Ready for some hot Tiger-on-Tiger action?!

Sounds like some of the spam I get, but in this case it can only mean that the Just Plain Old Regular Tigers of beloved Auburn University are set to be pounced upon by the BENGAL Tigers of Louisiana State University down in Death Valley.

As has been the case for 3 out of the past four weeks, Auburn will be taking on a Top Ten team, and 9th ranked, 6-1, LSU will be trying to make good on last year’s 31-7 drubbing at the hands of the OTHER Tigers. Auburn leads in the SEC West right now, with a 4-0 record, while LSU comes in with only one conference loss, to Florida.

The Plainsmen came out of last week’s game against MSU without anyone seriously injured, and with a ground game that seems unstoppable. Which is usually when someone gets all clever and finds a way to stop it. One of the bright spots is that although Carnell Williams has been a workhorse for the team, there is sufficient depth in the backfield, especially with players such as Brandon Jacobs who run just as well, that even if Williams is shut down, there is still an offense. (Jacobs actually rushed for more yardage last week than Williams, and his favorite food is gumbo.)

LSU does have Tiger Stadium going for it, a perennial pit of perdition for visiting teams. Intimidating as few other venues can be but, as when Auburn came to Neyland Stadium, it’s not something that the Real Tigers haven’t faced before.

One thing that they HAVEN’T had to face this year is the personality cult of the very stylish and pretty Nick Saban. I realize I am a hopeless throwback, but I find it hard to stomach a coach with his own website, especially when it drips with so much adulatory maundering. It’s just a little too…too, you know?

What then will decide this great contest? Obviously, only one thing. LSU’s cheerleading squad balances well against Auburn’s, and each share a common weakness of entirely too many guys on the squad. Where LSU DOES take a lead is in their Tiger Girls, which, though similar in name and function to Auburn’s Tiger Paws, have gone the extra mile with individual photographs!

SO, then, we now crank up the generator to the Possumblog Sports Center to find out what is our famously hotheaded Chief Sports Statistician Ipsa Dixie predicts as the outcome of this contest. Last week she did really good, coming in right around the mark. I attribute this to several things, although I would not be so bold as to take any credit. Especially since she made that comment about my brake lines. I just dropped by her office and managed to get her to stop reading John Derbyshire’s second National Review Online article detailing his trip to Alabama just long enough to for her to consult her charts and tables and statistical analysis programs to come up with her scientific prognostication. (Well, actually, she didn’t stop reading—I just placed a note on her desk.)

Anyway, she just now sent back a package of information packed into a length of steel tubing, which landed handily right beside my head, stating her belief that the final score would be…
Auburn 21 – LSU 17.

So there you have it. For those of you with cable, the game will be on ESPN at 6:45 CT. The rest of you can listen to it with me on the radio.
posted by Terry at 3:36:00 PM