The LSU Game

Auburn 24...Louisiana State University 17

Okay, what was the deal? LSU plus a full moon plus Les Miles should equal one screwball football game. It didn't happen. A slugfest at the line of scrimmage determined the winner and unlike in recent AU-LSU contests, Auburn came away victorious. There were big plays of course, but smash-mouth football was the order of the day.

We had a packed tailgate area and enough good food to do a cajun proud. We even has the smell of corndogs in the air for that authentic Baton Rouge atmosphere. The Hot Damn! crowd was huge. This was the biggest game in Auburn since...since...since...last week! There was a confidence around the tailgate that has been missing for aa while. Simply put, it was fun. If you were there, thanks you. If you weren't, why not?!?

Cam Newton player of the game...Nick Fairley. Nick was rough on LSU quarterbacks. He made or assisted on 4 tackes for negative yards and 3 sacks. Nick dominated the line of scrimmage.

Runnersup...Cam Newton. Just another day in Camland...217 yards rushing, 86 yards passing and 2 touchdowns.

Nancy Kathy prepared the food as she explained the importance of misdirection in Gus Malzahn's offense to Riddick. Riddick never did get the misdirection theory and Nancy Kathy was able to keep the food protected. Greg, in the background, was thinking "sausage balls".

Alan came to tailgate with us from Baton Rouge. It is always a treat when Alan is around. He was kind enough to pose with Joe. For those of you who don't know where the Smells Like Corn Dogs phrase originated, here is a link to Will Collier's blog From The Bleachers . Will is a talented writer and he has an informative site, check it out.

The War Damn Band cranked up the crowd with the pre game show.

We lost the coin toss, but that was all LSU would win.

George Jefferson, er , Jordan Jefferson completed this pass to Terrence Toliver. No, Terrence, that wasn't the police using a taser on you again...it was Darin Bates welcoming you to Auburn.

Jefferson threw to Toliver again, but Neiko Thorpe deflected the ball, almost intercepting it.

Zac Etheridge picked off this Jefferson pass. In the first picture, you can see the zone defense deployed. The pass was a little high, or it might have been real trouble. As it turned out, Zac returned the ball 33 yards, almost to mid-field.

Kendrick Adams was just about to clobber Cam Newton...then Cam wasn't there to clobber, he was 10 yards down the field. It was just one more jockstrap on the ground.

Philip Lutzenkirchen made a nice left-handed grab of this Newton pass. The ball was behind him, but Philip turned it into a 6 yard gain.

Cam powered over Brandon Taylor and the rest of the LSU defensive line to put Auburn ahead 7-0.

Wes Byrum answered an LSU field goal with 42 yarder of his own. It made Wes Auburn's all time leading scorer.

Corn Dog anyone?

It can't be fun when you are in the middle of a defensive meeting. Jarrett Lee looked like he had plenty of time to find a receiver, but Nick Fairley and Josh Bynes had other ideas. Ouch!

There was nothing out of the ordinary about this 29 yard run by Cam Newton. What caught my eye was the number of blocks that you could see. Mike Berry and Byron Isom had their guys out of the play. Ryan Pugh's man was on the ground and Lee Zimba's man ran 5 yards wide to avoid Lee. Down field, Kodi Burns kept his assignment occupied so that Cam had running room. That was in a nutshell how you run for 440 yards on the top defense in the conference.

Nick Fairley was double teamed (at least) all night and still left carnage in his wake. On this play he sent Jarrett Lee to the sideline for some much need rest.

I do get a laugh from time to time at the fans booing the officials. This facemask call got a big round of boos. By the way, that is Antoine Carter's hand on Jefferson's facemask, not Nosa (is that a double negative?) Eguea's.

The correct tackling method was demonstrated by Fairley. Notice the reverse pivot of Jefferson's head.

As I've explained before, the Auburn defense has a secret scheme called "Stone Hands". This scheme was employed on this Jefferson to Toliver pass play. Toliver was so wide open, he just forgot to catch the football.

Just before the end of the first half, Jefferson narrowly avoided a leaping Mike McNeil, then outran Etheridge and Demond Washington to the goal line. The game was even at 10.

On what will be one of the most talked about plays of the year, Cam used his speed and agility to go 49 yards through the heart of the LSU defense. He covered the last 8 yards carrying LSU's All-American Patrick Peterson on his back.

Auburn could throw the ball when it was necessary. Darvin Adams (#89) and Terrell Zachery (#81) both had first down catches on this drive. Unfortunately, the drive ended when Mario Fannin went in one direct (left arrow) and the ball went in a different direction.

This pass to Kodi Burns lost yardage, thanks to a questionable spot by the side zebra. I just liked this picture of Cam.

At the beginning of the 4th quarter, down 17-10, Looney Les reached into his bag of tricks and came up with a gem. Jefferson threw backwards to Spencer Ware who then hit Rueben Randle for a 39 yard touchdown.

For the rest of the fourth quarter, the Auburn defense slammed the door on LSU. Speaking of slamming, Fairley is in the beginning stage of body slamming Jefferson to the turf. Meanwhile, in the foreground, Deangelo Peterson signals that he is open.

With the entire LSU defense (and everyone else) expecting Auburn to control the clock with Cam, Onterio McCalebb slipped out of the backfield untouched and raced 70 yards for the winning touchdown.

Bring on the Ole Miss ????s