Previewing Auburn vs. Arkansas State

by Jay Coulter on Sep 3, 2010 4:13 PM CDT in Football

Courtesy of Auburn Sports Information...

Auburn has a 90-25-2 record in season-opening games. Auburn has won 19 of its last 24 openers, including a current streak of four straight wins...

Auburn's 90 season-opening victories is just one win behind Alabama for the most among the 12 Southeastern Conference schools...

Auburn has never lost to any of the current members of the Sun Belt with a 14-0 record...

Auburn is nationally ranked to begin the season for the seventh time in the last eight years, coming in at No. 22 by the Associated Press and No. 23 in the USA Today Coaches Poll...

Auburn has posted a winning record in September in each of the past six seasons, and 26 of the last 28. The Tigers have won five straight games in September and 10 of 11...

Auburn has had 10 straight winning seasons at Jordan-Hare Stadium, which is now in its 71^st year as the Tigers' home. Auburn is 57-15 (.792) at home since the 2000 season...

Auburn is 19-4 in home night games since the 2000 season, including a 4-1 record against nationally-ranked teams...

Auburn is the only school in the SEC that returns its entire full-time coaching staff intact from the 2009 season...

Auburn's offense returns players that accounted for more than 91 percent of its receiving yards last season, 79 percent of its scoring and 55 percent of its rushing.

Auburn has four offensive linemen that have combined for 109 career starts, led by senior Lee Ziemba, who has started all 38 games since arriving as a true freshman...

Auburn has two senior Butkus Award candidates in its linebacking corp, as Josh Bynes led the team with 104 tackles last season, while Craig Stevens was second with 95...

Senior kicker Wes Byrum is just 73 points away from becoming Auburn's all-time leading scorer. He currently ranks fifth with 240 career points...

Auburn's senior class consists of 24 players, which is the largest senior class in school history...

Auburn has won 56 consecutive games when scoring 30 or more points in a game, dating back to a 56-49, four-overtime loss to Georgia in 1996...

Auburn has 11 players on its squad that have already graduated, which is second most in the nation among FBS schools...

Arkansas State Quick Hitters...

Head coach Steve Roberts, who is in his ninth season as head coach at Arkansas State, was the 2005 Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year after leading the Red Wolves to the league title...

Arkansas State returns 25 players that started at least one game in 2009...

Nine members of the 2010 Red Wolves squad have been named All-Sun Belt Conference by at least one preseason football publication, including preseason Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year Bryan Hall...

Arkansas State was picked to finish third in the league in the Preseason Sun Belt Coaches Poll...

Arkansas State's defense was ranked No. 1 in the Sun Belt in both 2009 and 2007, and No. 2 in 2008 and 2006...

Quarterback Ryan Alpin started three of the last four games last season and set a school freshman record with 362 yards of offense in a victory over North Texas...

On special teams, the Red Wolves lost their leaders in kickoff returns, punt returns, punting and field goals...

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Good luck to you guys. Not that you need it.

by LSU Jonno on Sep 3, 2010 4:53 PM CDT reply actions

Thanks,

…..Jonno! We’ll be channel-flipping to the big battle with the boys in Powder Blue! It’s time to pound the ACC down, and add the Mountain West to the BCS.

by Acid Reign on Sep 3, 2010 5:43 PM CDT up reply actions

I'm holding down the SEC fort in A-town this weekend.

Lot’s of LSU fans…about half as many UNC fans.

It’s funny walking around on the streets because Dragon Con is this weekend.

I’m waiting for a drunk cajun and a storm trooper to get into it.

by LSU Jonno on Sep 3, 2010 8:45 PM CDT up reply actions

I'm 20 years or so removed....

…..from my last con. They’ve got all these weapon-checking rules and stuff now… “What do you MEAN I can’t take my sword and spell books in?” You used to buy a weekend con membership, and there was all the cheap beer you could drink, too!

……The last one I went to was at the Parliament House hotel in B’ham, and we all ran up to the roof to watch when the tornado warning sirens went off at 1:00 AM on a spring morning. Yeah, the geek folks have SUCH a good grasp on reality…

……We hit the New Orleans Con (NO-SF3?) a couple of times in the late 1980s/1990 era. Can’t remember the name of the hotel, but it was an aging place on the corner of Carrolton and Tulane. No free booze in New Orleans, but there was the most AWESOME Asian restaurant across the street called “Genghis Khan.” Had a wild night in there were I set up three other con-goers with my trademark skull face-paint, and my future wife had a realistic third eye painted on her forehead. We went in there to eat, and the staff FREAKED OUT. Employees were coming out of the kitchen to gawk. There was also an awesomely talented opera company eating there that night, they put on a little impromtu concert after dinner. Fun times!

…..Oh, yeah. My wife says it was called the “Bayou Plaza Hotel.”

by Acid Reign on Sep 3, 2010 9:41 PM CDT up reply actions