It's once again time for TIGER TALK on the radio waves throughout the Southeastern United States!
LIST OF AFFILIATES AND LINKS
PREDICTION: None tonight.
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(They're at Baumhauer's tonight.)
NOT ANDY asks about the game last week. "Every game has gone the other way. Just to have one finally go your way was just ... it was really fun to see. It builds confidence. The sideline had a different feel for me. Even after we went down 10-0. A lot of teams would have laid down there, said: 'Here we go again.' But nobody got rattled and we kept driving. We had third down that looked like Andy threw the ball ... no offense (GUFFAWS ALL AROUND)... and the guy makes a miracle catch on the sideline. For them to get down to the 2-yard line and our kids had a four-down stop at the goalline? We had six freshman on the field."
ANDY wants to talk about scoring early in the third quarter, what it established. "Huge. That's why I like to defer. When you come out and you're able to establish a drive ... we took some time off the clock ... to punch it in and establish the line of scrimmage was huge."
***COMMERCIAL BREAK***
NOT ANDY wants to talk about Jarquez Hunter. "He would have had 30 (touches) ... he kept tapping out. He kept coming to the sideline. I said 'I want to give it to you again' and he said 'just give me a second.'" GUFFAWS ALL AROUND
On running the ball well against UK: "I wasn't sure we could. Nobody else had. Florida ran it on them some, so that gave us a little hope."
ANDY wants to talk about accolades for Keldric Faulk and Jay Crawford. Everybody loves it.
JEFF/GEOFF is in the house. He wants to ask about Alex McPherson and the way the team seemed to rally around him. "He's an incredible teammate and an incredible guy. They've watched him go from literally ... was 120 pounds and probably only weighs 145 now. He's probably not all the way back. It's just the fact that they have great confidence in him. His pants aren't as tight as they should be for a football player." GUFFAWS ALL AROUND
DAWN is in the house. She says the crowd in Lexington was good. "The Tiger Walk was awesome as it always is. I usually come out with the last group, which is about 38 minutes before kick. You guys have been just so supportive in what has been — for me and you guys — a disappointing season. You continue to show loyalty and love. They're the best fans anywhere you could ever hope for or imagine. It's really, really fun when we can deliver to you something that brings you joy."
DAWN has a follow-up about Pat Dye saying (many years ago) that Auburn must stay the course. She said the UK game was like that. "I agree with Coach Dye. We will keep fighting. Our kids have continued to prepare and continued to fight."
***COMMERCIAL BREAK***
BUSTER is in the house. He says "it's been a minute" since he saw Hugh, which I found funny. (Buster is an older fella.) He wants to know about Bradyn Joiner. "Truthfully, I don't think Joiner will mid me saying ... I honestly thought he was too small. Men, he just kept showing up in spring practice and somebody who did the right thing, did it with the right technique and he loves this place. I still believe loving your teammates and loving the place you're at can elevate someone above talent. There's going to be two or three spots there if you've got the right makeup of a guy and he lives AUburn and he wants to win and he wants to do it the right way and he cares about his teammates and he cares about 'hey, coach me, Coach.' He's made himself into the starting lineup now."
YOUNG HOLLY is in the house. She wants to know about playing against Vanderbilt. "The most difficult part. I'm going to give you two answer. One, they're one of the most sound, well-coached teams in the country. The second thing is this quarterback — he's just a competitor that makes plays that shouldn't be good plays at times but, dang, they just got five yards or 10 yards. Every possession just has so much value because you just don't get that many opportunities when you play them. He just makes plays over and over and over again. He kind of reminds me when I used to coach against Johnny Manziel."
NOT ANDY asks about how Hugh isn't going to talk to the team about the New Mexico State game from last year. "It was a totally different team. It's not Vandy; we beat Vandy last year. I'm not big on talking about the past too much. I don't see what good comes from it. It's time we defend Jordan-Hare better than we have."
Hugh says he loves early games this time of year because they get extra rest afterward. "I'm excited to get the early kick. Those late kicks on the road at 7:45 are not ideal, but we're 1-0 in them this year." GUFFAWS ALL AROUND
***COMMERCIAL BREAK***
MATT/MAT from Twitter has a question. He wants to know if Auburn can keep running the ball this weel. "Every game plan is going to have a little different flavor. That was as comfortable as I've been ... as far as calling our base stuff and knowing the answers off of that."
(He says he's been pushing his offensive staff to keep things as simple as reasonably possible.) "Let's at least do what our kids have confidence in."
MOLLY/MOLLIE is in the house. She asks about how young guys who aren't getting snaps to get more snaps. "It's hard this time of year, truthfully. The process of becoming a player in this league typically is a year-and-a-half to two years for most. They usually need a couple spring practices before they're ready to do this."
SYLVIA is in the house. She's happy with how the defense played. She wants to know how to keep that level of performance going. "If you know, let me know. (SPORADIC GUFFAWS AROUND) We're playing eight freshmen significant minutes and they're starting to get it. Those DBs are just babies. They are getting better each week. Our D-line has played pretty solid all year, truthfully, but we've had some breakdowns in some other spots."
NOT ANDY says Kayin Lee played solidly. "He had an interference call on him that was, well, I don't want to get fined tonight. Our corners ... DJ is going to put them on an island a little bit. We've certainly been able to stop the run on most people, but when you do that with the people you commit to that ... but those corners are sometimes going to be in some 1-on-1s. They're maturing nicely."
JILL'S GOLFING BUDDY KAREN writes in to tell Hugh thanks for winning on her birthday. "I already knew it was her birthday. I was thinking about that basically the whole game. I was so happy, so happy that we were able to win and celebrate her birthday." GUFFAWS ALL AROUND
***COMMERCIAL BREAK***
ANDY notes that Auburn is playing a lot of young players everywhere. "That's what we have to do right now. I want to build it through the high-school ranks primarily. I just don't think (building through the portal) is the sustainable way to do it nor do I think that's best for Auburn. Right now we standing with the third-rated class and we'll expect some of them to have to play next year also."
LAWSON is in the house. He wants to know what Hugh says to fans about being discouraged this season. "I don't know many fans that feel that way. I think they're excited about what we're building. I know they're disappointed for sure that we're not sitting here at 7-1 like we realistically could be. Stay the course. We're recruiting well and the kids are playing hard for the school. We had a ways to go, truthfully. We're going to get there. We sees steps (toward) that every week. No one wishes it was faster that me. We've got to deliver — and I think we will in time."
(Hugh says he had texts waiting for him after the game from BP, Johnnie Harris and Butch. He appreciates that family feel. ) "That's why we think we can recruit well — because it's not fake; it's the real deal."
ANDY and NOT ANDY thank Hugh for being here and then, alarmingly, give him a WAR EAGLE in a harmony reminiscent of The Everly Brothers.
"War Eagle," Hugh says confidently as he signs off.
BE GOOD. BE YOU.
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