If you were not at Jordan-Hare Stadium Saturday afternoon/evening then there is no way I can express exactly how loud the environment was. I keep going back in memory to 1989 when Auburn first welcomed Alabama to the plains and, to me at least, Saturday night was louder. And I could try and convey to you, TET members, a loudness that words cannot do justice yet those words, if I could find them, would fail.
It was Veteran’s Day and, while I only served in the Air National Guard for four years as part of the 187th Tactical Reconnaissance Division as a new 1st Lt on the RF-4 C aircraft we, nonetheless, felt as if we were making a difference. That flight line was loud, let me tell you, but Jordan-Hare Stadium was louder. It really was. I could, literally, feel the stands moving at times. No joke.
The flyovers, of which there were two, as SEC Nation, broadcasting live from Auburn, received their very own flyover, still paled in comparison to the noise being made by the Auburn faithful – literally, from the opening whistle to the clock winding down to zero – It was simply an event that will forever remain in my mind. And I hope for bigger and better when the Tide make a visit this year.
We were in our regular seats and even had some Georgia fans, who paid a monetary value of which I know not, to witness one of the greatest games in this series; a game that was almost totally demoralizing; especially if you happened to wear the wrong colors but give credit where is due, these UGA fans were great and even stayed till the end.
Yes, it was a match-up of two top 10 ranked teams but, with that said, only one of these teams came into this game ranked Number One – and the home team, by Vegas standards, was an underdog by 2.5 points.
Who would have thought that, by the end of the day, the favored team would not cover that spread but would, in fact, lose – yes lose – by 23 points? And it probably could have been worse, but sometimes it is best to take the win and take a knee. There was, at that point, no need to try and obtain more. Auburn had proven any and everything it needed far before the end of regulation and there was simply no reason to go further.
And let us not discount Georgia in any of this. We faced a really good team and the schedule allowed this to be fought out on the Plains of Auburn.
This game could have just as easily gone totally the other way. Think back to the second half of the LSU game. Auburn was fully in control with a 20-point lead and then went overtly conservative and ended up losing a game that should have been won.
Thankfully, that did not happen in this game and Auburn – and the coaches – learned their lessons well.
No ill will toward Georgia, who has a great team that Auburn may very well meet again, but the Auburn coaching staff, during this game, did not “assume” anything and took this game to the house by not letting up and keeping the “pedal to the metal”. To borrow a phrase from an iconic movie, “We’ve got a long way to go and a short time to get there..,”.
What does Auburn do next? Well, my thought process is to rest as many regulars as possible when facing the Warhawks of Lousiiana-Monrow and then gear up and be ready for the invasion to the Plains of the Crimson Tide of Alabama – who, for the record, almost lost to Mississippi State in StarkVegas. That didn’t happen due to a very dangerous QB and a couple of dangerous WR’s. Auburn will need to be on the lookout.
Until the next tme, War Eagle!!
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