Week 3 - Louisiana-Monroe

Ahh, the home opener.  I don't care how good (or bad) your team or their opponent is, the home opener is awesome.  When you step into the stands from the concourse, it feels like you're seeing an old friend for the first time in a while.

 

 

 

Ben stayed in Knoxville for the UT/Florida game this weekend, so I was on my own heading to Alabama.  I drove down to Hoover Friday night and stayed with my aunt Bobbie.  I was lucky enough to get to join her and my cousin Kacy (and Kacy's family and Caryn and Andy) for their celebratory birthday dinner Friday night.  Caryn went to Auburn with me for the game on Saturday, and we drove back afterward.

 

I love the pregame festivities and got chills multiple times even though it was 90 degrees outside (please note that noon games in east-central Alabama in September are not for sissies).  The mood of the fans tailgating outside the stadium was more mellow than electric, but the Auburn Spirit was in full effect.  During pregame, the starting line-up is shown on the AUHD screen one at a time, and the crowd cheers for each player (obviously, some players - like Lutzie and McCalebb - get louder cheers than others).  When they announced Kiehl Frazier, I had a brief fear that people might boo him for his poor performance the past couple of weeks, but I should've known better.  The stadium erupted in loud cheers for him as if to say, "Hey, you're our guy - we believe in you." 

 

Obviously, this year Auburn is having some issues, and our home opener was against Louisiana-Monroe, who upset Arkansas the week before.  I was more than a little nervous, but we were playing better than last week and ended up with a 14-point lead before things started going downhill in the fourth quarter.  Kiehl looked a lot better until then, when he reverted to his "throw to the other team" and "always overthrow Lutzie" tendencies.  He threw a few masterful long passes in the first half, though, so I'm hopeful for his improvement.  He really just needs to learn to look at the whole field instead of just concentrating on one receiver and melting down if that receiver isn't open.

 

Kiehl's poor performance in the last quarter wouldn't have made the game as close as it was, though.  Our defense was doing a rocking job, but unfortunately the referees were trying to give this game to ULM.  They were SEC refs, so I'm not sure why that was the case, but here's my theory: we paid ULM a little over $1 Million to come play us for our home opener, and I think they gave half to the refs.  Seriously, the officiating was ridiculously bad.  And I can be objective about such things.  For example, when a ULM receiver caught a pass on the sideline late in the game, we all thought he was out of bounds, but the ref called it a completion.  On the AUHD replay, we saw that he had a foot in-bounds.  Well, that sucks, but it was a good call.  HOWEVER, the refs gave ULM a first down on each of two drives on which they scored touchdowns, when those drives really should have ended without scores.  The refs made a bogus pass interference call on Auburn on a 3rd and long pass that was at least 10 yards BEHIND the receiver.  Totally uncatchable. 

The second instance is completely unexplainable.  ULM had just completed a 3rd down play and had come up slightly short of a first down.  The punting unit came on the field; then they ran back off and the offense came back on.  Ok, ULM was going for it on 4th and 1 (or so we thought - ULM is pretty well-known for going for it on 4th down).  ULM was unable to complete its pass, and Brian Van Gorder (our defensive coordinator who looks like "The Bandit" from Smokey and the Bandit) came a few yards out on the field to celebrate with his defense.  The refs threw a flag.  We were dismayed, but then they said, "Sideline Warning - Auburn," so we thought, "Oh, well at least it's not a penalty" (because it's not a penalty on the first offense).  THEN they placed the ball for ULM and called it 2nd and 10!!!  W...T...F????  No one around me in the stadium had any idea what the hell had just happened.  I went back and reviewed this on a replay of the television coverage, and apparently the refs initially spotted the ball short of the first down (after the previous 3rd down play) and then somehow changed the spot so that it was a first down.  EVERYONE thought it was 4th down (including ULM, which initially sent out its punting unit, and Brian Van Gorder, who was celebrating our defense not allowing the conversion when, in reality (well, crappy referee reality, at least), the defense had just busted up a pass play on first down).  Utter chaos.

Our own version of the Bandit.

 

Anyway, to make a long story longer, the game was tied at the end of regulation and went into overtime.  ULM was on offense first and was held to a field goal attempt, which was BLOCKED!  Woo-hoo!!  Auburn took the safe route and kicked a field goal on third down, made the field goal, and won.   By the end of the game, I could barely stand up and cheer because I was so hot, hungry, and thirsty (we probably would've died if Caryn hadn't gone and gotten us 4 bottles of water right before the half). But I did it anyway. Caryn was completely sunburned, and I got a great v-neck tan line from my polo, as well as a spectacular tan triangle between my sunglasses earpiece and my visor.

 

 

It was an ugly win over an opponent we should've been able to beat handily, but I blame that more on the terrible officiating (which was present throughout the game, but those last two instances I described were the most egregious and hurtful) than on our team. 

 

This week's Weagles go to Kiehl Frazier and Quan Bray for executing an electrifying double-pass play that resulted in Kiehl running for a TD; to Onterio McCalebb for rushing for 128 yards; to Corey Lemonier for blocking a ULM field goal attempt in regulation; to Angelo Blackson for deflecting the ULM field goal in overtime; and to Cody Parkey for making our OT field goal and being named SEC Special Teams Player of the Week.  Next week: LSU (yay).