News of the day, 10/17

Hey everyone. Unusually difficult day. We here in the Gump are holding a "crime-free" weekend in a few days. Allegedly, all crime is supposed to stop. Seriously. So in anticipation of this incredibly rare occasion, all reporters (including yours truly) flooded into the community to discuss crime with Montgomery residents. We asked questions. We took pictures. We made a difference.

I'll link the heck out of this fine project once it hits the internets on Sunday morning. Big thanks to the peeps who took time to talk with me: Sam Parks, Andrew Rasbury, Greg Dickinson, Dominique Swinson, Alexis Talbott, Lisa Sutton, Mike Merrill, Stacey Corley, Kim Griggs and Audrey Henderson.

Now, back to sports.

Thanks for making this, the HOTTEST Auburn blog on the internets, one of your stops while working to fulfill that Auburn jones.

It's the only blog that loves you back.®

Looks like Auburn will be almost at full strength for the LSU game. The only guy who doesn't appear ready is Ryan Pugh. I'm skeptical to say he's out, though, because the guy has a reputation for being the toughest guy on earth. Maybe he'll play. I'll say this: King Dunlap appears to have caught on to the fact that time is running out on his chances to play professional tackle football.

Speaking of players coming back, it'll be interesting to see what Auburn does with LB Merrill Johnson. The team's starting linebackers basically stayed in the entire Arkansas game. The defense played 55 snaps. Chris Evans (52), Craig Stevens (48) and Tray Blackmon (46) played central roles. Bo Harris had two snaps. Johnson had one. Who's going to get bumped? It's not Blackmon. It can't be Evans, who is the team's most productive defender. Johnson doesn't rotate with Stevens on the strong side. I have no idea what to expect. Johnson is supposed to be a starter on the weak side.

Keep an eye out for counterfeit tickets if you're headed down to Baton Rouge this weekend. LSU put out an advisory today saying that "large numbers of stolen and counterfeit tickets" were sold for the LSU-Florida game two weeks ago. Officials believe similar problems are set to occur this weekend. LSU is discouraging fans from buying tickets from third-party resellers.