As the title states this is my favorite week of the season.  I love the Georgia Game.  I always have.  When I was a kid, this game was the one I wanted to go to more than any other.  As I have grown up it has just stayed with me.  Whether it is the mutual respect that they teams have always shared, or the coaches that have the other school in their background (Dye played for UGA and Dooley played for Auburn, etc.) or maybe the fact that it is the Oldest Rivalry in the South and the point spread between the teams is stupidly close… a whopping 45 points separates us after 111 meetings.  Or lastly maybe it is the fact that I live in Atlanta and my wife is a Georgia Grad.  Who knows, but I love it.  Some might ask what about the Iron Bowl… well I like watching a big rivalry at home, back in those days the Bama game was always in Birmingham.  Legion Field was never home to Auburn folks no matter what Alabama said or the uniform color we wore.

As an Auburn Fan, the last few Georgia/Auburn games at Jordan Hare have been hard to swallow.  Maybe this year we will not have the downpour late in the game while getting beat.  Or freezing to death and watching UGA make a 4^th and 14 completion to win in the final moments.  No, maybe the weather will be nice and Auburn will shock the SEC world with a win.  Remember 2006, Georgia was reeling and Auburn was not.  Cox had a couple of killer interceptions and Stafford came in and ran, yes that is correct, ran all over us.  We could not stop his QB draw to save our collective lives.  All 82,000 fans in Jordan Hare knew what was coming and yet we could do nothing to stop it.   

There are things to be hopeful about: 

Kodi is growing up right before our eyes.  He still has some serious mechanic issues, and I think that causes his passes to be off the mark but he has started moving thru his progressions (some what).  He is like an added Running Back.

Tommy Trott has become the go to receiver.  He still runs routes without conviction, but he has started catching the ball.  That is a plus over most other receivers we have.

Our Special Teams is looking better.  Byrum made a couple of FGs, Tristen is just a good KR.  Too bad he could not stay healthy throughout his career.  Hopefully Dunn will not make another goof on Punt Returns; I am hoping he just lost it in the sun.

Defensively, our line should be back.  After sitting out last week, we should have our playmakers returning.  Marks, Tez and AC should all be back and ready to play.  Maybe we can keep our DB’s healthy.  We are going to need them.  AJ Green is a stud, and last week Massaquoi finally played a decent game for the Dawgs.  Thorpe and Powers are going to need some help; Stafford is going to pick on him them all morning.  If Powers is not healthy UGA will exploit it.

I bring up morning because UGA is much like Auburn in the fact that they do not play well in the early games.   See last week against UK.  Although they still ended up scoring over 40, they gave the Cats every chance in the world to win. 

Personally, with all that has happened in the season, I think that Auburn will play their best football these last two weeks.  I am not saying that we will win either of them, but I am not putting past Tuberville to get our guys ready to play.  Being ready to play and executing are two totally different things.  If we can get a couple of good special team plays; by that I mean a short field to play on and maybe a score.  And our defense plays like it did early in the year, we have a shot.  The X Factor is always the mighty turnover, if we can avoid that… look out.

Get your tailgating on early folks… Beam in the coffee or just the good ole Bloody Mary, I don’t care which, just get there and help our Tigers.  We need all the help we can get.  If the fans are lethargic, the team will be too. 

War Damn Eagle