[NU Sports] No predictions?

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

> I despise the SEC speed comment. 

Me too. I think it's something the SEC coaches use to get into the heads of Big Ten or Big XII teams, as St. Urban the Waffler has done masterfully in between press conference whines the last four years and it really stuck in the vast chasms and cobwebs of the Ohio State University "student" athlete's brain.:)

The reality is that the fastest player on the field during that OSU/UF title game was Ted Ginn, from Ohio State (who was injured right away, unfortunately for the Bucks). The fastest running back in the NFL is from a CUSA school, not the SEC. And in terms of our game, Auburn has speed but no one faster than Jeremy Maclin, who we faced against Mizzou last year on turf.

Give the SEC credit - they play up their myths well. They harp on the SEC speed and the SEC dominance in bowl games and do it so much and so often (with help from CBS, while ABC chooses to bash the Big Ten instead with those two morons in the studio) that it starts to become accepted as fact.

Nevermind that the Big Ten has actually beaten the SEC more often than not in recent bowl games, winning 4 of the last 5 Cap One bowls (7 of the last 11) and 4 of the past 7 in Tampa.

The SEC is a great conference, with great athletes and great speed from their five-star recruiting base ... but it's not as vast a gap as the hype leads people to believe. Big Ten teams can't buy into it so easily.

Fitz is taking the right approach by not buying into it and rightly pointing out that there's speed and there's quickness, and that NU can negate any speed differential by quicker reactions and quicker thinking on the field. 

Mind over matter. Urban's vaunted speed and Gator-thuggery didn't matter much when Michigan went into Orlando and shoved Mike Hart down their throats 500 times. We can't get away from our game plan because of the reported speed. Just play our game. I'll take McManis and Wootten. I'll take our team play and quick adjustments.

As for predictions, it's a tough game to call because there's just not much to look at to see how these teams match up. Auburn played great against Bama and NU played great against Iowa. Throw those two games out as rivalries and teams playing over their heads in their best efforts of the year. What you're left with is a team that went 7-5 in an underwhelming SEC and a team that lost to Syracuse (Minny isn't a bad loss in September - it's a terrible loss in November).

The teams have bursts of talent and gimmick offenses, but are inconsistent, so it really is a crap shoot. The line is more due to the name of NU and the name of Auburn. 

I think the time off helps NU more, as Auburn was catching fire with the Bama game. It helped NU heal on defense and it helped Hankwitz get a good look at some film to come up with some defensive schemes they haven't seen before.

I know we're huge underdogs, but with a healthy Kafka, healthy Wootten and time to plan, I certainly don't think we'll be blown out of the stadium like the Citrus Bowl against Team Payton. Our seniors want it!

GO CATS!!!
-SjT