Where do we begin? Well, this Saturday morning Auburn will host the Utah State Aggies in Jordan-Hare for their opener, even though Utah State is not a big opponent there are a few reasons why people are still looking forward to this game:
- It is the opener, so the crowd will be loud and pumped.
- Fans get to see new and young talent perform, I for one am looking forward to watch true freshman Erique Florence, Angelo Blackson, Tre Mason and Brandon Fulse perform on Saturday.
I'm looking for Auburn to use a lot of different players in this game, as they hope to nail down who could be our big play-makers this season. I can even see the first 2-3 games being like this, because even though the depth chart has been decided, the coaches are still trialling certain players and looking to whether they can or can't make plays and become impacts this season. Auburn already has a few proven players that will be the main pieces on offence this season, such as Phillip Massivegerman, Emory Blake, Michael Dyer and Onterrio McCalebb.
Defensively, Auburn may struggle early (which is what I expect) or they may hit the ground running. I think because of the new-ness of the defence in certain areas and lack of game experience I can see certain players making a few mistakes, even against Utah State. Remember last year against Arkansas State (with an experienced defence) Auburn looked poor on defence, I came away from that game thinking we would struggle to get to the 10 win mark (I was way wrong on that).
No matter how it goes, I expect Auburn to get a win. Chizik said he is anticipating a 2 QB system which could be tricky or it could fail (here me Bama?). Utah State have posed threats to several big schools over the past few openers, including a close 31-24 loss to Oklahoma last season. If you are worried about Utah State because of that, you are truly a nancy. We are Auburn, we haven't, nor will ever be scared of any opponent that walks into Jordan-Hare Stadium. I think we win by at least 20 points though personally, we may give up a big play or two but we sure as hell aren't losing this game.
Here's a stat for you, Utah State is 1-54 (all-time) against teams ranked in the BCS or AP Poll. That should say enough.
My overall prediction: Auburn 42-20 Utah State
In other news there are two other mouth-watering games this weekend between LSU and Oregon as well as Boise State and Georgia. I don't know what ESPN were thinking when they decided to have these two games on at the same time, I still haven't decided which one to watch. Since I enjoy watching LSU play, and respect Oregon I will probably watch that one, which I will be rooting for an LSU win.
I don't usually root against SEC teams, but I hope Georgia loses to Boise State. The two teams I will never root for are Georgia and 'Bama. If Georgia do win, Mark Richt probably sticks around longer and we can continue taking recruits out of their state, if they lose I get a satisfied smile on my face. I always find the bright-side to everything.
In all honesty I think Georgia beats Boise State by a touchdown, I think this may be a low scoring game so I think Georgia wins 21-14. I also think LSU defeats Oregon 24-17, however I wouldn't be surprised if Oregon shocked LSU and came away victorious.
I will be tweeting throughout the game and will probably be breaking out the various celebration tweets for when DeAngelo Benton scores a touchdown, you know its going to happen.
Get prepared people, buy your game-day shirts, tailgating tumblers, various meats, kegs and don't forget those scotch eggs. They are British and they taste wonderful.
Until next time.
