"Thank Goodness They Don't Draw Pictures on the Scoreboard...

Because if they did, the Outback Bowl would probably look like this:"

This thought went through my head as the 'Cats somehow found a tenth life in Tampa today with a running into the kicker call. Fortunately, I don't play on Auburn's defense: the bruised and battered defense who most likely saw this picture when they looked at the scoreboard:

This would not have panned out well for the actual Charlie Brown, as that b!%^h Lucy most certainly would have pulled the ball out from under us again and it would have been first and goal at the 1 yard line. But the good news is, of all the Charlie Browns in the world Northwestern, it turns out, is the Charlie Browniest. Despite uncanny offensive numbers, a serious lack of officiating congruence (from where I was sitting at least), and a depleted Auburn defense, the bigger cats somehow came away victorious.

Big kudos to Northwestern, who played the game of their lives. I hope Gus was sitting there taking notes, because if you want to get more plays in, Northwestern will show you how to do it. Sure the calls didn't seem fair to Auburn, but that's not to take away from Northwestern at all. You play with the hand you're dealt, and Northwestern capitalized on every break they got, save the last one. That's more than you could say for a lot of Auburn teams in the past.

But as much as Northwestern deserves credit for playing out of their minds, and making the most of their opportunities, you have to give Auburn credit for playing until the final.... final.... final whistle. With all the breaks that didn't go their way they played their hearts out. And a lot of breaks didn't go Auburn's way today, especially for the defense. Already hurting from injuries, they had to deal with a penalty margin of 12-3 (and a disparity of nearly 100 yards), an offense that wouldn't give them a good rest, playing 115 snaps, and going through the mental stress of winning twice, only to find out they didn't win twice. All that would have been more than enough reason to pack it in. But that's not what this Auburn team does. So they Did What They Do, and Nieko comes up with a HUGE play, and Auburn wins.

So it certainly wasn't pretty, but in the end, they don't draw pictures on the scoreboard. And a win is a win is a win. And a bowl win is damn sure a win.

WAR DAMN EAGLE