Auburn-UGA

Hey everyone. I'm here (already) at the AU-UGA game. It's far too early, of course, but I thought traffic would be obscenely bad. It wasn't. God bless Tom Ensey, my co-writer today, for not slapping me in the face for making him met me at 7:45 a.m.

OK. So I'll be updating this throughout the day with things I see, or things that interest you, or interest me.

9:13 -- Parked in the "D" deck today because Auburn received a ton of parking requests. Regular AU media -- we usually park by Mama Goldberg's -- were shuffled to this deck instead. It's across from the east side of J-H, beside Plainsman Park. Wonderful. I wish I could park here always and forever. It's a four-level deck. We're cleared to park only on 3 and 4. I'm assuming the really high rollers are for the bottom two floors. Of course there was NOBODY there on 1 and 2 this early. I bet traffic there will increase about 45 min. before kickoff. I love feeling like a high roller. This is as close as I'll ever get.

9:50 -- The Under Armour "click clack" ad is showing on the J-H jumbotron. Cracks me up every time how easily Tuberville pimps these various products. The guy is a natural.

10:50 -- The Georgia band has a really cool tune they play while warming up. It's this sinister-sounding, slow-moving piece. Maybe something you'd hear in a Star Wars movie when the emperor is in the house. They performed it three times today. I'd like to hear it another three times.

Looks like rain, but there's no rain on the radar. My friend Robin, photographer from the Huntsville paper, said cloudy days are the best for photography. I never knew.

11:18 -- Tiger flies for the last time. Eh. There's another eagle waiting in the wings. Neeeext.

Auburn update, 11/7

Hey everyone. I was thumbing through the SEC's weekly football release today and found some interesting peripheral statistics. This packet is way too thick for serious consideration on most days.

I generally examine how Auburn compares in the major categories: Rushing, rushing defense, scoring, scoring defense, etc.

Here's a few things you may not know:
*Auburn's average drive lasts 6.11 plays. That leads the league.
*Auburn's average time of possession (per drive) is 3:10. That leads the league.
*Auburn has built 47 scoring drives. That leads the league.
*Auburn has built 10 scoring drives that lasted longer than 5:00. Only Alabama (12) has more.
*Auburn scores 2.56 points per drive. Only LSU (3.09) is better.
*Auburn has outscored opponents by 43 points in the fourth quarter. Only LSU (+44) is better.
*Auburn opponents' average starting field position is the 23-yard line. That leads the league. Credit goes chiefly to kickoff specialist Matt Clark for forcing so many touchbacks.
*Auburn has 13 shutout wins since 1992. That ties with Tennessee for the league lead.
*Auburn is 37-22 (62.7%) in SEC road games since 1992. Only Tennessee (77.6%) and Florida (75.8%) have been better.
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Also, tight end Cole Bennett said today that he won't be able to play against Georgia and Alabama because his broken right ankle isn't fully healed. He was at practice this morning but was severely limited. He spent six weeks in a cast or boot, and his muscles simply aren't yet ready to cooperate fully.

I know the feeling. Faithful blog readers will recall that I had ankle surgery in June. I was in a soft cast for one week, a hard cast for two and a removable cast for another two weeks. It took me several weeks to get back into a regular exercise routine. Even now, five months after surgery, I still make slow progress with the ankle.

That's a difficult joint to repair.