This year’s A-Day game seemed to be a little more exciting than past ones. Perhaps it was the excitement a new head coach brings. Or maybe, it was just a desire to put last year behind us. Either way, the weather was gorgeous and the place was jumpin’.

The day began with a very well-attended Open House put on by the Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine. Note - If you’re gonna be a cow college, be the best (and friendliest) cow college you can be. We explored the large and small animal centers, watched an intestinal surgery on some poor dog, witnessed a fierce sheep dog herding demonstration, saw some birds from the Raptor Center, and leisurely cheered on a parade of various equine and canine breeds (a true dog-and-pony show).

Afterwards, we hustled over to Jordan-Hare for the spring football game. In the past, Auburn used typical scoring for it’s spring game. However this year, new coach Gene Chizik adopted the scoring system most teams are switching to for their spring games. The system awards points for big plays on both offense and defense. This produces a higher scoring contests that features potentially critical plays.

Early on, it appeared that Auburn’s defense would win the day. Soon after taking our seats, the defense produced back-to-back sacks on QB Neil Caudle. One series later, Auburn’s offense got rolling as QB Kodi Burns hit Mario Fannin for a 41-yard pass. The offense pretty much took over after that, winning the contest 57-31. We’ll see how that translates into on-field performance. But it’s pretty hard to believe that Auburn can get any worse than the previous 2 seasons.

After the game, about a thousand of the 45,000+ fans stayed for the on-field autograph session with team coaches and players. To say it was a mad house would be too kind. Initially, there were guidelines about where coaches and players would be; with tables and chairs setup. But the place soon became a good-natured mob of fans roaming the field, surrounding any player in sight. The only area of order was the tent containing head coach Chizik. It helped that he had security making sure a somewhat orderly line was formed. I was able to scope out offensive lineman Lee Ziemba and pull him over for a quick photo. Lee was the one person I REALLY wanted a photo with since our season tickets are a few rows behind his mom.

All-in-all, it was a great day. The weather was perfect, the game-day activities were just as fun as always, and the game-play gave all Auburn fans reason hope for the future. And in the end, that’s what spring football is all about.

After the most hard-fought and exciting game of the 2009 SEC Men’s Tournament, Auburn pulled out the victory. Florida led most of the way, but simply gave out of gas to the Tigers. It was wonderful to watch.

Now Auburn moves on to their semi-final game against Tennessee (a team they defeated earlier in the season). With Kentucky and Florida both eliminated, the local economy took quite a hit. On the plus side, Auburn, LSU, Miss State, and Tennessee fans will doubtlessly enjoy this quieter, more intimate SEC Tournament.

As a bonus to the evening, I was interviewed by a local TV reporter about my patronage of the tournament.

What a relief.

Now, all Auburn eyes turn to Tampa, Florida for the SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament. After the first-round bye, Auburn will probably play Florida. It’s not ideal playing them in their home-state, but if anyone can stun the Gators, it’s Auburn.

After that, Auburn will likely sweat things out on selection Sunday to see if they’ll return to NCAA or NIT post-season play.

Alabama proved that even without former Coach Mark Gottfried, they can still choke away a victory to Auburn.

We’re so excited here at the Auburn Elvis household, ’cause now we get to relax the first day of the SEC Men’s Tournament. Usually, Auburn winds up in the dreaded Western #5 spot; which means a 1:00 Thursday tip-off time. But not this year. Now we can get settled into our hotel, take in some of the SEC FanFare, and then leisurely stroll over to the St. Pete Time Forum and enjoy an entire day of worry-free basketball.

War Eagle!

Auburn jumped out to a huge lead in the first half and held on the rest of the way.

In the 64 remaining SEC West outcomes, Auburn finished 2nd in 84% of them. Essentially win one more and we’ll have a first round bye in the SEC Men’s Tournament. And even if we don’t, we still have a handful of other scenarios that have us finishing 2nd in the West.

War Eagle!

In other SEC basketball news: Mississippi State lost to Tennessee; putting the Bulldogs and the Tigers into a tie for 2nd in the SEC West. A tie which will be broken this Saturday as Auburn visits MSU.

War Eagle!

Unfortunately, the other was LSU.

The loss ends an impressive Auburn 4-game winning streak. Yet the Tigers are still even in conference play. War Eagle!

Auburn finally wins a close one.