BlAUging: San Jose State: September 6, 2014

It was a whirlwind trip to Auburn for the San Jose State game.  Left Knoxville at about 11:30 (Knoxville Time) Saturday morning, picked up Caryn in Chelsea around 2:15 (Auburn Time), got to the stadium about 4:45 (AT), watched the game, got back to Caryn's house around 12:15 (AT), slept til about 7:15 (AT), and got back to Knoxville around 11:45 (KT) Sunday. 

 

I love that the stadium and the beautiful sky were reflecting in Caryn's glasses.

We thoroughly enjoyed all the pregame activities, as usual, including the honoring of the undefeated 2004 team and Coach Tommy Tuberville, who got a rousing ovation on his return to Pat Dye Field. 

The eagle flight is also a must-see part of pregame.  This week was somewhat rare in that our bald eagle, Spirit, did the flight.  Usually Nova, the golden eagle, does it. 

 



The game started off a little stressful when Nick Marshall was running for a touchdown and fumbled the ball through the end zone.  Like last week, the defense also started off a little sluggish, but they got up to speed pretty quickly, and Auburn ran away with the game as they were expected to do (I mean, San Jose isn't even a State, amirite?). 

After Nic's fumble, San Jose fumbled on their first play, so we were all relieved that we got the ball back.  But WAIT!  There's a personal foul - facemask penalty on Auburn, which apparently negates the fact that there was a fumble on the play?  It wasn't a dead ball foul before the snap or something like that; I would think that the results of the play would stand but that Auburn would be backed up 15 yards after taking possession after it recovered the fumble. But I suppose I am wrong.  Anyone who is more familiar with the rules than I am care to comment?  

Ah, well. Anyway.  We came within four miles of having another lightning delay this week, as lightning got within 12 miles of the stadium but apparently never got within the eight miles that would cause the game to be suspended.

 

It's looking a little ominous to the south.

You can still see a fabulous sunset, though.



This was pretty much one of those easy-going, low-stress games that you need to have every once in a while to keep yourself sane.  We got to see some of our younger players again this week, including our highly-touted freshman running back Roc Thomas, who scored a touchdown on his first-ever carry as an Auburn player.  Roc gets a Weagle for that.  Other Weagles for this week are as follows:

Montravius Adams (6 tackles, 3 for loss, including this mountain of a sack); Jermaine Whitehead (his second interception in 2 weeks); Trovon Reed (interception in the end zone - this guy just switched to defense this season, and he thinks he's still a receiver - that's a good thing); Cameron Artis-Payne (112 yards rushing, 3 touchdowns); and Nick Marshall (103 yards rushing).  Quan Bray also gets a Weagle for his 55-yard punt return that resulted in this hilarious quote: "If I got that far, I just can't go down, because I don't want to hear anybody say, 'I got tackled by the punter.' That wouldn't be good."  Ha! 

 

We're off this week, so I'll be cheering on the Vols to pull off the big upset against Oklahoma.  We play next Thursday night at Kansas State, so I don't get to go back to Auburn until the 27th.  I'm a little bummed about that, but at least the weather should be a little bit cooler by then.  War Eagle!