From: swanger@ducvax.auburn.edu
Subject: Ole Miss Creams Auburn (Dave's Trip To Mississippi)
Organization: Auburn University, AL
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 02:37:56 GMT

Final score:  Ole Miss 45, Auburn 21.

Aaaaaaaagggghhhhhh!!!!!!!!!

Oh the horror.  Oh the humanity.  Oh hell.

And I was there.


                   "Dave's Trip To Mississippi"

So last Friday afternoon, the little woman and I packed the car and headed
for Oxford for Auburn, a mere 315 miles of two lane roads away.  Ok, ok,
about a third of the roads are two lane, but there are at least 30 red
lights, stop signs and other slow places on the way.  It took about seven
hours!  Knoxville Tenn is about the same distance away but only takes 5.5
hours because it is Interstate all the way (of course, Knoxville is hell on
earth and Oxford is a pretty nice place, so maybe the extra time is worth
it...).  Anyway, we wound our way from Auburn to Birmingham to Jasper to
Hamilton to Tupelo to Pontotoc (check out the REAGONOMICS RETREAT the next
time you are there) to Oxford.  Whew!  We checked into the Oxford equivalent
of the Bates Motel and settled in, eagerly awaiting the next day's action.

The next day, the little woman drug me away from the TV ("but honey, Bama
and Vandy will be on soon") and we visited Oxford.  Nice place (downtown
at least).  Good restaurants.  A GREAT bookstore.  We found out later that
the NY Times had once rated it as the 6th best bookstore in the country.  I
believe it.  Also, we met a lot of friendly Ole Miss people.  Maybe they
save their hatred for Miss State.  Myabe they thought they were going to
lose.  Who knows?  Most seemed to be genuinely friendly.  We went to William
Faulkner's house.  In Oxford, you are constantly reminded that Oxford was
Faulkner's home.  Beautiful place.  I had a great time.  Finally, there was
only one thing left to do.  Kick some Rebel Butt!!!  

We took the free shuttle the town provides from the hotel and went to the
game.  Lots of AU folks made it.  The Ole Miss people at the stadium were
excited but not obnoxious.  I was ready for action.  I noticed just before
the teams came on the field that the Ole Miss players were excited.  They
were pumped.  They were ballistic.  They ran out on the field like they knew
they were going to win.  The AU players were calm, very un-excited.  They
drag-assed onto the field.  I should have been worried then but Nooooooo, I
was in the denial stage.  "They are just very confident" I thought.  Ha.

Ole Miss took the kickoff and led by Russ Shows at qb, pretty much moved at
will and scored very quickly on a 1 yard run by Marvin Courtney.  

Auburn couldn't move the ball and punted.  

Starting at the Ole Miss 33, Courtney made a 51 yd run and Shows hit
Germaine Kohn for a TD.  14-0 Ole Miss.

On the last play of the 1st quarter, Auburn's Stan White completed a 65 yd 
pass to the 3 yd line to Orlando Parker.  On the first play of the 2nd
quarter Ted Yarborough scored on a 3 yd run.  14-7 Ole Miss.

The teams trade punts.  Only AU's punt was a 22 yd shank from the AU 7 yd
line.  5 running plays later, Cory Philpot made a 4 yd td run.  21-7 Ole
Miss.

Late in the 2nd quarter, Stan White threw a pass from the Ole Miss 32 into
the end zone.  Ole Miss intercepted.  Replays later showed that the
defensive back didn't have control.  Oh well, thats the breaks I guess.  AU
needed something then.

3rd quarter, AU moved 88 yd for a td with a 33 yd td pass from White to
Frank Sanders.  21-14 Ole Miss.

AU recovered a fumble at the Ole Miss 16.  This was it.  Auburn was taking
over.  The Ole Miss team looked shook.  A td would turn the game around. 
Auburn has more talent, we are supposed to win, out of the way you bums.
Well, it didn't happen.  Three running plays put the ball on the 5 yd line.
Stan White steppped back for a pass, was hit from behind, the ball popped
into the air and Ole Miss linebacker Cassius Ware ran it 91 yds for a td. 
28-14 Ole Miss.  Talk about pandemonium.  There were only about 40,000
people in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium but they sounded like 3 times that many.
It seemed like it took Ware forever to score, he isn't a fast runner, but he
had a huge lead because he was behind the line (one of the Ole Miss fans
told me "He's so slow that when he hauls ass, he has to take two trips."  Oh
well, I got a laugh despite the circumstances).  A 14 point turn-around on a
%$#@#$% freak, fluke play.  The trouble is, fluke plays count.  Heck, even
AU has won a game or two on fluke plays (forget hell, PUNT BAMA PUNT).

Before this play, I took it for granted that Auburn was going to win.  At
this point, I was less positive, but I knew it could happen.  It didn't. 
Auburn started falling apart at this point.  No blocking for White.  With
the score 31-14 early in the 4th quarter, White stepped back to pass at the
Ole Miss 18 and the ball just FELL OUT OF HIS HAND!  AAAAAGGGGHHH!  Ole Miss
recovered on the Ole Miss 30.  3 plays later, Shows hit Innocent for a 65 yd
pass to the AU 1 foot line (he ran about 100 yds if you straightened it
out).  Shows scored on second down.  38-14 Ole Miss.  The rout (route ?) was
on.

On AU's next drive, a White pass was returned 65 yds for a td.  Man, when
it rains it pours.  45-14 Ole Miss.

Redshirt freshman qb Patrick Nix drove AU for a td with 11 seconds left. 
45-21 Ole Miss.  The end.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Some comments:

Ole Miss deserved to win.  They tried harder.  They had a better plan. 
Auburn didn't block very well.  Auburn didn't run the ball well (MINUS 16
yards running).  Ole Miss ran through AU's line far too easily.

Auburn COULD have won (I'm certainly not saying should have won).  Without
the fluke play, the score could have been tied if AU had been able to score
a td.  If the Ole Miss intereception had been disallowed, maybe Auburn would
have scored (maybe not).  The momentum would certainly have shifted at these
points.  If several of our injured starters had been healthy... Oh well, none 
of these things happened.  

Congrats to Ole Miss.  Hopefully, it won't be as easy next year!!

The next day on the way home, the little woman detoured me through outlet
mall hell, er I mean heaven, Boaz Alabama.  And I thought the game was bad! 
Brrrrr.  That's a story for the off-season I guess!

Next week, Auburn versus Samford.
-- 
David Swanger,   Auburn University, Alabama,   swanger@ducvax.auburn.edu