Browse > Home / Tweets / Covering the IRON BOWL

Covering the IRON BOWL

November 28, 2009

With the Iron Bowl coming up on Friday, it is time for the analysis to begin. Many see it as a foregone conclusion – just a build-up to December 5th. But to really get inside the matchup, the only people you can turn to for truth are your fellow SN bloggers right?

So I asked catch5, ardent Alabama fan, to do some q & a on Friday’s game. His answers are in alabama red while mine are in auburn blue. Enjoy!

What is the “X factor” in Fridays game?
How good can Auburn’s offense be against Bama’s defense? Bama will move the ball. The Tigers don’t have a defense good enough to keep Ingram and Richardson from getting however many yards they want. The question is if Auburn can keep up. Their key to victory will be to get a lead and keep or increase it early. Bama will be stronger at the end of the game due to the better depth, so Auburn will need to be able to move the ball and put up points early to win. The key to this is likely in the passing game. In games where Auburn has lost this year, the passing game has struggled.

Hard to argue with his reasoning. Auburn’s offense will be the difference, that’s for sure. Bama is solid on both sides of the ball, while Auburn stinks defensively, making their offense have to catch up for them. Ben Tate will have to go for over 100 and Chris Todd will have to have a mistake free outing. Auburn has had 7 turnovers in 7 wins, and 9 turnovers in 4 losses. IT’s all about Auburn’s O.

What is the potential of Gene Chizik in the next few years?
Much better than I would have guessed. When Auburn fired Tubby, they really needed to make a big splash with their replacement hire. What they got with the Chizik hire was a fart bubble (taken from an Auburn fan’s reaction btw). Gene has completely surprised everyone with first his early recruiting, then a terrific start to the season, and while the middle of the season has been rough, he is still rolling on the recruiting front. In contrary to my initial predictions, Auburn is definitely heading in the right direction, and will be competing for the West soon. I don’t think it will be next year, but in two or three, they may likely be back to where they were a couple years ago in the hey days of Tubberville. Recruiting will be the key.

Surprisingly enough, Chizik’s second year will be his hardest IMO. RB Ben Tate, easily the biggest producer on the team, leaves. A few O and D linemen leave. A lot of the guys playing in 2010 will be younger Chizik-recruited guys. That has positives and negatives. But looking into the next five years, it is hard to argue against the guy. He is fighting a major lack of depth this year which can be fixed easily over 1-2 yrs. If he didn’t have to fight Saban tooth and nail for every recruit, he would be on the fast track to an SEC Championship or two. But overcoming Saban seems equal to running to Antarctica and back. Twice.

Finish the sentence: if Alabama wins,…
We are in for the best, most anticipated college football game this year (decade?) in the SEC championship game.
I’m going to one-up catch – we will be experiencing the most hyped/anticipated college football game EVER on December 5th. Name me any other game that has received this kind of build up.

If auburn wins…
It will be touted as possibly the best win ever on the plains. What more could you ask for in a year when you have struggled than to deny your #1 rival a shot at the national championship?
I will go streaking. Just kidding…but seriously, if we can pull this one out, I’m gonna be out of my mind for a few days. It’s gonna be crazy. And Chizik would definitely deserve a bonus or something.

Fav iron bowl ever?
Van Tiffen’s Kick. I was young enough to see the players as bigger than life, but old enough to remember my emotions. The high off of that kick lasted what seemed like forever.
Considering I can only remember from about 2001-present, it would have to be 2005, the 11 sacks game. Auburn came out gunning for QB Brodie Croyle, sacking him on the first and third plays of the game. The D never turned back, haunting him for 11 sacks. Huge win. If I was older, I would be choosing from games like Punt Bama Punt, Bo Over the Top, etc. If only…

Most exciting player on au? Bama?
Easily Tate for the Tigers (but I admittedly haven’t seen near as many Auburn games).
It could be one of many for Bama. I have to at least mention Cody, McLain, Jones, Arenas, Richardson, and of course Ingram. The nod must go to Ingram though. He just does everything that can be asked of a runningback.
For Auburn, I would narrow it down to Tate, Darvin Adams, Mario Fannin, and Terrell Zachary. Tate is such a workhorse, but has that rare burst of speed that is so unexpected. Adams has caught nearly every big catch there has been this season, with T-Zach taking the rest. And it seems like every time Fannin touches the ball, something happens. I’m going with Adams, though. His hands are incredible.
Alabama has to be Javier Arenas. Ingram is a great player, but he seems to be more of the grind it out type. Arenas is just flat out exciting.

What will it take for au to pull the upset?
I covered this earlier in the first question, but they have to be able to move the ball and score early. Bama will score their points late, so if they are going to win, they have to score early and keep up from there.
Mistake free – no big penalties, turnovers, etc. Penalties lost the game for us against Kentucky. And the turnover stats I said above.

Alabama Auburn FootballJust how good is this bama team?
They are the best I’ve seen in my knowledgeable lifetime. The ’91 team had maybe a better defense, and the running game was good, but the weapons on this offense put them over the top. When this team is on, I don’t think there is a team out there this year that can hang with them. One of, if not the best this decade.
It’s hard to argue against this team. I would say they are easily the most complete team this year, and would give any team in the last decade a good game.

Score prediction?
I think it is close at halftime (14-10, ish), but Bama pulls away late in the 3rd, and closes the door in the 4th. Much better than last year’s 36-0 shut-out. 31-17
I feel really bad about this one. Really bad. Alabama in a 38-14 blowout.

Come Friday at 1:30, we will see how this all plays out. Thanks to catch for the help, and have a great Thanksgiving!

VN:F [1.8.1_1037]
Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)
Covering the IRON BOWL10.0101 Tags: ala, Alabama, arenas, blowout, class, Cody, College Football, college football game, defense, fellow, football, halftime, hanks, Ingram, iron bowl, javier arenas, passing game, qb, return, running game, sec championship game, stat, three, tigers, turnovers, Tweets, victory, win

Related posts

Written by Editor · Filed Under Tweets 

Comments

One Response to “Covering the IRON BOWL”

  1. collegesportnet on November 28th, 2009 12:52 am

    Covering the IRON BOWL : CSN http://bit.ly/50u6bC

    UN:F [1.8.1_1037]
    Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

Got something to say?