 6 AM on Saturday morning. When my alarm went off, I looked out the window to discover that the sun had not even thought about coming up yet. I was tempted to go back to sleep, but I thought, “No; I’m going to do this!” The “this” in question was a walk to College GameDay, ESPN’s travelling Saturday morning broadcast. This weekend, Lee, Kirk, and Chris paid a visit to Auburn. I arrived on site at 7 AM. It was about 55 degrees outside, and there were probably two hundred fans already waiting at the gates.

GameDay was interesting. Some drunk frat guys in front of me made the wait until airtime a lot more interesting. One of them named Forest convinced the crowd around us to sit down so he could take a nap. Now that I think about it, I’m pretty crazy for sitting on damp grass near the baseball stadium at 8 AM on a Saturday morning, all for the slim chance of getting on national television. Even worse, my third row spot behind the GameDay desk was too far back for me to get on TV.

After Herbstreit and Corso picked the Gators, GameDay ended and I walked to my grandparents’ motor home. One of their friends, an older Auburn fan, had dressed up in a Florida State jacket and straw hat. I must say, he did a pretty good job of looking like Bobby Bowden. For most of the morning, he sat on top of a nearby motor home and did the tomahawk chop at Gator fans passing by on the road. It’s pretty funny how crazy old football fans are. That guy makes me wonder what I’ll be like at his age.

Seriously, Bowden looks like one of the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park or The Land Before Time.

Next up, I walked all the way across campus to hang out with a girl I met in Vermont this summer. She goes to the University of Florida and was up for the weekend to see the game. We went to the university bookstore and watched Georgia lose to Vanderbilt. It was funny to watch both Auburn and Florida fans cheer when Vandy’s final field goal went straight through the uprights. Heather and I parted ways around 3 PM, when I walked over to the student gates to claim my spot in line. I had been awake for nine hours, and four were left until kickoff.

In spite of (or perhaps because of) our embarrassing loss to Arkansas last weekend, the Auburn student section was out in full force this Saturday. You could definitely feel a nervous but hopeful vibe among the crowd during the three hours we spent in the stands before the game started. The energy continued to build until the pre-kickoff video, which brings the excitement like nothing else. By this point, the sun was setting, and the sky was turning orange and blue. It was definitely an omen in our favor.

The first quarter was rather ho-hum. Both teams drove the length of the field only to kick field goals, an accomplishment for previously 0-of-4 Florida kicker Chris Hetland. Considering Florida’s prowess at scoring touchdowns, Auburn’s defense had seemingly “plugged the Leak” of the Gator offense. However, the D didn’t hold that long. Early in the second quarter, Chris Leak hit Dallas Baker in double coverage for a fifteen-yard touchdown. In retaliation, some students in the end zone tossed the extra point ball up the stands and out of the stadium.

After another unproductive set of downs for Auburn, Florida’s offense scored a safety for the Tigers by committing holding in their own end zone. The momentum shifted towards Auburn, now down only 5-1o. John Vaughn tacked on three more to make it 8-10. Three plays and one questionable personal foul later, Tim Tebow jogged untouched into the Auburn end zone, increasing the Gators lead to 17-8. Another Vaughn field goal sent the teams to the locker room at 17-11. Sentiments in the stands were still nervously hopeful.

That’s the hard hat I got at GameDay. It’s legitimate and everything; I’m gonna work on the new student union sometime this week.

During halftime, Auburn’s swim teams were commemorated for winning everything ever (or four straight NCAA titles, whichever is more impressive). Next, Auburn mascot Aubie the Tiger performed the opening guitar solo from Van Halen’s “You Really Got Me Now”. Sure, the guitar was made out of foam, but I still think it was pretty awesome. The accompanying fireworks helped, but I think the reason this show ruled so much was the relative lack of noise from the band. Those guys know how to kill a good time.

When the defense came out of the tunnel for the second half, the crowd brought the noise all up ons Chris Leak, who had to call a timeout so that he could hear himself think. Auburn’s D-line made two huge tackles behind the line of scrimmage to force Florida into a punt formation. The student section erupted into chants of “block that kick, block that kick…” Lo and behold, a bad snap forced Florida punter Eric Wilbur to kick the football into the chest of Auburn defenders. Tre’ Smith, of all players, picked up the ball and did a forward flip into the end zone. Could God be any more of an Auburn fan, I asked myself?

Four drives later, God said, “Yes.” The Gators were nearing the Auburn red zone. A field goal would put them up 20-18, so they were almost guaranteed to take the lead. Desperately, I prayed for a turnover. On the next play, Tray Blackmon got so pumped up that he forced a fumble. After a six minute Auburn drive, John Vaughn came out to miss a 46 yard field goal attempt. Visions of the 2005 LSU game, which Vaughn to some extent lost for the Tigers, started appearing before my eyes.

This looked to be the final standoff of the game. Florida had squandered its three timeouts, one on a challenge of the Blackmon forced fumble. They had 2:58 remaining to drive the length of the field and kick a game-winning field goal. I was not sure that Auburn’s defense could pull off the last stop needed to seal the victory. Then, Chris Leak threw an interception directly into the hands of Auburn defender Eric Brock. It was as if God himself had directed the arm-cannon of Leak towards Brock’s chest. The Auburn faithful went crazy go nuts.

After three predictable runs by Brad Lester, John Vaughn redeemed himself by kicking a forty yarder to put Auburn up 21-17. Florida regained the ball with 27 seconds to go. After three incomplete passes, Leak hit Dallas Baker, who lateraled to Jarred Fayson, who fumbled to Auburn defender Patrick Lee, who ran twenty-five yards and dove into the end zone as time expired. The scoreboard read “Auburn 27, Florida 17”. If anyone was wondering what I did with the paper bag, let me tell you that its ripped-up remains were left in Jordan-Hare Stadium.

After visiting Toomer’s Corner, I walked home, showered, and went to sleep. I woke up this morning at 11 AM, the euphoric sensation of victory still swimming around in my head. I suppose you could call it a “hangover of triumph”. I sure would. War Eagle!

Auburn won! War Eagle! More tomorrow!

Well well, it looks like college football is back in session. After two so-so weeks of play, last Saturday was a welcome return to greatness. The rest of the season doesn’t look much different. Thank goodness.

West Virginia posted a 14-7 halftime lead on Mississippi State. Even though they took off in the second half, I’m still not impressed by their slow starts every week against so-so to awful teams. Florida State lost again, this time to NCState. I wonder how bad their record will look at the end of the year and if it will be bad enough to get Jeff Bowden fired. Here’s a fun statistic: Miami and FSU are both unranked for the first time since 1982. Yikes.

Georgia Tech needed a little fourth-quarter magic to beat Maryland, who beat William and Mary, Middle Tennessee State, and Florida International by a combined margin of 31. Since this was Tech’s only shaky performance of the season, I’ll cut them some slack. I’m looking forward to next week’s game against Clemson, which could possibly be a preview of the ACC Championship game. You know the ACC is different when Florida State, Miami, and Virginia Tech are on the outside track to the championship. The conference has flipflopped almost as much as John Kerry.

USC barely held off a Washington drive that would have ended their undefeated hopes. It probably doesn’t matter, because I doubt they will make it through their four-game season-ending stretch unscathed. The Trojans host Oregon, California, and Notre Dame before heading to UCLA. By now, it’s pretty obvious thatUSC is missing Leinhart and Bush, two NFL rookie superstars. Considering USC’s performances over the past few weeks, I’m amazed they are still ranked #2/#3. Michigan, Florida, and Texas all look pretty good in comparison.

Tennessee and Georgia outscored California and Oregon 84-69. I’m not sure if this means that SEC defenses are getting worse or their offenses are getting better. More likely, it means rampant turnovers equal points. (By the way, I’m 1-0 on my Georgia loss predictions. One down, three to go.) Florida dominated LSU 23-10 in a game that looked a lot more lopsided than the score. The Swamp has definitely regained its Spurrier-level intensity. I’m looking forward to going to Gainesville next fall to see the Tigers take on the Gators.

While Florida is probably my favorite challenger to Ohio State, I no longer count (and should not have counted for some weeks now) Auburn among that elite list. The Tigers gave up 257 rushing yards last Saturday. Arkansas isn’t anemic when running the ball, but dang! Just when I was beginning to think our secondary was weak, our defensive line caught my eye instead. Huge gaps in the line. Huge. What makes things worse is that Arkansas ran the ball on 36 of their last 38 plays, so it’s not like we didn’t know it was coming.

Even more embarrassing, Auburn only managed 95 yards on the ground, if you don’t count the five sacks for 35 yards. Those five sacks remind me that our offensive line didn’t look very good, either. Neither did our receiving corps, whose inexperience left Cox with little to do but wait in the pocket for Arkansas’ D-line to push him over. Even Kody Bliss had an off day; one of his punts travelled only 19 yards. I hate to say it, but John Vaughn was the only one who did his job (when Tuberville decided to kick a field goal rather than go for it on fourth and five).

Now that I’ve lamented last week’s loss, it’s time for me to offer an unrealistically optimistic picture of Auburn’s (laughable) national championship and SEC championship hopes. First, Auburn has to go undefeated. As bad as Auburn looked against Arkansas, there is still a chance that they can pull it off. Doing so would mean that they would pass Florida in the polls. Ohio State plays Michigan, USC plays Notre Dame, and West Virginia plays Louisville, so at least three of those six teams will drop below Auburn by the end of the season.

Texas will probably make it through the rest of their schedule undefeated, but Tennessee could lose to Alabama, at South Carolina, LSU, or at Arkansas. I’m not even going to check how close all of those things combined would get Auburn to a title game bid, but my guess is not close enough. To win the SEC West, Auburn needs Arkansas to lose two SEC games. The Razorbacks get three weeks off (essentially), then go to South Carolina before hosting Tennessee and LSU. My fingers are crossed, but after Alabama/Arkansas’ failure to topple LSU for us last season, I probably shouldn’t get my hopes up too much. (Side note: I bet this post looks pretty stupid in January.)

GameDay is coming to Auburn this Saturday, which is pretty exciting, even with the lessened hype. Some friends and I are tossing around the idea of spelling out “OVERRATED” across our chests in reference to Auburn’s collapse on the 7th. At the very least, I’ll be sporting a paper bag with “10-27” painted across the forehead. I’m wondering how much grief I’ll get from fellow Tiger fans, or how much TV time I’ll garner. Look for me and my pals (or, more likely, just me) on ESPN from 10-12 PM and 6:45-9:45 PM Eastern Time.

The first BCS standings come out after next weekend. The race to the finish is almost here. The halfway point approacheth. (I apologize for the John Kerry joke in the third paragraph. It was pretty lame.)

Auburn lost.

It’s kind of sad that the 2006 college football season is already a third complete. College football is kind of like Christmas. You wait months for it to come, then you wake up one morning and the day has arrived. The presents are downstairs under the tree. You open the first one, which is awesome simply because it’s the first. Some great ones get thrown into the middle, then your parents surprise you with the big one at the end.

Thank goodness the other two thirds of the season are left to go, because the last two weeks of college football remind me of the part of Christmas where you have to take the family photograph. It takes ten minutes for my family to show up at the designated location, another five for the distribution of faces to satisfy my parents and oldest sister, and another fifteen for the ten-plus takes to be shot. All thirty minutes are, honestly, a drag.

For the most part, the matchups that ended September were as painful as those photographic sessions. This past weekend, Texas and LSU rolled over Sam Houston State (no surprise) and Mississippi State (ditto). Ohio State basically proved that they are the team to beat in Division I-A by a 38-17 whomping of Iowa. Florida struggled to put away Alabama (Alabama’s defense) at home, and Georgia continued to look awful by beating Ole Miss by five points. I’m sticking by my prediction that the Dawgs will lose at least four games by the end of the season.

Thursday night, Auburn went to South Carolina and pulled out a nailbiter in Columbia. Tommy Tuberville got back to his old crazy ways, calling for an onside kick in the third quarter which prevented USC’s offense from touching the ball for those fifteen minutes. Auburn converted two fourth downs, one from six yards away and one at the goal line for a touchdown. Tre’ Smith made a crucial play during the onside kick when he helped the football bounce towards another Auburn player. Congrats, Tre’. I’m not going to say anything negative about you…this week.

Now that I’ve discussed USC-EC (East Coast), I’d like to note that the one in California squeaked by Washington State 28-22. Wait a minute, isn’t that the same Washington State squad that Auburn soundly defeated 40-14 in their season opener? ESPN played off USC’s poor performance on the absence of star receiver Dwayne Jarrett. However, the game summary’s headline shockingly read “No. 3 USC survives”. I’m ashamed that they would say that USC has ever done anything other than “thrive”. The word “survives” is simply not in the vocabulary of the best college football program of all time.

Next weekend’s lineup is looking pretty good. Georgia plays (loses to) Tennessee on primetime ESPN. Oregon and California fight over who gets to look like the team with the best chance to beat USC, a post Notre Dame quickly relinquished. Texas and Oklahoma play for the Big 12 Championship and the chance to have one state’s governor present a side of beef to the other state’s governor (read this Wikipedia article if you don’t believe me). Florida and LSU duke it out for the title of “Best Team to Lose to Auburn in 2006”.

Auburn plays Arkansas at 11 AM Central Time. Thanks, CBS. This means I’ll be arriving at the student gates of Jordan-Hare Stadium around 8 AM. I’ll be grumpy, sleepy, sweaty, and probably a few more of the Seven Dwarves, but War Eagle anyhow! Come back next Monday for more uninformed analysis and confusing analogies!