It's cold out. Sunny, but at kickoff the temperature will hover around 50, so bring your jackets if you're coming.
Obviously the focus today will be on Newton and how he responds to the allegations surrounding his recruitment. Read the post below this one for my story in today's newspaper. One new wrinkle from the Associated Press late last night:
The person familiar with the situation said Auburn's compliance office has reviewed personal and church bank records of Newton's dad, Cecil, as well as phone and e-mail records of the Tigers' football staff, and is "extremely confident there was no wrongdoing" during the school's recruitment of the quarterback.
I'll be back with some more game day stuff in a little bit (apparently they're playing one today).
In the meantime, I encourage you to follow the blog on Twitter for instant updates.
Here's your usual pre-game minutia:
- Auburn leads the series 20-0. The Tigers won the last meeting 76-10 at Jordan-Hare Stadium in 1995.
- Auburn’s average margin of victory in the series is 28.7 points.
- The Tigers have won their past 18 homecoming games.
- They are No. 2 in the Associated Press poll, their highest ranking since 2006.
- Auburn is fourth nationally in rushing (307.7 ypg), sixth in total offense (496.2 ypg) and 10th in scoring offense (40.0 ppg).
- Auburn RB Mike Dyer is 107 yards shy of Bo Jackson’s school freshman record set in 1982.
- Chattanooga quarterback B.J. Coleman, a transfer from Tennessee, has thrown for 2,257 yards and 21 touchdowns this year.
- Mocs WR Joel Bradford is Coleman’s favorite target, hauling in 66 passes for 1,027 yards and seven touchdowns. He leads the FCS with 128.4 receiving yards per game.
- The Mocs are looking for winning seasons in back-to-back years for the first time since 1990-91.
- Chattanooga had a five-game winning streak snapped last week against Elon. The Mocs were ranked 23rd in the FCS coaches poll before the loss.
- A colleague of mine pointed this out earlier this week. Each of the last two Heisman Trophy winners have played against Chattanooga. Sam Bradford did in Oklahoma's' 57-2 win in 2008. Mark Ingram did in Alabama's 45-0 win last year. Will this be a third straight year? We'll see.
UPDATE, 11:30 a.m.: Lots of lineup changes for Auburn today. Here they are:
- Eric Smith will start for Philip Lutzenkirchen at HB.
- Corey Lemonier will start for Antoine Carter at DE.
- Eltoro Freeman will start for Daren Bates at OLB.
2 comments:
lots of great info, AB. Thanks!
what was the deal with Carter? was he introduced with the seniors? i don't remember seeing him during the senior class recognition, but i could be wrong.
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