The Wiz of Odds

Auburn Cheap Shots (the Nick Fairley File)

Auburn's Nick Fairley draws a penalty for an extremely late hit to the back of Georgia's Aaron Murray during Saturday's game at Auburn.

Fairley wasn't done. Late in the fourth quarter, he drives his helmet into the legs of Murray and knocks the quarterback out of the game.

CBS analyst Gary Danielson made a case for Fairley being blocked into Murray, but given the Tiger defender's earlier play, it's impossible to side with Danielson.

The next play, Georgia players go after Fairley and a scuffle ensues. Fairley is eventually pulled from the pile and Auburn assistant Trooper Taylor tries to usher him to the sideline. Fairley believes Taylor is there to congratulate him and celebrates at midfield. He just doesn't get it.

Fairley has developed a reputation for body slamming quarterbacks this season. There are two examples after the jump.

Auburn Moves to 6-0 by Defeating Kentucky

Auburn ventured on the road for the second time Saturday with a visit to Southeastern Conference rival Kentucky. The Tigers built at 17-point lead, then saw the Wildcats storm back and tie the score before Wes Byrum kicked a 24-yard field goal to give Auburn a 37-34 victory. Wiz correspondent Greg Laughlin was among the 70,776 at Lexington Stadium, and you can view his gallery from the game by clicking here.

The Auburn Family

Starring "Charles from Reeltown" and "Tammy from Auburn," frequent callers to the Paul Finebaum Radio Show. Thanks to Get The Picture and Capstone Report.

Auburn

The Wiz's 2010 look at official team poster schedules kicks off with the Auburn Tigers. Gene Chizik enters his second season as coach and the schedule is favorable with eight home games. Auburn plays host to Arkansas State, Clemson, Louisiana Monroe and Chattanooga in nonconference play, and the Iron Bowl against Alabama is Nov. 26 at Tuscaloosa. Thanks to Tyler for sending the poster!

As a run up to the start of the season, the Wiz will display one poster each day until our supply is exhausted. Last year, the site displayed a record 69 posters.

Then we turn it over to readers, who will be able to vote on the poster of the year. Until then, send your team's poster schedule to jayzuma (at) gmail.com.

Click the image for an enlarged view of the poster.

Political Football in Alabama

If Tim James, Republican candidate for governor in Alabama, wasn't a divisive figure leading to the June 1 primary (see video above), he became one Friday.

James, in a neck-and-neck battle with Bradley Byrne for the nomination, denied that if elected, he would cut the annual $4.1 million salary of Nick Saban or fire the Crimson Tide coach.

"Dispelling another untruth from the Byrne camp: I will neither be firing nor cutting Coach Saban's salary if elected," read a post on James' Twitter page.

The controversy started in April, when James reportedly joked about cutting Saban's salary during a meeting with the editorial board of the Crimson White, Alabama's student newspaper.

"It was kind of an off-handed remark" James made as he walked up the office stairs with the newspaper's staff members, former managing editor Alan Blinder told the Birmingham News.

Tampa Town Is a Mighty Fine Place to Be

The first stop on Greg's trip was Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, where Northwestern and Auburn went at it in the Outback Bowl. Despite the wet conditions, young and old alike were entertained by this game, won by the Tigers, 38-35, in overtime. You can view Greg's gallery by clicking here.