Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Buyer beware!

What’s this world coming to when you can’t trust Internet ticket scalpers?

Apparently, the LSU ticket office has issued a warning to fans to be on the lookout for fake tickets. According to the ticket office, “large numbers of stolen and counterfeit tickets” were sold for the LSU-Florida game two weeks back. The tickets were sold by Internet brokers as well as on-site folks — presumably the people you see wandering around every stadium in America, holding up fingers and brandishing signs.

Obviously, fake tickets are a bad thing: Buy one, and you have an awfully good chance of being turned away at the gate, which is exactly what happened to a lot of those folks at the LSU-Florida game.

“Purchasing tickets from other sources,” according to the LSU ticket office, is “at the buyers’ own risk.”

Of course, the LSU ticket office also has a built-in incentive towards scare-mongering against third-party sources of tickets. This is sort of like McDonald’s advertising about Burger King’s unhealthy food: It may be true, but truth may not be the only motive.

But we’re a trusting group here at My Five Cents, so we’ll leave the final word to Brian Broussard, LSU’s assistant athletic director for ticket operations.

“Fans who purchase game tickets on the secondary market are taking a big chance,” Broussard said in a statement issued by the school.

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Greetings from Fayetteville!

I’m comfortably settled into my seat at the press box of beautiful Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium (what a name!) for tonight’s thrilling contest between Auburn and Arkansas. I won’t be blogging tonight, at least not during the game…I’ll be busy writing through most of the game, all part of the excitement of a game televised on ESPN. (Auburn sure has had a lot of those lately!)

But though you won’t be getting thrilling nickel-sized installments of My Five Cents during today’s game, I did want to stop by with some news. First of all, four of Auburn’s five injured starters—Jason Bosley, Quentin Groves, Merrill Johnson and Tray Blackmon—made the trip to Arkansas and were dressed out in pregame workouts. Aairon Savage is apparently back in Auburn; it’s not clear just how serious his knee injury is.

Bosley, Johnson and Blackmon all worked with the first team during pre-game workouts, and I think there’s a chance all three could start. Groves is a little more doubtful, though he seemed to be running well in the pregame.

Enjoy the game!

Saturday, October 06, 2007

Jason Bosley update

A Jason Bosley update: The word on Bosley is a sprained left knee…he won’t be back in this game. Watch this space for further updates, which I’m guessing will come tomorrow.

What’s this? A third-quarter blog entry? Madness!

And yet, here it is. Auburn got the ball to start the second half and is once again moving without much problem.

A nice run by Ben Tate gave AU a first down near midfield…Vandy’s defense has had about enough. It’s now first-and-10, Auburn, at its own 49. After an Auburn timeout, Tate is swarmed in the backfield for a loss of 3. A short pass to Cole Bennett gives Auburn third-and-10 at the 49. And Vandy sacks Cox on third down with a five-man rush.

Shoemaker absolutely booms a punt—50 yards—and a flag for block in the back pushes Vandy back to its own 4. That’s not exactly what Bobby Johnson wanted to see, I’m guessing.

Speaking of things Johnson didn’t want to see, Vandy backup Mackenzi Adams is in at quarterback. Two nice runs give VU a first down at the 19. Apparently Adams is a handoff specialist: Another run…that’s three straight for Vandy, and counting, as it’s second-and-7. On second down, Adams faked a handoff and gained about 7 on a quarterback keeper, good for a first down. In case you were wondering, Auburn still has the total-yardage edge, 351-90. Wow.

Patrick Lee is a lucky, lucky man: He got an interception on a tipped ball—the thing jumped right into his hands. It looked as if he was set to return it for a touchdown, but Adams brought him down around the 10.

Two Brad Lester runs later, Lester is in the end zone. Auburn is up 35-0 after Byrum’s kick. That’s career touchdown No. 18 for Brad. Not bad for a guy with three career starts.

Vandy wide receiver Sean Walker got absolutely drilled on a nice second-down catch. He took at least three big hits from Auburn defenders and didn’t go down. That sets up a third-and-inches for Vanderbilt, which then gets a backbreaking false start penalty to make it third-and-six. Ouch. The crowd is surprisingly loud here…I guess, in the words of the evil coach from The Mighty Ducks, “It’s not worth winning if you can’t win big!“

(Yeah, a Mighty Ducks reference. I know you’re impressed.)

Vandy actually managed to convert the third down, then commits another terrible false start on first-and-10. Auburn’s defense has played great, but VU’s lousiness has helped.

Lots of young guys in on defense for Auburn…Bynes, Mike Blanc and Goggans have all been in on this possession.

And a BIG hit on fourth down absolutely devastates Adams…Zac Etheridge blitzed, chased him down and then wrapped him up, and Carter finished him with a huge hit. Ouch.

Interestingly, Cox comes in at quarterback again, with 4:53 left in the third quarter and Auburn up 35-0. I expected Burns to come in to get some real-time experience, but I guess there’s no real reason to sit Cox yet.

Back with more excitement in a moment!

Anatomy of a blowout

Vandy is definitely NOT excited to be here. The ‘Dores just ran a very ugly-looking off-tackle play, swallowed up by Antonio Coleman for a loss of 6. Coleman is having a great, great season, and it’s not entirely because opposing offenses have spent most of the year double-teaming Quentin Groves.

An ugly pass by Nickson…that ball just slipped out of his hands. Weird. And a nice play by Pat Lee on third down forces yet another punt, which means the return of the new-look punt return unit. When Field and Williams found out they’d be on the No. 1 punt return team, I don’t think they realized they’re be getting all this work.

Auburn appears content to run out the clock and head to the locker room. After a routine third-and-6 run play, an Auburn player—Jason Bosley—and an unidentified Vandy player are down. Bosley limps—and I mean limps to the locker room, supported by two members of the medical staff. Dunlap goes to LT, Pugh replaces Bosley at center. Bosley looks to have injured his left leg…that could be bad for Auburn. Bosley is one of the offense’s most irreplaceable players, just behind Cox and Rod Smith. That’s not a knock on Pugh, who will be fine at center; it’s just that Bosley has been doing it for a while. Center’s a tough position just to step into at halftime.

After an Auburn punt, Vandy takes over at its own 36. Zzzzzz…not much to see here. The ‘Dores wanted to put together a scoring drive (obviously!) but they just don’t have it in them. Time runs out with Vandy on the 50 after an incomplete pass by Nickson.

And now we head to halftime. Be sure to check back in the third quarter…I’ll continue to live-blog the second half. (Hooray for early kickoffs!)