Our friend Brian came down to crash last night. he was working today’s game for al.com. He sat up in the press box and then worked his way down to the field for the game’s big finish. It is a tough job he has there.

This is at Tiger Walk, where I saw a handful of people who’d jockeyed for the better part of an hour move aside so a little boy could get a right on the rope line to see his football heroes. And then they moved again so a young man in a wheelchair could have a nice view. Auburn people, in their environment, are so incredibly gracious it just makes you proud to be a part of the place.

These things would no doubt happen in other places, too. It isn’t a judgement, merely a statement. Anyway. Tiger Walk. The players walk down the two blocks from the athletic department and into the stadium, fans line up in the thousands to cheer them on. Here are two of them:

We set out to tailgate with friends, who tried to upgrade our tickets. We already have good seats for the season, so we gave them back. Somehow and for some reason they gave us some more, which upgraded our tickets to the scholarship level. So we’re in the Nelson Club. This is a tilt-shift shot from my phone looking into the south end zone:

Aubie, if you hadn’t heard, stole the crystal football during the off-season. You can see all of his exploits here. He was finally “caught” by the canine training unit on campus. During the pre-game they showed a video of his confrontation with the football coach. Aubie was ashamed and scared, two new components of his personality that you don’t normall see in the character. (The Aubie character is quite defined.) And then, a moment later, he ran the crystal football onto the field.

Now it is on permanent display in the Lovelace Museum. Just before Aubie “returned” the missing trophy, The Yankee and I had a run-in with the football ourselves. That wasn’t a typical part of your gameday experience.

The first touchdown of the year, Barrett Trotter found Emory Blake for a 56-yard touchdown. Blake finished with three catches for 95 yards.

Utah State’s new quarterback had a field day for the Aggies. Chuckie Keeton completed 21 passes for 213 yards. He’s throwing here to Michael Smith, who had 65 total yards,

Auburn’s defense is talented, but young. And young is overselling it. They’re brand new. Only four of these guys had serious playing time last year and just two started.

If you’ve ever wondered if it would be cool to be a freshman and return a kickoff 97 yards for a score in your first ever collegiate game, just ask Tre Mason about that feeling:

BCS MVP Mike Dyer had a “quiet” day, in part because Utah State took Auburn out of their game plan and dominated the Tigers’ line.

Dyer gained 58 yards and had two scores, including the game winner with 30 seconds ont he clock. We talked to him for a minute after the game.

But what will Auburn do without Cam Newton!?!?

Barrett Trotter went 17 of 23, including one poor throw and a lot of smart decisions to get rid of the ball when he had to. He picked up 261 yards passing and three touchdowns. He looked collected as he helped rally Auburn past upset-minded Utah State and created two scoring drives in the final three minutes to claim the win. Auburn is going to be fine at quarterback.

I suggested to The Yankee that part of why the team struggled was that she’d forgotten one of her rituals:

But the Tigers didn’t give up and they found a way to win against Utah State. The Aggies wanted that win, and probably should have won. They controlled, if not dictated, the happenings of 55 minutes of play, but couldn’t hang on in the final minutes.

Auburn won 42-38, and they weren’t very happy about how it came to pass. Utah State left feeling dejected — you could see it on their kids’ faces as they stood with their handful of traveling fans. They should be proud. They played inspired football and were a great deal of fun to watch. There were more than a few Auburn folks congratulating them after their game, too.