In a makeshift scrimmage the Auburn Tigers defeated the Furman Paladins 63-31. This could not have played out any better. We put it away early and gave the starters some much-needed rest.

It’s never a bad thing for the passing game to get a live tune-up, and Auburn’s QBs were almost perfect with Chris Todd and Neil Caudle combining to complete 27-of-30 passes for 373 yards and four scores. The most entertaining part of this game was trying to figure out who the Tiger coaching staff was going to put in there as backups.

I witnessed first hand that we don’t have any backups to speak of, especially on defense. It started to get comical in the second half when two wide receivers, Anthony Gulley and Phillip Pierre-Louis, were called on to play cornerback. With three games left, I’m just hoping that we make it till the end of the season with enough players to field a team.

Auburn has seven wins with two to play, and ’tis the season to speculate on what bowl game we will play in. The latest bowl projections have us playing against a Big 12 team in the Cotton Bowl, and the Outback and Capital One bowls on New Year’s Day are still a possibility. We just re-entered the USA Today Coaches Poll at No. 25 with a great chance to make a positive impression against our two biggest rivals, Georgia and Bama.

Auburn and Georgia meet at 6 p.m. in Athens this Saturday to continue “the Oldest Rivalry in the South.” The Dawgs are favored by four points and have won three straight in this annual contest.

This game will match two very similar teams. The Bulldogs are 5-4 and 3-3 in the conference. They need a strong finish to stop the bleeding and get the critics off of Head Coach Mark Richt’s back.

We on the other hand are 7-3 with the same 3-3 record in the SEC. A win on Saturday would continue the momentum of a surprising season into the Alabama game, and through to the offseason. The game played between the hedges will be a shootout because neither one of us can play a lick of defense. In tight games, turnovers always make a difference, and that’s where we have a big edge over the Dawgs, who are next to last in the country in turnover margin.

I’m hoping for a late turnover to seal the game in classic Georgia-Auburn shootout. The Tigers win it 35-28. War Eagle!