Ben and I took the Bus down to Auburn for Ole Miss weekend. It was the first time we've taken the Bus all year, so we finally got to meet the people who park next to us in the new RV lot (Auburn changed the lot this year from the lot we've been in for the past few years to a much smaller, less convenient lot - we have complained, and hopefully it'll be fixed next year). Anyway, those people were super sweet, and we had a good time chatting with them Friday afternoon. Then we went downtown for our usual Hamilton's dinner and a bit of shopping. Unfortunately (from my angle, but not from Ben's), we ate dinner first and all the shops were closed by the time we got finished. Usually Hamilton's has an hour or two wait on home game Fridays, so we shop while we wait, but this week we got in after about 10 minutes.
In any event, Hamilton's is well worth the wait. They usually have the same special on home game Fridays (I think I've only been one time that they had something different), and it's to die for (they call it "Old Faithful" on the check - ha!). Blackened, crab and parmesan-encrusted grouper with cheese grits and asparagus. GET IN MY BELLY. I don't really like asparagus, but I will eat it at Hamilton's all day long.
 |
| I want to eat this picture. |
Tigers Unlimited (Auburn's athletics donor group) provides golf cart service for the people in the "premium parking" lots on Fridays and Saturdays, so we took the golf cart when we went downtown for dinner. We decided to just walk back to the Bus after dinner and check out what was going on around campus. Auburn just re-did the College and Magnolia (i.e., Toomers Corner) intersection this year, and it looks pretty awesome.
 |
| A very special place. |
Apparently Samford Hall is undergoing some major renovations. A campus tour group was walking around (I think it was a "ghost tour" for Halloween weekend) as we were going by, and I think they said that the mortar is crumbling so they're having to dismantle it in a brick-by-brick sort of way to repair it.
The game on Saturday was much the same story as the past couple of weeks. It was another 11:00 kickoff, and neither the team nor the crowd is ever awake by that time. It was another game that we should've won. We had some great drives and some great explosive plays, but we were inexplicably unable to score a touchdown from inside the 5 yard line TWICE. At least the fans did pull off a pretty successful stadium striping. I was surprised because no one seems to pay attention when Auburn says to wear blue or wear orange to a particular game, but this actually looked pretty good.
 |
| Panorama of the stripes (and hello, Jason Campbell!) |
We were kind of plagued by injuries in this game. Sean White, our quarterback, had a knee injury from the Arkansas game but managed to play most of this game while trading some snaps with Jeremy Johnson and also Kerryon Johnson at wildcat. We really missed Peyton Barber, who was injured in this game and didn't have his usual hundred-yard game. Ultimately, though, there's no excuse. Our defense stepped up and played as well as they have all year and gave the offense opportunities to win the game, but the offense just couldn't deliver.
Weagles this week go to: Carl Lawson, who returned from a lengthy injury this week. He is our best pass rusher and, although he didn't necessarily have the kind of impact we get from him when he's 100% healthy, Ole Miss's double-teaming him made it possible for other defensive players to have a bigger impact. Kris Frost and Blake Countess each had an interception. Daniel Carlson (whom I often forget when handing out Weagles, but he's dang near perfect) made all four field goals asked of him, with a 52-yard long (he's pretty consistent over 50 yards, which is amazing). In Peyton Barber's absence, Jovon Robinson stepped up and rushed 18 times for 91 yards. Sean White passed for 258 yards and a touchdown (his first touchdown pass!). Jeremy Johnson completed a 44-yard pass (whoa!). Ricardo Louis had 4 receptions for 137 yards. Tony Stevens had two big catches for a total of 55 yards. Melvin Ray caught that 44-yard bomb from Jeremy. Rudy Ford had 14 tackles. Cassanova McKinzy had 9 tackles, including two tackles for loss and 1 sack. All these stats make it sound like we should've won the game, right? Unfortunately, no.
Anyway, on to this weekend at Texas A&M, and then we're back in town against Georgia, with yet another 11:00 A.M. kickoff. Yep.
No comments:
Post a Comment