Some Football over Poker... (Part 3 of 3) Auburn-LSU, Saints

So, I get back for the Auburn-Arkansas tussle, forgoing some Hold'em online and then watch an epic SEC clash. The highest scoring in league history. So much for firing up a Sit and go or two. All I could think about was the inevitable LSU-Auburn matchup.

Auburn has a guy who looks like what you’d get if you put Michael Vick, Vince Young, and Tim Tebow in a blender. The dude isn't human. He may be... heisman but not human. Yeah, no letters please I know that's atrocious. Can LSU shut him down?

It's strength vs. strength and weakness vs. weakness. In another irony, Auburn hired a defensive coach, the guy that recruited and steered the defense that former coach Tuberville leaned on during their national Championship* run, and yet the defenses under Chizik are among the worst the plains have seen in a long time. LSU quarterbacks might even be able to complete 15 passes against those slouches. Auburn-LSU always has thrilling end of games (with a weird stretch where the road team won more than the favored home team in vital matchups)... so I expect this doozy to be…. a doze-y. Yeah, double crossed you there, sounded like I was going to sell you on the game of the century but it won't be.

Nothing can live up to the hype this match-up should have. With the Mad Hatter end of game scenarios expired and Auburn's good fortune done… in reality they could have and maybe should have lost to Arkansas by 20+ points getting two huge replay calls to go their way that shouldn't have, they got the calls just as they've gotten the breaks all year, instead of an adrenaline filled heavy-weight bout, watch for one team to win by double digits but not break 21 and the game to be a stagnant snoozer.

LSU will take some of the polish off of Newton's heisman, and both teams will suffer a bit in the rankings after an ugly affair. Will look more like an SEC game than the ones Auburn has played so far this year.

I'll be a homer and take Auburn 20-9. That scoreline could easily could be reversed with LSU prevailing but I think the blue-orange Tigers ride another week while the Hatter’s luck runs out.
The next day, I ended up doing a family morning at the French Market in the quarter. Saw a cast-off Ohio State hat in the gutter. No surprise that some drunkard angrily tossed that after number 1 went down. Then when I got home, instead of playing poker I took in the double header that was the Saints-Bucs, and the Vikings-Cowboys.

In the NFL, the Saints seem to be back on track. I think people started to realize how important a player Reggie Bush is to the team, moreso off the ball than on, and will reevaluate the sentiment I heard before the season that he was a luxury. The Saints are banged up but tied for first in the division and likely to get healthy soon. I see them being playoff ready and with every single team in the NFC having at least two losses, I don’t see too many teams that are going to build into powerhouses.

Right now, as weird as it is to say, I feel pretty good about the Saints chances in returning to the Super Bowl. Once there, they’ll have to beat a very good AFC team but nobody seems to be separating from the Pack. The usual suspects look to be players at the end. The Colts seemed to have weathered the Super-Bowl loser’s jinx and the Patriots seem to be back on track.

The Steelers seem to be a threat to win it all every couple of years and it’s looking like one of those years. The Jets seem like they are a team not to trifle with but… none of those squads should strike fear into the Black and Gold. The Saints would be only a small underdog to only the best of those squads should everybody get healthy.

There are some other teams threatening to get over the hump. Houston, KC, and maybe Philly could have an impact in January but those three all seem at least a year away from doing something. They could catch fire like Arizona did a couple of years back but I don’t see them riding it to a SuperBowl victory (like the Giants did the year before).