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Staff Predictions - Louisville Cardinals Edition

The College and Mag staff is back at it, folks! We peer into the crystal ball on Week 1.

By Bobby Barkley
"No doubt. You guys at College and Mag know your stuff. No doubt."
"No doubt. You guys at College and Mag know your stuff. No doubt."
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE YA ROCK AN' ROOLLEDDDDUH

Ahem, sorry.

It has been a long time, y'all! The CaM staff has pondered all week on the outcome of tomorrow's match-up between your Auburn Tigers and the Louisville Murderbirds.

So let's get those predictions going, shall we?

AU_Jonesy

What I'm worried about:

-If Duke is double-covered, which receiver steps up?
-Are we overlooking the talented transfers Louisville is bringing in on defense?
-will the RB committee approach keep one of them from getting into a rhythm?
-Will I be in the middle of a row in the Georgia Dome? will there be nearby concessions?
-If Louisville starts Bonifan, will we be able to control him in the run/scramble game?
-If Louisville plays mulitple QBs, will the backup-QB curse apply?

What I'm not worried about
-Jeremy
-the offensive line
-Gus vs Todd Grantham: Gus averaged 33 pts and 408 total yards against Grantham when he was at Georgia. In games not hamstrung by Chizik it's 46 pts and 514.5 yards.
-pregame: We bit the bullet and bought tickets to that tailgate experience thing

Louisville has plenty of talent, but Auburn has more. It's close for 3 quarters, but Auburn pulls away.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jonesy has so much confidence in the Tigers that naming an actual numerical score wouldn't do justice to the "pulling away" he mentions at the end. We'll keep you posted.)

Tuco

If Louisville's defensive front is as good as advertised, Auburn will reverse its trends from previous years and pass to set up the run.  Auburn throws for 300 yards and gains another 200 on the ground (mostly in second half action after Louisville adjusts and softens its focus on stopping the run).  Auburn's defense struggles at times to implement the new playbook against a high-powered/complex offense but (unlike last year) makes a few key stops when they have to.  Auburn 45 Louisville 27.

Dr. Z

Lots of things about our history scare me a bit.  We're horrible front runners, we don't play well in openers against big conference opponents (Washington State doesn't count), and the last time we visited the Georgia Dome was the epic fail against Clemson.

Still, Auburn has too much ammo to lose this game, and Todd Grantham is coaching the opposing defense.

Auburn - 41
Petrino Road Rash-26

Jared Robertson

Auburn's offense does moves up and down the field at will. Petrino has a few things up his sleeve in the first half but Auburn blows it open in the 3rd quarter and cruises to a win in the second half. 45-17, Barn.

Emily Rios

Auburn has the firepower and talent. If they can play clean, mistake-free football (no tackles out of bounds, not turning the ball over on the first play of the game) then Auburn wins, 38-21.

Peggy Rossmanith

Is Petrino even allowed in the Georgia Dome? Auburn 38, Louisville 21.

PEGGY WITH THE FIRE.

Oscar Whiskey

Close game but Auburn holds on to win 35-31.

WarRoomEagle

49-47 Auburn. Why, you ask? Well, it's definitely not because these were the first two numbers between 7 and 49 provided by a random number generator I found online after the world's quickest Google search. No way. I mean, think about it. Both head coaches in this game are known for being offensive geniuses. Do you really think something like first game jitters is going to slow down these teams? Atlanta, get ready for lots of points.

Bobby Barkley

I'm running off minimal sleep, so I'll keep this simple today, Barn.

A coworker of mine walked in this morning and exclaimed "Roll Tide" to me, so I'm going to take that angst out against Louisville this weekend by rooting for a total offensive collapse by all four of their quarterback (that Carl Lawson eats for snacks), and I hope we score a thousand football points in the Georgie Dome.

That said, I think it'll be closer than that, but that shouldn't give anyone cause for concern. A close game that you win is still a win.

Jeremy Johnson, you don't owe Jesse Palmer anything. That Canadian candy wrapper hack couldn't even outright say that you were "the best back-up quarterback in the country" last year—he had to throw a "maybe" or "might" in there for good measure. Do it for the fans.

Gus Bus rollin' into ATL.

Ain't got no brakes, baby. No brakes.

Auburn 38

Louisville 24

(EDITOR'S NOTE: It was brought to my attention by fellow staffers that I did not in fact, keep it "simple" in the above prediction. I will choose my words more carefully next week.)

Dusty Miller

I don't know why, but visions of the 2010 SEC Championship game keep popping in my head when I think about this game. Slow start, methodical, then right before the half a big play breaks the spirit of the eyebrow-less wonder (Petrino). The second half is a party for the Barners. Backups get a good portion of the 4th quarter. 42-23, Barn.

Walt Austin

This is going to be a slugfest in the first half. There's going to be some gnashing of teeth over the defense's performance, early. I think the offense will click along just fine. Auburn will slowly pull away in the second half, but it's by no means going to be a blow out. I think it'll be very close to that 10.5 point spread, and the end of the game will be close enough that there will be folks with money riding on it biting their finger nails and hoping they picked the right result.

Auburn 42-Louisville 31.

War Damn Eagle, everyone! Whether you're watching in the Georgia Dome or at home, pull 'em through!

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