Suicide Watch (2008): Week 3

when i look back on Auburn's 2007 season i often think about how each loss the Tigers suffered gave me a different set of emotions. The South Florida game was a mix of embarrassment and disbelief that we'd gotten beaten at home by a team with uniforms that fucking ugly. the LSU loss was the gut wrenching heartbreaking kind that make men cry. the UGA beat down was so ugly that by the 4th quarter i was too deflated to even care what the final score was. but no loss was more confusing and unacceptable than when the Tigers lost to Mississippi State AT HOME. uggghhhhhh. watching Brandon Cox throw picks on nearly every passing attempt that gave The Bulldogs an early lead was incredibly infuriating...but then the Freshman QB Kodi Burns came into the game and lead the Tigers back with an unstoppable rushing attack. Auburn took control and looked to have the game in hand until Burns tossed an interception in Auburn territory that resulted in a game winning drive by Mississippi State.

you have no idea what it means to lose a football game until you have been Croomed!

and so here we are in 2008, The War Eagle Strikes Back. coming into this game Auburn is undefeated, ranked in the top 10, and has a new starting QB in jc transfer Chris Todd. last week the Auburn offense finally showed some life but committed too many turnovers. the defense has been pretty solid, mostly shutting down opposing teams with a bit of a letdown in the 4th quarter last weekend. Mississippi State is 1-1 having beaten a Division IAA team and losing to Louisiana Tech the week before that. this is Auburn's first road trip of the year and also their SEC opener.

Mississippi State's offense should be pretty overmatched by Auburn's speed on defense. Runningback Anothony Dixon is their main offensive threat, and his size and strength should allow the Bulldogs to eat some clock and gain some tough yards, but QB Wesley Carroll is one of the weaker passers in the league and the Bulldogs are limited in the big play threat (flash forward to Carroll lightning the Auburn secondary up for 500 yards and 5 tds this Saturday). wide out Brandon McRae looks to be a big time player and he may be able to exploit the small Auburn corners in the redzone. the real strength of State is their defense, lead by safety Derek Pegues who has the ability to take an interception to the house if he gets a chance. *see Alabama/John Parker Wilson/choke job, for more on this.

it's hard to want revenge on Mississippi State. they had a bunch of lucky breaks that helped them beat an underperforming Auburn squad last year. it's more of the Tigers fault that they loss than it was that they were outplayed by the Bulldogs. i look for this game to be close for most of the 1st half and then Auburn to get a two touchdown lead and hang on for a 24-10 victory and then gear things up for LSU next week.

potential for tragedy: 5, it's the first SEC game of the year and the first real test for the new offense. when you are going up against a team coached by Darth Vader it's hard not to be a little worried.

method of suicide: actually when you are in the Temple Of Croom they just rip out your fucking heart and drop you into a pit of lava. so it's best to just win this shit and get the fuck out of there.