Friday, September 10, 2004
AU Preview: Mississippi State
Auburn visits the rednecks with cowbells this Saturday at 11:30 AM CST on JP Sports. ESPN takes a look at the key matchups in the game, and tells us who should be expected to have an edge in each aspect of the game. I'll give a brief snippet of their insights.
Auburn's run offense vs. Mississippi State's run defense
Ronnie Brown should see some more touches this week as the opposing defense focuses more on stopping Cadillac Williams. The key is the Auburn OL. The OL struggled against a much less talented team last week against Louisiana-Monroe, and need to step it up.
Advantage: Auburn
Auburn's pass offense vs. Mississippi State's pass defense
If Campbell is efficient (61% completion percentage) against MSU's blitz-happy defense, Courtney Taylor could have a big game against the man coverage he's likely to see.
Advantage: Auburn
Auburn's run defense vs. Mississippi State's run offense
Even with 5 of Auburn's front 7 leaving last year, the unit should be strong enough, particularly at LB, to limit MSU's ability to run the ball
Advantage: Auburn
Auburn's pass defense vs. Mississippi State's pass offense
MSU's QB, Omar Conner, has a strong, inaccurate arm. MSU's WRs lack size, so Auburn's DBs should be able to press them on the line long enough for any blitzing LBs to throw off Conner's game.
Advantage: Auburn
Special Teams
Both teams have good, strong punters with inconsistent place kickers. Auburn has a slight edge with regards to the kick returners.
Advantage: Auburn
ESPN's prediction: Auburn 34, MSU 13
Please feel free to use this thread to post any thoughts during the game itself, since the vast majority of us will be watching on TV or listening via the radio/internet. War Eagle!
In other football news, Florida State should begin losing to Miami at 7PM CST tonight on ABC. No word as of now on whether this game will be lost Wide Left, or Wide Right (see also: Indianapolis Colts). Alabama plays the Manning-less Ole Miss Rebels at Tuscaloosa this saturday. Troy State University knocked off #17 Missouri last night, 24-14. One can only hope that this win enables them to steal some of Bama's potential recruits.
This is also the NFL's kickoff weekend, beginning with last night's Patriots win over the Colts, 27-24. If you're a football fan, this is going to be a very, very good weekend.
Auburn's run offense vs. Mississippi State's run defense
Ronnie Brown should see some more touches this week as the opposing defense focuses more on stopping Cadillac Williams. The key is the Auburn OL. The OL struggled against a much less talented team last week against Louisiana-Monroe, and need to step it up.
Advantage: Auburn
Auburn's pass offense vs. Mississippi State's pass defense
If Campbell is efficient (61% completion percentage) against MSU's blitz-happy defense, Courtney Taylor could have a big game against the man coverage he's likely to see.
Advantage: Auburn
Auburn's run defense vs. Mississippi State's run offense
Even with 5 of Auburn's front 7 leaving last year, the unit should be strong enough, particularly at LB, to limit MSU's ability to run the ball
Advantage: Auburn
Auburn's pass defense vs. Mississippi State's pass offense
MSU's QB, Omar Conner, has a strong, inaccurate arm. MSU's WRs lack size, so Auburn's DBs should be able to press them on the line long enough for any blitzing LBs to throw off Conner's game.
Advantage: Auburn
Special Teams
Both teams have good, strong punters with inconsistent place kickers. Auburn has a slight edge with regards to the kick returners.
Advantage: Auburn
ESPN's prediction: Auburn 34, MSU 13
Please feel free to use this thread to post any thoughts during the game itself, since the vast majority of us will be watching on TV or listening via the radio/internet. War Eagle!
In other football news, Florida State should begin losing to Miami at 7PM CST tonight on ABC. No word as of now on whether this game will be lost Wide Left, or Wide Right (see also: Indianapolis Colts). Alabama plays the Manning-less Ole Miss Rebels at Tuscaloosa this saturday. Troy State University knocked off #17 Missouri last night, 24-14. One can only hope that this win enables them to steal some of Bama's potential recruits.
This is also the NFL's kickoff weekend, beginning with last night's Patriots win over the Colts, 27-24. If you're a football fan, this is going to be a very, very good weekend.
Thursday, September 09, 2004
Football Preview: Any Takers?
Would any of y'all being willing to do either this week's preview of the Auburn game, the brief post-game analysis of the SEC's Saturday action, or both? I figure another voice would add variety and distribute the workload.
(Jason and Rich spring immediately to mind as good candidates.)
If there aren't any takers, I'll post my preview Friday evening after work.
(Jason and Rich spring immediately to mind as good candidates.)
If there aren't any takers, I'll post my preview Friday evening after work.
News Briefs: 379 Terabytes and a Cool January Ahead.
Just to cover a few things that have been mentioned in previous Broun Blog entries, cultural news that other Brounies just might find interesting.
Star Wars: Before extra-special editions of the original trilogy is released on DVD Tuesday, September 21st, A&E is airing an abbreviated version of the documentary that can be found on the disc of bonus features. The two-hour program airs this Sunday night, at 7 pm and again at 9 pm, Central Time.
And, while I'm on the subject, I want to drop a number for you: 379 terabytes, the amount of storage apparently available in the 600-Mac network of Lowry Digital, the company responsible for cleaning up the film for the DVD releases of both Indiana Jones and the original Star Wars trilogy. That's about 379 trillion bytes, or about 379 million gig's.
Put another way, that's 3,333,719,255,416,832 ones and zeroes.
24: We've known for some time that the fourth season of 24 won't air until January, and TV Guide now reports a change in the show's timeslot: Monday nights, 9 PM ET (8 Central).
Batman: The first volume an apparent success, Warner Bros. is getting ready to release the second volume of Batman: The Animated Series on DVD. As reported by TVShowsOnDVD.com, the original release date of December 7th has been pushed back to January 25th.
The second volume features another four discs with 28 episodes, including "Tyger Tyger," the only kids' cartoon (of which I'm aware) that invokes William Blake. Where the last volume featured commentaries on only two episodes, this volume has commentaries on four episodes, and here is the cover art:
All information is probably subject to change, but 2005, the Year of Bubba (Star Wars Episode III, a new Batman film, U2 on tour, new DS9 books, an Iron Bowl at Auburn, and my final graduation) is shaping up nicely.
Star Wars: Before extra-special editions of the original trilogy is released on DVD Tuesday, September 21st, A&E is airing an abbreviated version of the documentary that can be found on the disc of bonus features. The two-hour program airs this Sunday night, at 7 pm and again at 9 pm, Central Time.
And, while I'm on the subject, I want to drop a number for you: 379 terabytes, the amount of storage apparently available in the 600-Mac network of Lowry Digital, the company responsible for cleaning up the film for the DVD releases of both Indiana Jones and the original Star Wars trilogy. That's about 379 trillion bytes, or about 379 million gig's.
Put another way, that's 3,333,719,255,416,832 ones and zeroes.
24: We've known for some time that the fourth season of 24 won't air until January, and TV Guide now reports a change in the show's timeslot: Monday nights, 9 PM ET (8 Central).
Batman: The first volume an apparent success, Warner Bros. is getting ready to release the second volume of Batman: The Animated Series on DVD. As reported by TVShowsOnDVD.com, the original release date of December 7th has been pushed back to January 25th.
The second volume features another four discs with 28 episodes, including "Tyger Tyger," the only kids' cartoon (of which I'm aware) that invokes William Blake. Where the last volume featured commentaries on only two episodes, this volume has commentaries on four episodes, and here is the cover art:
All information is probably subject to change, but 2005, the Year of Bubba (Star Wars Episode III, a new Batman film, U2 on tour, new DS9 books, an Iron Bowl at Auburn, and my final graduation) is shaping up nicely.
Sunday, September 05, 2004
Saturday's SEC Action.
Auburn beat Louisiana-Monroe yesterday, 31-0. The shutout has to help our young defense's confidence, and our new offensive coordinator had a good debut leading the offense in moving the ball both on the ground and in the air.
Alabama also beat its first team by 31 points but did not "pitch a shut-out," beating Utah State 48-17.
One of the defending national champions, LSU (who we play in two weeks) looked absolutely pathetic, beating Oregon State 22-21 in overtime at Baton Rouge. Apparently, Louisiana State doesn't have much of a quarterback in either the starting position or in the reserves; their starter is (I believe) the same guy we trounced two years ago. They got into overtime because Oregon State's place kicker missed both extra points in regulation; they won overtime because he also missed the PAT after the Beavers' last touchdown.
It bears repeating: LSU, who won the BCS last year and was ranked No. 3 in the nation, very nearly lost to Oregon State. In Baton Rouge. They were behind until the last 65 seconds of regulation and the only reason they won was Oregon State's kicker missed all three extra-point attempts.
And that wasn't the big news. As of this moment, ESPN.com's main page and college football page have the same headline story:
Sylvester Croom is black.
For the first time in history, an SEC football team was coached in a game by a black man. That's big news, undeniably, but he's been their head coach for nine months -- literally nine months -- and there's no need to act as if the Southeast is stuck in 1960 or that we're the equivalent of South Africa in the 1980's.
It's insulting, and I hope they got this out of their system this weekend so that we can focus on the actual Auburn-Mississippi State game.
(Now, if they want to bring up during the MSU-Bama game how Bama didn't hire Croom, I'd be happy to hear that.)
Elsewhere in the SEC, Georgia beat Georgia Southern, 48-28, with an impressive third quarter and a good debut from running back Danny Ware. Ole Miss lost to Memphis -- Memphis -- 20-13, and Florida's debut against Middle Tennessee State was postponed because of the hurricane.
This being Labor Day weekend (with no NFL), there are quite a few games being played today. I believe Kentucky plays Louisville at 2:30 CT, and Tennessee plays UNLV tonight at 7:00 CT on ESPN.
Alabama also beat its first team by 31 points but did not "pitch a shut-out," beating Utah State 48-17.
One of the defending national champions, LSU (who we play in two weeks) looked absolutely pathetic, beating Oregon State 22-21 in overtime at Baton Rouge. Apparently, Louisiana State doesn't have much of a quarterback in either the starting position or in the reserves; their starter is (I believe) the same guy we trounced two years ago. They got into overtime because Oregon State's place kicker missed both extra points in regulation; they won overtime because he also missed the PAT after the Beavers' last touchdown.
It bears repeating: LSU, who won the BCS last year and was ranked No. 3 in the nation, very nearly lost to Oregon State. In Baton Rouge. They were behind until the last 65 seconds of regulation and the only reason they won was Oregon State's kicker missed all three extra-point attempts.
And that wasn't the big news. As of this moment, ESPN.com's main page and college football page have the same headline story:
Sylvester Croom is black.
For the first time in history, an SEC football team was coached in a game by a black man. That's big news, undeniably, but he's been their head coach for nine months -- literally nine months -- and there's no need to act as if the Southeast is stuck in 1960 or that we're the equivalent of South Africa in the 1980's.
It's insulting, and I hope they got this out of their system this weekend so that we can focus on the actual Auburn-Mississippi State game.
(Now, if they want to bring up during the MSU-Bama game how Bama didn't hire Croom, I'd be happy to hear that.)
Elsewhere in the SEC, Georgia beat Georgia Southern, 48-28, with an impressive third quarter and a good debut from running back Danny Ware. Ole Miss lost to Memphis -- Memphis -- 20-13, and Florida's debut against Middle Tennessee State was postponed because of the hurricane.
This being Labor Day weekend (with no NFL), there are quite a few games being played today. I believe Kentucky plays Louisville at 2:30 CT, and Tennessee plays UNLV tonight at 7:00 CT on ESPN.
