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By Jay Coulter
jccoulter@gmail.com
I don’t know about you, but this has been the longest week in years. Finally, the first football Friday of the year is here. And on top of that, it’s a three-day weekend and payday all wrapped into one.
Auburn was buzzing Thursday night. There’s no question the game day atmosphere has already hit the Plains. There were a ton of RVs already around town and the restaurants and book stores were standing room only. It’ a safe bet that Anders and J&M Book Store will be able to pay the light bill this month.
The weather forecast for Saturday looks pretty good temperature wise. According to the Weather Channel the high in Auburn is only suppose to reach 83 degrees with a low of 68 degrees. That’s the good news. The bad news is there’s a chance of thunderstorms throughout the day. We’ve had scattered rain all week, so that’s to be expected. Things on the whole look pretty solid.
Pictures of the new scoreboard have finally emerged. It looks awesome (see top). Auburn has gone from the worst scoreboard in the SEC to the best (Arkansas may have an argument). Tommy Tuberville had them turn the board on for the players during practice on Thursday. They all were impressed.
"They hooked up the video board because we wanted the players to see that for the first time," Tuberville said. "It's a real nice scoreboard and I think it's really going to add something to Jordan-Hare Stadium. The fans are going to enjoy it. It's going to be very beneficial to all of us as we use that thing several different ways."
They’ve also added length to the "ribbons" that run across the upper deck. These will be used to display stats and down information. And let’s not forget it’s the first HD screen in the conference.
The Las Vegas oddsmakers are holding Auburn as a 13 point favorite over Kansas State Saturday night. It hasn’t moved a whole lot this week. It sounds about right to me. My guess is the Tigers will win by a little more. Now we’re jinxed.
There’s still no word on the playing status of running back Brad Lester. Tuberville says he’s still number one on the depth chart and expects Lester to play until told otherwise. Look for an answer on him by late afternoon.
We got some good news out of Auburn on Thursday. It looks like senior right guard Leon Hart will be a go for Saturday. My guess is Hart will get most of the reps with freshman Lee Ziemba starting at tackle next to him. Red-shirt freshman Mike Berry will also see a lot of playing time and will likely get the start.
Wide receiver Montez Billings is not going to play Saturday. He continues to nurse a hamstring injury. There’s no word yet on whether freshman receiver Chris Slaughter will see action. My guess, it will be minimal if any.
What did you think about LSU-Mississippi State last night? If LSU is the number two team in the country, I feel real good about Auburn. There offensive line is average at best. Miss State held its own against their line in the first half. I wish we were playing them in early September like usual, rather than late October.
We’d like to welcome two new blogs to the SB Nation family. Garnet and Black Attack will be covering South Carolina and Alligator Army is the home for Florida athletics. Be sure to check them out.
If you’re traveling to Auburn on Saturday, be careful making the trip to the Plains. Be sure to look for me at the game. I’ll be the white guy in the orange shirt. War Eagle!