Freeman questionable heading into Iron Bowl

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Eltoro Freeman’s status remains uncertain heading into the Iron Bowl after suffering a concussion in the third quarter of Saturday’s game.

The sophomore linebacker went down when attempting to make a hit on Georgia’s Caleb King on the second play of the third quarter.

Gene Chizik, in typical fashion, remained vague when discussing Freeman’s prognosis.

“I don’t know,” Chizik said. “We’re going to have to play that one by ear.”

One of Freeman’s better friends on the team, safety Demond Washington, said Freeman was in good spirits, but that reporters would have to ask Freeman, himself, if he’d be ready for the Alabama game.

“I’m surprised he came back,” Washington said. “That’s a plus he’s doing good.”

Freeman was not made available for interviews Sunday.

Freshman Jonathan Evans, Auburn’s only available scholarship linebacker off the bench, filled in for Freeman in a pinch Saturday, picking up four tackles and half a tackle for loss. It served as a crash course for Evans, who had not previously seen any meaningful snaps at the position.

Evans appeared active from the start, but constantly needed the help of safety Daren Bates to get in proper position before the snap.

Georgia amassed 131 of its 169 rushing yards in the second half.

“We had faith in Jonathan,” linebacker Craig Stevens said. “We talked to him on the sidelines and tried to help him get aligned and just calm down out there and play just like practice. He did OK out there. He’s not like Toro out there. Toro has a lot more experience than him out there.

“I feel like he did all right once he got out there. He did better than I thought he would.”

Chizik said Evans played adequately.

“For getting kind of abruptly thrown in there, I thought he did well,” Chizik said. “Obviously there were some things in there he could have done better.”

Dropping the ball
Washington said his excitement might have gotten the best of him after his 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in Saturday’s fourth quarter.

Replays of Washington’s run showed that he barely crossed the goal line before dropping the ball to celebrate. Once the side judge’s arms went up in the air, though, Washington had no reason to risk going back and picking the ball up, he said.

“Coaches told me to take the ball to the ref next time,” Washington said.

It wasn’t as if scoring the touchdown came as a surprise, said wide receiver Emory Blake, who served as Washington’s lead blocker on the return.

“Demond was telling us all night that he was going to take one to the house and all we needed to do was get our blocks,” Blake said. “That’s what I did. That’s what everyone else did—and we made a big play.”

He’s OK
Georgia safety Bacarri Rambo was released from St. Mary’s Hospital in Athens on Sunday after passing his medical tests “with flying colors,” Georgia coach Mark Richt told reporters Sunday.

Rambo was motionless for nearly 15 minutes late in the fourth quarter Saturday after making a hard hit on Auburn’s Mario Fannin. He lost consciousness on the field, but did not suffer any serious injuries.

Richt said Rambo, who suffered a concussion, will not play Saturday against Kentucky.

Still 25-worthy to some
Auburn’s loss Saturday didn’t dissuade all of the Associated Press’ poll voters, as two in the 60-member panel kept the Tigers in their respective top 25’s.

Auburn received a total of nine voter points, which would put it at 33rd if the poll went that far. The Tigers received eight votes in the ESPN/USA Today coaches’ poll.

Auburn has yet to crack the BCS top 25.

(Photo credit: Todd Van Emst)

Gene Chizik speaks in a casual setting

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Gene Chizik spoke this afternoon.

He wore a shirt that we can’t even begin to describe. Let’s put it this way: It was festive.

Here are some of the highlights.

(On the sloppy run defense late in the game)
“We were really playing the run well and I think when Eltoro went out, that certainly didn’t help our cause. That’s not an excuse at all, but for a good bit of that football game we were playing well against the run. We’ve got to be able to sustain that through four quarters. It’s just that simple.“

(Eltoro’s status?)
“I don’t know. We’re going to have to play that one by ear.“

(How did Jonathan Evans do in his place?)
“For getting kind of abruptly thrown in there, I thought he did well. Obviously there were some things in there he could have done better.“

(Late penalties killed you again)
“And they’re by veteran guys. Really, really disappointing. I just addressed that in our team meeting. These are guys that you’re counting on to win ball games for you. They’ve played a lot of football. There are so many other things that happened before we got to that. We could have played so much better as well. You can’t pin it on one guy, but in those critical situations, without question, I just think it’s a lack of concentration and attention to detail. That’s what I said in the team meeting.“

(This one hurt, didn’t it?)
“That loss is very hard to swallow period. We had so many opportunities in my opinion. We had opportunities for turnovers that we didn’t capitalize on. If you go back and you look at games this year where we’ve won, there’s been turnovers defensively that we created somewhere in there. That was a big one where Josh (Bynes) went up and he had the interception—obviously I’m not blaming anything—but Josh went up and it went through his hands and their tight end caught the ball. That was a huge point in the game even if he knocks it down. We had opportunities to create some momentum swings and changes and we just didn’t do it.“

(This bye came at a good time, right?)
“I think it’s big. The debate is, do you want the open date earlier or late in the season? But, you know, where we are right now, obviously, I think it will be advantageous to have it now.“

(Photo credit: Todd Van Emst)

Some numbers and grades to take away from Georgia 31, Auburn 24

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Quite an exciting game here tonight. Unfortunately for the Tigers, it didn’t go their way.

Here’s a sneak preview at what you can find in tomorrow’s Opelika-Auburn News.

The Numbers

145 – Auburn yards of offense in the first quarter
115 – Auburn yards of offense in the second and third quarter.
1 – career receptions for offensive tackle Lee Ziemba after his illegally caught pass, which Georgia declined to accept as a penalty in the third quarter.
202 – kick return yards for Demond Washington, which is 20 more than any other Auburn player has netted in program history.

The Grades

OFFENSE: C- – The first quarter was as electric as the Furman game and it appeared Auburn was destined to put up another basketball score, but the rest was ugly. The unit mustered just 3 points of its own in the final three quarters, as Georgia’s adjustments made life difficult for both Chris Todd and Auburn’s running backs.

DEFENSE: D – Same goes for this group in the first quarter, when it limited the Bulldogs to 5 yards of offense and forced two three-and-outs. Then Georgia adjusted and the Tigers couldn’t stop anything. Georgia scored on all but one of its possessions in the second half, using a deep backfield and every wide receiver other than A.J. Green to burn the Tigers.

SPECIAL TEAMS: A- - Demond Washington’s 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown eliminated whatever negatives came out of his muffed punt return in the second quarter. Wes Byrum needed some assistance from the uprights to knock in his only field goal attempt and Clinton Durst had a solid night.

OVERALL: D – Eleven games into the season, Auburn finally faced a late-game situation where it was forced to make a play. The result was a failure, of course, but there will be plenty to learn from what transpired heading into the future. Too bad only No. 2 Alabama is left on the regular-season schedule.

The Game Story (abridged)

ATHENS, Ga. – For conceivably every situation that can hit an offense in a game, Gus Malzahn has a play – all the way down to specific times in the game, yard-lines and even hashmarks.

That, though, was before the fourth quarter Saturday night at Sanford Stadium, when Auburn faced a scenario that doesn’t come up in the offensive coordinator’s published book—or anyone’s, for that matter.

With the clock ticking toward the end of Auburn’s 31-24 loss to Georgia, the Tigers’ last-gasp drive was stalled for nearly 15 minutes when Georgia’s Bacarri Rambo was immobilized on a scary helmet-to-shoulder pad hit on Mario Fannin.

“That is just one of those scary situations,” coach Gene Chizik said. “We lived that two weeks ago.”

By the time Rambo was zipped off the field, his thumbs raised with the assistance of two trainers, Georgia’s defense was as refreshed as it had been the entire night, the 92,746 fans in attendance were as ear-bleeding loud as they’d been since the opening kickoff and Auburn’s offense looked just as stumped as it had been since its electric first quarter came to an end.

The final result was predictable.

(Photo credit: Todd Van Emst)

“The Pick” and other excruciating details about Auburn-Georgia

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A lot of people think Auburn will win this game. We don’t. Georgia 27-24.

We’re coming close to slashing off all SEC campuses and stadiums off our to-do list.

If there were some sort of ranking involved, the University of Georgia would be alone at the top.

The Georgian architecture, hills everywhere you look, trees aplenty and a hopping downtown scene reminds us of the Athens we know best in Ohio.

Ya know, minus the big freaking stadium and booming athletic programs.

Here’s some minutiae.

****Let’s get it out of the way. This is the oldest rivalry in the Deep South—whatever that is. Auburn leads it 53-51-8 and has an 18-10 edge in games played in Athens.

****The two teams are separated by just 49 points (Georgia 1,747-1,698).

****The road team has won nine of the last 14 games.

****There are a few rivalries that have been doing it longer than Auburn and Georgia. They are: Minnesota-Wisconsin, Missouri-Kansas, Nebraska-Kansas, Texas-Texas A&M, Miami (OH)-Cincinnati and North Carolina-Virginia.

****In games decided by seven points or less, Georgia has the advantage, 22-19-8.

****Auburn has had at least one rushing touchdown in 20 consecutive games against Georgia and 31 of the last 32 in the series.

****Let’s catch up with the Auburn offense. It ranks 10th in the nation in rushing offense (230.0), tied for 11th in scoring offense (35.0) and 12th in total offense (450.3).

****Auburn has held four of its last six opponents to less than 25 percent on third-down conversions and ranks 17th nationally in that category.

****Walt McFadden is tied for the SEC lead with four interceptions.

****Three quick “facts” from Wikipedia about the University of Georgia.

- The first classes were held in 1801, in Franklin College—named in honor of Benjamin Franklin—under the direction of President Josiah Meigs; the college graduated its first class on May 31, 1804.
- White and male for the first century of its history, UGA began educating female students during Summer school in 1903 and finally as regular undergraduates in 1918. Before official admission of women to the University, several woman were able to complete graduate degrees through credit earned in Summer school sessions. The first woman to earn such a degree was Mary Lyndon.
- As of 2008, twenty-one UGA students have been named Rhodes Scholars including Eugene T. Booth and Hervey M. Cleckley.

(Photo credit: My BlackBerry)

Who’s got the edge? Auburn or Georgia?

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It’s Game Day.

Get some.

QUARTERBACKS
Both Joe Cox and Chris Todd have had their ups and downs in their first – and last – full seasons as starters. Todd, though, is currently riding just a bit higher.
Edge: Auburn

RUNNING BACKS
The Bulldogs have had five different players score rushing touchdowns. That’s not the mark of a deep unit, but a sign that Georgia does not have a go-to guy like Ben Tate.
Edge: Auburn

RECEIVERS
As good as Terrell Zachery and Darvin Adams have been, they don’t match the threat A.J. Green poses.
Edge: Georgia

OFFENSIVE LINE
Jeff Grimes said his group has gotten better every game. They weren’t too shabby to begin with.
Edge: Auburn

DEFENSIVE LINE
The Bulldogs are big, especially up the middle, and are limiting opponents to almost 50 yards less on the ground than the Tigers.
Edge: Georgia

LINEBACKERS
Josh Bynes and Craig Stevens got a half off against Furman. That might go down as the most important 30 minutes of their entire season heading down the home stretch.
Edge: Auburn

SECONDARY
Both units have seen better days, but especially the Tigers, who will see Demond Washington playing his first SEC game at safety and are so thin that they might not be able to run the nickel tonight.
Edge: Georgia

SPECIAL TEAMS
Wes Byrum should get his own category because he’ll never win at this rate.
Edge: Georgia

COACHES
Mark Richt certainly has more on the line tonight. A loss puts Georgia in precarious water when it comes to its bowl-eligibility and him one step closer to being on his way out of Athens. Gene Chizik is playing with house money at this point.
Edge: Georgia

OVERALL
Home-field advantage is pretty much the only separator between these evenly-matched teams in a series that has largely favored the visitor.
Edge: Georgia

(Photo credit: Cliff Williams)