GAME DAY, Auburn at Louisiana State

Hey everyone. I'm preparing to head over toward the stadium. My homey Glenn Guilbeau once upon a time gave me the HOOKUP on how to get into Tiger Stadium without traffic.

The key is to get to Government Street, cut west, cut south on St. Phillip and, BOOM, you're there in like 3 minutes. You have to roll through a tough part of town. Small price to pay.

You're a better person for making the HOTTEST Auburn blog on the 'net part of your day.

Wideout Robert Dunn will NOT be playing tonight due to a "violation of practice policy." So there ya go. Still on the team, not with the team.

--------GAME COVERAGE--------

CURRENT SCORE:
AUB -- 24
LSU -- 30
FINAL

Final thoughts: Another classic. Really. Can you believe Les Miles goes for the touchdown there with so little time left? It's crazy. If Jerrard Powers tips that pass up, the time runs out and that's a wrap. And Les Miles can't go home because 90,000 ragin' cajuns will want to beat him senseless. Demetrius Byrd caught the ball, though, and now Les Miles is the brilliant strategist again. All is well.

Auburn's offense didn't do much for me in the second half. All the innovation was gone. Why does that happen? I understand the need to establish the run and all, but where are the creative plays?

Auburn's defense: Too many passing-game busts. The end.

For what it's worth, I don't find that high-low situation on Glenn Dorsey all that dirty. Dirty is gouging a man's eye as officials unravel a dogpile. Cut blocking like that, while not the most savory behavior, happens and is a part of football.

News of the day, 10/19

Hey everyone. I'm getting excited about our big trip to Baton Rouge, which gives me and fellow scribe Josh Moon a chance to see wonderful places like Hammond and Slidell, La. Oh, and the environmentally kosher Ingalls Shipbuilding complex along the Miss'ippi coast. Always a pleasure. If any HABOTN readers plan to cook gumbo in Baton Rouge, please email me (link below) and invite us to your tailgate. We can't cook.

We're so happy you chose this fine site, the HOTTEST Auburn blog on the 'net, to help satisfy your craving for tackle football news.

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

So I'm watching the USF/Rutgers game on ESPNHD last night, and I keep seeing Auburn highlights. Apparently, the ESPN peeps think that USF's win at Auburn totally justified the Bulls' lofty position in the various polls. I mean, Auburn is a pretty good team and all. I'm not sure this is the college equivalent of the 1985 Chicago Bears or anything. Lots of pub for Auburn, though.

I have received several emails this morning already asking about Robert Dunn's status. He's still on the team.

News of the day, 10/18

Hey everyone. It's early in the day, which means I can talk about morning stuff. Do you all watch the Today Show after 9 when Natalie Morales is on? My goodness. She's really talented -- particularly during the segments when she dances. Have you seen these? You working folks really need to dvr this stuff.

Just for the record: The Today Show is on at the gym every morning. I have no choice but to watch.

We're euphoric that wildly intelligent people like you read the HOTTEST blog on the internets for informational purposes.

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.

Special delivery

I have a special treat for you die-hard fans.

Here is the master production-point list. This is how Auburn defenders are graded. This is a H.A.B.O.T.N. exclusive.

Defensive score: +6
Forced interception: +4
Caused fumbles: +4
Blocked kick: +4
Interception: +4
Recovered fumbles: +4
Sacks: +4
Tackles for loss: +3
Big hits: +3
Big play: +3
Extra-effort play: +3
Fourth-down stop: +3
Blocks on return: +2
Pass breakup: +2
Pressures: +2
Intelligent play: +2
Batted ball: +2
Tackles: +2
Assisted tackle: +1
Third-down stop: +1
Re-route: +1

Poor technique: -1
Poor eye control: -1
Fumbled/missed interception: -2
Loaf: -2
Misalignment: -2
Mental error/bust: -2
Missed tackle: -2
Penalty: -3
Turndown big hit: -3

**A "re-route" occurs when a defender forces a receiver to change his route because of ideal positioning.
**"Turndown big hit" occurs when a player shies away from contact.
**"Eye control" means the player is watching what he's supposed to watch. Players often monitor the incorrect cues.

News of the day, 10/16

Hey everyone. This week is still so messy for everyone involved. The team took Sunday off because they didn't get home until 4 a.m., which totally messed me up. Sundays are big informational days for me. I've had to chase people around all week. I know you care deeply about that.

Today is Tuesday which means, of course, that you get your weekly dose of "Tuesdays With Tommy" installment. He was more boring than usual today. Also caught a few quotes from Brandon Cox. He's growing a fumanchu beard thingy now to cover up his six-stitch laceration. Interesting.

I also snagged the defensive numbers you all clamor for every week. I'm hoping to get a little scoring matrix together for your viewing pleasure. A lot of people want to know how the kids are scored and, honestly, I have no idea. I will have an idea soon. I can't seem to find Travaris Robinson. He's my hook-up there.

Thanks for visiting the HOTTEST blog on the internets.

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Here is your weekly "Tuesdays with Tommy" synopsis:

*On the LSU game: "It's a game that has picked up a lot of interest. It's always and interesting game."

*On LSU's loss at Kentucky: "They had a slip-up last week, but we all know how that is."

*On the offensive problems: "We need to change our mentality offensively."

*On this being a big game: "For big games like this, we seem to play better."

*On still emphasizing contact in practice: "We're still in this youth movement of getting guys ready to play."

*On the secret to road wins: "When you go on the road, you have to almost be perfect. If you look back at last week at how we coached and played, it was pretty close to being perfect."

*On Merrill Johnson: "Merrill's playing. He's good. He could have played more (at Arkansas), but he didn't know the gameplan."

*On Ryan Pugh's status: "He said he's going to practice tomorrow, but that might be stretching it."

*On Quentin Groves' status: "Q practiced. The guys ahead of him are playing awfully well."

*On the urge to simplify things for the young OLs: "YOu can't really simplify what we do on the offensive line. It's pretty complex. We don't make many mental errors, though."

*On LSU: "The weaknesses have not been evident."

*On giving his team Sunday off: "We needed a day off. I noticed it last week. We weren't as physically spent as we were mentally."

-----BRANDON COX-----

*On his ability to thrive in the two-minute offense: "It's not a very complicated two-minute system."

*On the significance of this weekend: "This is going to be the turning point of the season."

*On the outside-the-stadium scene at LSU in 2005: "It was bad."

Here are your top defensive producers from the Arkansas game game. Players are given points for doing significant things correctly. They are docked points for missing assignments, missing tackles, penalties or loafing:

FROM ARK GAME:
CB Jerraud "Jerrard" Powers -- 22
LB Craig Stevens -- 22
LB Tray Blackmon -- 22
DE Antonio Coleman -- 20
DE Sen'Derrick Marks -- 10
CB Jae Wilhite -- 13
LB Chris Evans -- 13
DT Pat Sims -- 9
S Zac Etheridge -- 9

SEASON OVERALL:
Evans -- 129
Powers -- 128
Etheridge -- 119
Marks -- 110
CB Pat Lee -- 108
Coleman -- 107
DE Quentin Groves -- 79

NUMBER OF DOUBLE-DIGIT PRODUCTION GAMES:
none -- 7 (Etheridge broke his streak this week)
Etheridge, Marks, Coleman, Powers -- 6
Lee, Evans, Stevens -- 5
S Aairon Savage, Groves, Sims -- 3

Here are your team defensive goals for the AU-Arkansas game.

Win: YES, 9-7
Allow 13 pts or less: YES, 7
Allow 3.3 yards per carry or less: YES, 2.7
Allow 5.0 yards per pass or less: YES, 4.7
Create at least 3 turnovers: NO, 1
Allow no big plays (defined as 15+ rush or 20+ pass): NO on run (1); NO on pass (1)
Allow no TDs inside "red area": YES
Force opponent to convert less than 30% on 3rd down: YES, 24%

Vanderbilt's YAC (yards after catch) number was 40.

Here are your top players from the Arkansas based on number of snaps:

Jerraud Powers, Zac Etheridge -- 55
Eric Brock -- 54
Chris Evans -- 52
Pat Lee -- 51
Craig Stevens -- 48
Tray Blackmon -- 46
Antonio Coleman -- 44
Josh Thompson -- 40
Pat Sims -- 36

News of the day, 10/15

BREAKING NEWS: Auburn-Ole Miss on Oct. 27 will kickoff at 5 p.m. The game will televised only on pay-per-view.

Hey everyone. Sorry for the lack of updates yesterday. I finished my daily stories for Monday's editions, sat down to watch the last few minutes of the Cowboys-Patriots game ... and that's the last thing I remember from Sunday. I conked out big time.

I'll try to make it up to you today.

We're enthused that you'd make the HOTTEST blog on the 'net a part of your day.

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I saw this earlier today, a clip of Will Muschamp yelling during the Arkansas game, and thought I'd include it here. I'm writing a note about Muschamp's reaction for Tuesday's edition. NOTE: The clip includes foul language.

Tuberville said on Sunday that LT Ryan Pugh didn't suffer a serious injury at Arkansas. He has a very bruised shin. That's all. Knowing Pugh, he'll find a way to play this weekend in Baton Rouge. I'll say, though, that King Dunlap played at least OK in Pugh's absence during the third and fourth quarters at Arkansas.

I didn't know how LB Tray Blackmon's return would affect things on the defense. Now I do: It helps. DC Will Muschamp slid Chris Evans from the middle to the weak side to make room for Blackmon. Coaches seemed pretty stoked about how Craig Stevens played on the strong side. This is a nice set-up here. I don't think Evans has the size to play on the strong side, so it'll be interesting to see what happens when Merrill Johnson returns.

It's strange to say, but Auburn's defense hasn't dropped off at all since DE Quentin Groves went down with the toe problem at Florida. Antonio Coleman now is a de facto starter and he'll doing some nice work. Antoine Carter (17 years old) now is the No. 3 guy, and he hasn't been a problem at all. His speed makes up for a lot of small mistakes. This defense is pretty gross overall right now. Arkansas had almost nothing going for 95% of that game.

Looks like Auburn has a second competent option at wideout now. Montez Billings has played well in three consecutive games. He's bascially another Rod Smith. I wouldn't consider either guy "fast," but they catch the ball. That's what Auburn needs more than anything. Rob Dunn had a pretty awful night overall at Arkansas, but that 30-yard catch in the fourth quarter was a game-saver ... for him and the team. I've seen Cox and Dunn run that pattern so many times. Do you remember that night in August, I wrote about this over and over, when the wideouts and quarterbacks had to spend an hour after practice just throwing routes? That "shoot" route was one of 'em. In fact, that was the route that yielded the most dropped passes.

News of the day, 10/14

Hey everyone. Tough travel day. I left the press box around midnight, arrived in Tulsa around 2:15 a.m., hit the bed around 2:45 and was at the Tulsa airport at 5:45. I saw a few fellow scribes (Hi, Goldberg and ITAT Stephen) and a handful of Auburn fans. We all looked the same -- tired.

Tuberville didn't sound particularly enthusiastic himself this afternoon. He acknowledged that Auburn's offense isn't playing very well overall right now. Considering the quarterback is a fifth-year senior, this team doesn't pass very effectively. The Tigers aren't strong enough to run every down. Though I'd never consider Brandon Cox a "clutch" player so to speak, he was a critical component of what was a clutch drive last night. I wrote a story about it.

I'll slide you some fresh information as the day progresses.

Gracias for giving in to your craving for the HOTTEST Auburn blog on the 'net.

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

OK. Here's a clarification on a note I included in my weekly "First and 10" installment. I noted that CBS had passed on the Auburn-LSU game, which may have been unintentionally misleading. ESPN doesn't have the ability to choose ahead of CBS. That's a fact. However, the two networks sometimes make concessions for various reasons and in the case of Auburn-LSU, ESPN made it clear months ago that it wanted that game. CBS conceivably could have chosen that game and broadcast it, but that won't happen. The networks have to co-exist and, well, sometimes you have to do benevolent things to make the world go 'round.