Showing posts with label Auburn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Auburn. Show all posts

Saturday, 15 January 2011

NCAA Football – Auburn Tigers claim National Title over Oregon Ducks

Cameron Newton is perhaps one of the finest players to ever have played in the NCAA. He took the Heisman Trophy, he broke most every record you could brake on a single season; he is taller, stronger, heavier, faster and perhaps even more accurate then any quarterback we have seen so far. At the end, and despite his somewhat upsetting and slow start, Cam Newton had the best answers. The Tigers made up for the slow start when they were able to shut off the Oregon Ducks for 38 minutes straight.

All it took was a series of small mistakes from Oregon to guide the Tigers into their first National Championship since 1957. The Oregon Ducks were close, very close but at the end, as the time ran out, the starting kicker Wes Byrum’s completed a 19-yard field goal to close a perfect 14-0 season and give the Tigers a 22-19 win in the BCS National Championship Bowl.

If we could track it all down to one decisive moment, we could come up with a couple of errors made by Oregon. First came that safety when LaMichael James was tackled by Mike Blank inside the End Zone, which closed down the Tigers gap to 9-11. Right after that, the Auburn Tigers defensive line kept Darron Thomas and the Ducks under the radar.

Thomas completed 27 of his 40 passes and for 363 yards and 2 touchdowns but with 2 interceptions.  The Heisman Trophy winner, on the other hand, had a great and yet a bit under par game. Let’s be realistic: he had been so amazing during the regular season that we were expecting some sort of touchdown-fest by both players. Still, Cam Newton completed 20 of his 34 attempts for 265 yards with 2 touchdowns and one early game pick. He was also the Tigers second best rusher. With 22 carriages for 64 yards Newton was only surpassed by Michael Dyer who recorded 22 carriages for 143 yards.

Among one of this carriages was the single play that changed it all. For a moment, Micheal Dyer wasn’t running anymore. The Oregon defender who had tackled him was standing right next to him. But the referee had his hands down and there was no Whistling. It was time to run again, run pass the motionless defender. Dyer’s knee never hit the ground: the play was still going. That 37-yard run changed everything. It was enough to set up the final field goal that would give the Tigers their first title in over half a decade, and the SEC its fifth consecutive National Title.

Sunday, 9 January 2011

NCAA Football- Oregon and Auburn will play for the National Championship

The BCS National Championship Bowl will be played on Monday January 10th, in the University of Phoenix in Glendale, Arizona. As of press time, the Auburn Tigers are a -2

Friday, 10 December 2010

NCAA Football – Auburn and Oregon take a go at the National Title

The BCS National Championship Game has been mostly reserved for college football blue bloods and football programs that have at least one National Championship on their pedigree. And yet, slowly but surely, both Auburn and Oregon have managed to finish a flawless season and at 13-0 and 12-0 respectively, are now going to play for the National Championship on January 10 at the Tositos BCS National Championship Game in Glendale, Arizona.

Get ready because this game is going to get as offensive as one can wish. Two of the finest offensive squads we have seen in the recent years are going to put all they’ve got on the line. The two top ranked teams in the country, are going to make it into the game and the stakes are high. Auburn has won every game of the season, including the Southeaster Conference Championship Game against South Carolina, 56-17. That is right after taking an intense 28-27 win over the defending Champions, the Alabama Crimson Tide.

On the other hand, Oregon has been outstanding in the PAC-10, making everybody know that after its second consecutive win in its conference, the Oregon Ducks are the new team to defeat in the Pacific 10 Conference. Forget USC, the Trojans were not even close, after the Ducks took them down 53-32 on October 30, and then kept on with their run to win each and every game of the season, including the Ducks 37-20 win over Oregon State, to secure their PAC-10 championship.

This is Oregon’s first chance to win the National Title. Auburn has one National Title on its pedigree, but it came back in 1957, way before the BCS was born in 1998. So it is quite a thrill to have a contender in the National Title Game who could be in its way to win the program’s first National Title ever. So, extra Kudos for Oregon for making it into the Tositos National Championship Bowl. As a matter of fact, only one other program, Virginia Tech back in 1999, has played in the BCS Championship Game without holding a National Title on their history.

This is also the second time ever, after Nebraska and Miami that two teams make it to the BCS Championship Game for the first time ever. This is also the first time that two teams that where not ranked inside the AP Poll’s top 10, at the beginning of the season manage to make it into the National Championship Game. At the beginning of the year, the Oregon Ducks were ranked 11th while the Auburn Tigers where second in their own state, behind coaching legend Nick Saban and the defending champions Alabama. The Tigers were ranked the 23rd team in the Nation at the beginning of the season.

Here is one extra little detail to bring into this equation. It seems very plausible that by the time the Tositos National Championship Bowl is played, Auburn will have the privilage to start Cam Newton, not only as one of the finest quarterbacks the sport has seen in recent years, but also as the Heisman Trophy winner. That could bring on a special little ingredient into the mix. Last season the trophy went to Mark Ingram from Alabama, and he was key in the Crimson Tide’s sweet performance in the Championship game. Perhaps this year, if the Heisman goes to Newton, there will be a good chance that he could guide the Tigers to their second National Championship.

Tuesday, 7 December 2010

NCAA Football – Cam Newton brilliant season guides Auburn to BCS title

Cameron Jerrell Newton was for a while living under the shadow of Tim Tebow over at the Florida Gators. In 2007, as a freshman, Cam Newton was the back-up quarterback for Heisman Trophy winner, Tim Tebow. An ankle injury kept him away so he took a medical red-shirt year, then transferred to Blinn College where he won the 2009 NJCAA National Football Championship and became the No.1 recruit in the country. When Newton finally made his move to Auburn University, the Tigers where about to experience one of their finest seasons ever.

Newton was absolutely brilliant against the SEC championship game as he lead the Tigers against South Carolina for a 56-17 win. Newton passed for a career high 335 yards, completing 17 of his 28 attempts for 4 touchdowns and no interceptions. He ran for a pair of touchdowns and was simply outstanding in his one-man show. The Tigers must now wait until Sunday afternoon to make it official, but considering that the Oregon Ducks defeated Oregon State 37-20, it is almost a fact that the two top-ranked and undefeated teams in the country will be playing on January 10 in Glendale Arizona for the BCS National Championship Game.

There is one ugly side to this story. TCU, the little school that almost could, was shut down from the BCS title, despite their perfect record. Had Oregon or Auburn failed to win their last game of the season, TCU would have become the first school from a non-BCS conference to play for the National Title.

Newton should now start striking a pose for when they announce the Heisman Trophy winner for this season.  The 6-foot-6, 250 pound junior has had a season that has just come a tad short from perfection. He has now joined Tebow as the only player in a top division conference to run and pass for over 20 touchdowns in a season.  And let’s just face the fact that he can pass and run just as good as anyone else in the league can. Regardless of what happens in the National Championship Game, it shouldn’t be too long before we see Newton playing on Sundays.

Tuesday, 2 November 2010

NCAA Football – Auburn leads the BCS Rankings with 8-0 record

Last week we made an important effort to summarize and guide you through the process by which the BCS chooses its No. 1 team each week. We even went far enough as to make some pointers on how the AP poll works. Although it is not taken into consideration for the BCS Rankings, the AP Poll is still the most prestigious, human based poll in the nation, so we went on to briefly explain how that poll works. Now, what does that mean for the NCAA Football betting fan, well that’s when it can get tricky.

For starters, so far this season, the No.1 rank hasn’t really been so much a sign of a team’s great overall performance, but some sort of indelible omen that forces it to lose its winning streak has come. So Auburn now has to do what Alabama, Ohio State and Oklahoma couldn’t: make it to No. 1 and stay there.

The No.1 ranked team has fall in the last three consecutive weeks. Not only would Auburn have to deal with this No. 1 curse, but, hit the road and visit none other then Ole Miss. And then there is the strength of the schedule to put into the mix bag. The Auburn Tigers have had a very demanding couple of weeks that have boosted up its performance and stamina, but have also played very physically demanding matches that could be now their worst enemy. The motivation is there: but is the fuel still plenty?

Auburn has already played two nationally ranked teams this month. First they took down No. 6 LSU and then finished off No. 12 Arkansas proving that the Tigers are a solid contestant when playing at home. And yet they now have to hit the road and play at Ole Miss. Here is the thing. I have a feeling that the Tigers are in serious need of some rest, and it is certainly not happening this week. The Auburn Tigers is one of the four teams in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) that’s scheduled to play its 9th consecutive game this weekend. That is 9 weeks without a BYE week and coming from two consecutive games against nationally ranked teams.

As of press time, Auburn is expected to hold on to the No.1 spot of the BCS rankings. If not in the best odds considering what happened to Oklahoma, Alabama and Ohio State, the Auburn Tigers are a -7 point favorite on the spread against Mississippi. Now, the chains are expected to be moving quite a bit as the line movers at NCAA Football betting industry leaders Betias.com have set the total at over/under 61 flat.

Key for the Auburn Tigers success rest mostly in what quarterback Cam Newton can put together on the offensive end. Should the Tigers be able to keep on with their winning streak against Mississippi, things will only go uphill from there. The Tigers will go on to face Georgia at home on November 13 and then get its well-deserved BYE week. But sure enough, the Tigers can put their guard down as the following week they will have to face no other then the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Friday, 10 September 2010

US College football Thursday night preview: Auburn look the bet of the weekend

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