I have to admit, I yelled at the TV last night. It was gut reaction. By now I know this year’s Auburn Tigers will entertain, bewilder, and leave us riding the edge of our couches each Saturday. Who knows what will happen next, or how good this team can become?
It’s been a little while since Auburn was in the limelight. I wonder if the team really knows what the outside world looks like. The team may not care about national rankings but as the Tigers move up the charts, every opponent works exponentially harder to knock them off. Kentucky played great last night.
Next up is Arkansas. Houston Nutt’s Arkansas teams had Tommy Tuberville’s number several times. Bobby Petrino made his mark last year. I have no doubt we may find ourselves playing catch up all afternoon next week. They don’t get any bigger than this for our young program. CBS will televise the game in its national slot Saturday.
After Arkansas is LSU. The LSU rivalry is well documented if you follow southern football. If you don’t just Google the “earthquake game”. LSU may have been the only laughing stock of the college football universe a week ago for winning a game. This week they looked darn good and now are only one of two undefeated SEC teams. The Bayou Bengals always play with swagger and are glowing with confidence regardless of how you may think they look.
Auburn has had its share of shaky wins too. Clemson, South Carolina, and Mississippi State each came down to the wire before last night’s game at Kentucky. South Carolina pulled an Arkansas when they came to the Plains two weeks ago. The only difference between Alabama’s game at South Carolina and our game at Kentucky is that we moved forward while the Tide withdrew. And I think that gives Auburn people reason to hope. We may not win every game this year, but we’re evolving and finding ways to improve.
Buckle your safety belts, the next few weeks of Auburn football will be wild.
