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

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What’s a Paladin? Auburn goes up early, plays a bunch of reserves and cruises to a 48-10 victory.

This is supposed to be Homecoming, right? Ya know, the game that no one shows up to.

Well, judging by the traffic scene heading into Jordan-Hare Stadium today, there will, in fact, be fans in the seats to watch the Auburn Tigers take on hated Furman.

Shocking, we know.

Here’s some minutiae.

****Dictionary.com has three definitions for “paladin.“
1. any one of the 12 legendary peers or knightly champions in attendance on Charlemagne.
2. any knightly or heroic champion.
3. any determined advocate or defender of a noble cause.

****Yes, these teams have played before. Auburn leads the series 3-0, surrendering just 6 points in the three meetings. The last time these teams played was in 1956, when the Tigers rolled to a 41-0 victory.

****The Tigers are good on Homecoming. That’s expected when you’re shelling out big bucks to your opponent. They’ve won 17 straight, which is the longest streak in school history.

****Go back 34 years, and the Tigers are 31-2-1.

****The last Homecoming loss came at the hands of Southwest Louisiana in 1991, a shocking 24-17 loss. That marked two straight Homecoming losses, as the Tigers fell to Southern Miss, 13-12, in 1990.

****The Tigers have 11 scoring drives this season that have taken less than one minute and 10 of those ended with touchdowns.

****Auburn had held three of its last five opponents to less than 25 percent on third-down conversions.

****Wes Byrum is tied for fourth nationally in field goal percentage (92.9) among kickers who have attempted at least 10 field goals.

****This is the first game of the season that won’t be nationally televised.

****Here’s your Homecoming court. Grace Anthony, Christian Becraft, Kimmey Henderson, Grace Ann Sooter and Abby Womack.

****Overall, this is the 96th observance of Homecoming and the 83rd football game. The Tigers are 68-8-5 overall.

****Hey, it’s November! The Tigers are 214-166-21 overall. Go back 16 games, and the Tigers are 11-5.

****Wikipedia time! Here are three facts we gathered—err, copy and pasted—from Furman’s Wiki page.

- Furman is the oldest, largest and most selective private institution in South Carolina and is one of the top liberal arts colleges in the United States. Founded in 1826, Furman enrolls approximately 2,550 undergraduate and 525 graduate students on its 750 acre campus.
- Furman was ranked No. 15 in the Washington Monthly’s Top US Liberal Arts Colleges Rankings based on its production of research valuable to society and its commitment to national service. Furman has been ranked No.4 in U.S. News Best Undergraduate Research Programs along with MIT, Stanford and Michigan.
- Furman University students are required to have a meal plan and freshmen are required to have an unlimited meal plan. The main dining facility is in the Daniel Hall. Paladin food court offers Chick-Fil-A, Moe’s Southwest Grill, and Pan Geos. Furman also has a dining facility named Tower Cafe; there students can get coffee from Starbucks.