"We are starting over now and going to have a chance to win a National Championship. That is what we recruit for. That is what we practice for, and that's what we dream about. So, we are looking forward to it."

Words spoken by Auburn Golf Coach Nick Clinard who was elated after his Tigers made an incredible run on the final day of the NCAA Greensboro Regional to qualify for next weeks national championship at Riviera Country Club in Palisades, Calif.

Auburn entered the Tournament as the number one seed but had fell to seventh place by the start of the final round. The Tigers played the final four holes at eight under par to move up from seventh place to third in the Tournament. Only the top five teams qualify to play for a national championship and the Tigers finished the day as one of them.

For much of the day It had looked like the top seeded Tigers would be one of the teams left out of the Nationals; then All-American Blayne Barber sparked a furious rally with a hole-in-one on the number 16 par 3.

"We were out of it with a few holes to go and we finished strong, and we hung in there. We are going to Riviera!" Barber said.

Yes the dream is still alive because on May 29th in Palisades. the No. 3 Auburn Tigers get their chance to win a National Championship.

War Eagle!

The Auburn Baseball team got some good news and some bad news on Saturday.

The Good News ...

The Seniors got to finish their last game on Hitchcock Field with a 5-4 victory over the No. 2 Florida Gators.

The Tigers did it with good hitting, good defense, and a strong outing by right hander Derek Varnadore who made his first start since April 20th.

Varnadore (4-7) allowed four runs and struck out three batters in seven full innings of work. Justin Bryant picked up the save.

It was a great night for the eight seniors who all have a big win as their last memory at Plainsman Park.

Auburn's record is now 30-26 and the Tigers will play in their third straight SEC Tournament on next Tuesday. It's the first time since the 2003 season for Auburn to make three consecutive SEC Tournaments.

The Bad News ...

Auburn's opponent for Tuesday's game - The No. 2 Florida Gators - a team that held the Tigers (the SEC's top hitting club) to just 5 hits in the series first two games.

Mississippi State's wins over Kentucky this weekend coupled with Florida's series win, has Auburn going into the tournament as the No. 10 seed and therefore having to play the No. 3 seed - Florida..

Florida (40-16) will have a lot of motivation. Saturday's loss to Auburn knocked them out of winning the SEC Eastern Division Title and cost them a first-round bye in the tournament.

You can bet the Gators are looking forward to meeting the Tigers again on Tuesday afternoon.

And if that wasn't enough. the Tigers are bracketed against teams that they hold a 2-10 record against. But These Tigers are capable of doing it as they showed on Saturday.

It just depends on which Auburn team shows up in Hoover ...

The one that was held to five hits in the first two Florida games or the one that took two out of three against No.13 Arkansas and then beat the No.2 team in the land .

Game time on Tuesday is at 4:30 p.m. Lets do it again boys.

War Eagle!

The Auburn Softball Team was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament Saturday by No. 5 Texas as the Longhorns jumped out to a four run lead in the first three innings.

Texas had two homeruns during the game to down the Tigers 6-1 in the NCAA Austin Regional.

Texas pitcher Rachel Fox held Auburn to one hit while striking out one and forcing the Tigers into eight fly outs in the first three innings.

In the beginning of the fourth inning Branndi Melero hit a leadoff solo homerun to cut the deficit to three runs but it wasn't enough as Texas scored two more to win their 43rd game of the year.

Some folks believe Auburn got robbed by the umpires in Friday's first round loss to Houston or Auburn would still be in it (count me amongst that group).

Nevertheless the Tigers had a successful season finishing 33-23 and making their fifth straight trip to the NCAA Tournament.

It was also the ninth time since 2002 for Coach Tina Deese's Tigers to appear in NCAA Regional play and the five consecutive appearances is an Auburn record.

Coach Deese said, "This isn't how we wanted to end our season, obviously. Texas' bats got hot today and we couldn't match them. I'm really proud of our seniors. They have all earned their degrees and have represented Auburn as well as anyone could."

Today is the 137^th running for the Black-Eyed Susans at the Preakness Stakes. The Preakness is known as the Middle Jewel of Horse Racing's Triple Crown. The other two jewels are the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes.

If you're a betting person, I'll give you a tip ...

Place all your money on "Tiger Walk" from Sagamore Farm's of Glydon, Maryland. At 25-1, he's a can't miss shot at winning the big purse.

Of course I must admit I know next to nothing about horse racing. The total of my horse racing experience consist all of one day spent at Churchill Downs back in the 1980's. However, even the casual observer has heard of Equestrian Racing's Triple Crown. And it's no secret the three races have the biggest purse in Thoroughbred horse racing.

There are a thousand different reasons for picking a horse to win. Some people pick their horse because they like his looks, some because of his record, some because of the jockey or the trainer, some because of his bloodline, while others just play the odds.

There may be some who pick Tiger Walk today because he is being ridden by Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux or because he drew the number one post for position.

But my reasons for picking him are purely sentimental ...

He is named for an Auburn Football Tradition; the pregame walk the Auburn Tigers make down Donahue Street on their way to games at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

His name was given to him by his owner, Under Armour founder Kevin Plank, because Auburn was one of the first to ink a contract with Plank. It also seems to me that it's a good name for a horse that is the son of "Tale of the Cat."

Auburn fans can watch Tiger Walk's run for the Black-Eyed Susans on NBC. Coverage begins at 4:30 p.m. EST.

He will be running against 13 other horses including the Kentucky Derby winner and four of the top five Derby horses. But just like the Tigers he is named after, opponents that take him lightly do so at their own risk.

His trainer Ignacio Correas admits, "It's a tough race, but you cannot win unless you're in. So, we're going to try our best and he's going to try his best too."

Well tough race or not, he's my pick and I'm sticking with him. I'll be jumping up and down in front of the telle later today hollering ...

"Come on'nnnn Tiger Walk!"

The Auburn Softball team(33-22) lost the first game of the NCAA Regionals in Austin to Houston (35-22) on a questionable ump call in the seventh inning Friday.

With the game tied 1-1, Angel Bunner was called for an illegal pitch which forced in a run and gave the Cougars a 2-1 victory.

It was a particular tough loss as the only offense of the day was provided by Auburn's Brandi Melero's solo homer in the sixth inning. The other Houston run was scored on a wild pitch.

"This was a tough game," Auburn head coach Tina Deese said. "We did a good job putting runners on but we just couldn't get that one hit to drop."

The Tigers will play No.6 seed Texas (46-10) in an elimination game Saturday at 3 p.m. The winner of that game will play again at 6 p.m.

Go Tigers!

While the the Big 10 and the Pac 12 have been making moves to protect their position in the Rose Bowl, the SEC and the Big 12 have come up with a plan to effectively match the champions of the BCS's historically top two football conferences in America.

The details have to be worked out later but The Southeastern Conference and the Big 12 Conferences announced today a five-year agreement for their football champions to meet in a postseason bowl game starting with the 2014 season.

Should one of the teams be playing in the BCS game or possibly be selected for some type of four team playoff, other top ranked teams from the conferences will be selected for the game.

In making today's announcement, SEC Commissioner Mike Slive said,

"A new January bowl tradition is born. This new game will provide a great matchup between the two most successful conferences in the BCS era and will complement the exciting postseason atmosphere created by the new four-team playoff. Most importantly, it will provide our student-athletes, coaches and fans with an outstanding bowl experience."

Big 12 Commissioner Chuck Neinas said,

"This is a landmark agreement between two of the most successful football conferences during the BCS era to stage a postseason event ... (this game) will have tremendous resonance in college football."

The two conferences are tied all time for having the most teams in the top spot of the history of the Bowl Championship Series. The SEC and the Big 12 lead the nation with 12 seasons in which each conference has had at least one team ranked in the top four of the final standings.

Of the two conferences 16 appearances in the BCS Championship Game, the SEC has appeared nine times and the Big 12 seven times. The two conferences have won 11 BCS Championships (SEC-8 ; Big 12-3).

This game will be a great match up and it's another smart move by Mike Slive who continues to set the pace for others to follow.

Question is - how will the other conferences react? Will other conferences seek their own bowl deals? Could this lead to Notre Dame finally joining a conference to avoid being left out?

The only thing for certain is ... "Times they are a changing."

War Eagle, everybody! Friday is here once again, and we've got a number links of interest for you today. A number of Auburn spring sports are winding down towards a close this time of year. We'll kick things off with track star Harry Adams, who was the recipient of the Tiger Torch Academic Achievement Award this week. It's a great redemption story for the All-American Tiger sprinter. Harry Adams joined the Auburn family in 2008 as a wide receiver. He moved to defensive back in his second year, but ran afoul of the football coaching staff and was dismissed from the team. Harry certainly turned things around, on the track and in the classroom! Fellow teammates Keenan Brock and Stephen Saenz took home individual SEC Titles in the SEC Outdoor Championships this week also.

Things weren't quite so rosy for the Auburn softball team. Head coach Tina Deese had the team off to a really hot start this year, but the team had trouble generating hits down the stretch. The team was defeated in a pitchers duel in the first round of the SEC Tournament by Tennessee. The squad still made the NCAA tournament, and will take on the Houston Cougars this afternoon in Austin, Texas.

The Tiger men's tennis team lost a close one in the second round of the NCAA tournament to Illinois, 4-3. Despite that, head coach Eric Shore was named the ITA Regional Coach of the Year, and assistant Zoltan Pelva was named the Regional Assistant Coach of the year. Kudos to the men's tennis team! Auburn's women's golf ended the season finishing 12^th in the NCAA Central Regional.

An Auburn name that's been in the news a bunch in recent months is Bo Jackson. Us Auburn fans tend to remember Bo mostly for his exploits on the gridiron. It was quite a treat this week to read the take of SBN writers Jon Bois and Bomani Jones, who viewed Bo's career nearly entirely from a Major League Baseball perspective. Sometimes we forget that Bo was an All-Pro in two sports! Bo certainly continued to blow folks minds with athletic feats after he left the Plains.

In scheduling news, Auburn's first solid football start time has been announced. The showdown with Clemson in the Georgia Dome has been set for 7:00 PM Eastern time on September 1^st, on ESPN. Tigers vs. Tigers will be the Primetime opener for the season. Can't beat that for exposure!

Speaking of the Clemson game, the SBN Clemson blog Shakin the Southland has an interesting bit of Xs and Os football up this week, detailing some of Clemson's Malzhan-like offensive strategy against us last year. The author was questioning why an unbalanced offensive formation would be of any use. My answer is that a Ted Roof defense is going to take at least a half to make any adjustment. We had trouble recognizing Clemson's use of that technique, and LSU just killed us with it later in the year.

In news outside of Auburn this week, former Tennessee football coach Phillip Fulmer was named to the College Football Hall of Fame. Some might argue, but there's little debate that Fulmer won often, and won big in Knoxville over his 16 year career. His teams made 5 trips to the SEC Championship Game during that span, and he averaged 9.5 wins per year in his tenure.

Everyone's talking college realignment this week, and the latest wild rumor is of course Florida State to the Big 12. In every walk of life, there are things that go on, that are not cool to talk about. A singer forgets the lyrics, and just lets loose some lyrical noise. You don't tell 'em you forgot, you call it "improvisation." Some folks think that most big college football programs cheat. Not cool to talk about. Members of management disagree all the time, but you don't conduct those arguments publicly. And finally, a college board of trustees shouldn't air their differences in the media. Apparently, Florida State's brass haven't gotten that memo. Here's a really interesting take by former FSU star and current trustee Derrick Brooks. Not cool, Derrick. On the other hand, there looks like there's a lot more to the story than fanciful thinking.

The wackiest idea on college realignment this week is the idea of relegation, such as what is done in English soccer leagues. The idea is that lower performing teams can be dumped down to a lower division, and promising lower division teams can rise to the big league. Bill Connelly of SBN actually did a fairly involved simulation of this over at the SBN mothership. He starts in 2005, and has a year by year break down of which college football teams move up and down. By 2012, Ole Miss is gone from the SEC, and Appalachian State is in. Teams like Toledo and Northern Illinois crack the Big 10. Wait, maybe this isn't any wilder than what's actually gone on the past few years in reality! In any even, this simulation is one that's going to take a while to read and digest. Might be a good one for a lazy Saturday or Sunday afternoon with no football on.

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