AuburnFamilyNews.com: View from the Booth - Auburn vs Mercer

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

View from the Booth - Auburn vs Mercer


How did that look from the press box?
Once again we welcome in Auburn Sports Network producer Brad Law, who will continue to bring us nuggets and tidbits from the Auburn radio broadcasts each week, as well as some of his own insight into the actual games.
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“Aundray Bruce was the number one overall pick in the 1988 NFL Draft. The Auburn all-American was a guest on the homecoming edition of the Tiger Tailgate Show last weekend, and he was paid the kind of respect a legendary player should be paid during his first ever appearance on the pre-game show – Jason Campbell made fun of how Aundray was sweating through his white dress shirt. Jason is 6’5, and he’s taking care of himself physically, so he can get away with that. Aundray is also 6’5, and still pretty close to the 270 quarter-back terrorizing pounds that hassled college and NFL offenses for a decade. He walked up on the stage like he owned the place, and your humble producer was happy to let him.
For more than a dozen years, the presiding governor has been a staple on the pre-game show, but Governor Kay Ivey’s schedule wouldn’t allow for her to make it before the game got underway this year. Instead, the first female Vice President in Auburn history joined us at halftime. The coordination of that visit took a little tap dancing. Initially, the governor’s security detail let us know she’d make it up to the booth sometime around the start of the third quarter. As our halftime show continued, however, we were notified that she’d be up sooner than expected. You can’t keep the governor waiting, but there’s also only a small window for us to interview Coach Malzahn coming out of the locker room for the second half. I’m watching Andy Burcham on the field, the team coming out of the huddle, and the back of the booth to see if the uniformed officer is coming in with Governor Ivey. Thankfully, the timing couldn’t have been better; we got Coach Malzahn’s thoughts on the second half just as the distinguished 1967 Auburn alum sat down in the booth. Rod Bramblett welcomed her back to campus, she remarked on being on the field to “crown” the homecoming queen, and she even gave listeners a stirring recital of the last stanza of the Auburn Creed. After she finished with a rousing and sincere, “War Eagle,” she was out the door and on with her busy schedule of homecoming commitments. What a thrill and honor it was to have Governor Kay Ivey in our booth.
Your outlook on the game itself depends on what kind of outlook you have in general, positive or negative. The former sees the second most efficient game for an SEC quarterback ever and the first time in 22 years that an Auburn QB has completed 30+ passes in a game. I think everyone wanted to see the offense execute the passing game a little more demonstrably against Mercer, and that’s what happened. Some won’t be able to look past the five turnovers, though, and I understand that. The head coach certainly isn’t overlooking those, either.
This week marks the beginning of conference play. The match-ups are strength vs strength when the home team has the ball. So if the right crosses are even, the game will be decided by which team’s left hook is more powerful. Statistically speaking, that’s Auburn. For most our crew, it’ll be the first visit to CoMo. Hopefully that means a fun story or two here next week. War Eagle!”


from College and Magnolia http://bit.ly/2hdHrKY

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