The John Needham Commentary

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The Sugar Bowl 2005

War Eagle to the Great Auburn Nation! My name is John Needham and these are my commentaries. The Sugar Bowl 2005.

First of all, Happy New Year to you, the Auburn Family. The House of Needham wishes all of you good health and a prosperous new year.

Well, here we go! Its not the national championship but its now time for our Auburn Tigers to show the sports writers of America and the computer geeks that know how to average better than everyone else, what the 2004 Auburn Tigers are made of in the Big Easy. Auburn’s victory over the Tennessee Volunteers in the SEC Championship game earned Auburn a shot at the 2004 ACC champion, the Hokies of Virginia Tech.

Auburn will be making its fifth appearance in the Sugar Bowl and first since 1989. The Tigers, which made three Sugar Bowl appearances in a six-year span in the 1980's, are 1-2-1 all-time at the Sugar Bowl. The only other bowl game the Tigers have made more appearances in is the Gator Bowl with six. (Source: auburntigers.com)

Virginia Tech will be making its third appearance in the Sugar Bowl and first since 2000. The Hokies are 1-1 all-time at the Sugar Bowl. The Hokies last appearance was in fact in the national championship game, where they lost to Florida State, 46-29. (Source: hokiesports.com)

The Sugar Bowl

Some history behind the Sugar Bowl. Born in the depths of the depression, the Sugar Bowl, which celebrates its 71st year, today, is comprised of more than 100 men and women volunteer members whose sole purpose is to sponsor and promote amateur sporting events as well as to foster revenue to spark economic growth in the city of New Orleans and the state. The idea for the Sugar Bowl was first presented to the City of New Orleans in 1927 by Colonel James M. Thompson, publisher of the New Orleans Item, and Sports Editor Fred Digby. The annual football classic played its first game in 1935 and spans more than seven decades. (Source: bigeasy.com)

VT: Sneaking up and under the radar in 2004

Auburn’s opponent in the Sugar Bowl is anything other than “Hokie”. With all of the hype and hoopla over the Tigers it's been easy to overlook the ACC's surprise champion. Then again, Virginia Tech has flown under the radar all season long up until the tough 16-10 win at Miami to earn its way to New Orleans. The Hokies are hardly flashy and few college football fans could name a player other than QB Bryan Randall (and even that might be a stretch), but that has been a plus. Past Tech teams were full of speed and NFL talent with many household names, but they always fell short. It's not fair to call the 2004 bunch an overachieving lot; they've banded together to become a tremendous all-around team. Out of the two losses, one was to USC helped by a controversial pass interference call. The second was on a last second missed field goal to NC State. In other words, the team was probably two plays away from doing some beefing of its own about not being in Miami on January 4th. (Source: collegefootballnews.com)

Who are the Hokies?

I don’t know about the rest of you but I like any good commentary, I like to research Auburn’s opponents as much as I can in order to bring you the best reading experience possible. Now, I don’t always succeed but I try. I try to think of “Off the Wall” subjects to talk about to get you the reader to say, “I did not know that!” The question I wanted answered was this: What is a hokie? Where did the TERM come from and How did it become associated with VT Sports, I found the answer on hokiesports.com.

The answer leads all the way back to 1896 when Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College changed its name to Virginia Polytechnic Institute. With the change came the necessity for writing a new cheer and a contest for such a purpose was held by the student body.

Senior O.M. Stull won first prize for his "Hokie" yell which is still used today.

"Old Hokie" Cheer

Hokie, Hokie, Hokie, Hi!

Tech, Tech, VPI

Sol-a-rex, Sol-a-rah

Poly Tech Vir-gin-ia

Ray rah VPI

Team! Team! Team!

Later, when asked if "Hokie" had any special meaning, Stull explained the word was solely the product of his imagination and was used only as an attention-getter for his yell. It soon became a nickname for all Tech teams and for those people loyal to Tech athletics. The official definition of "hokie" is "a loyal Virginia Tech Fan". Virginia Tech’s mascot is a bird which has evolved from a turkey. In fact, Virginia Tech teams were once called the "gobblers"! The bird is known only by one name: “Hokiebird”. (Source: hokiesports.com)

The Tigers and the Hokies:

The Nokia Sugar Bowl will be the fifth all-time meeting between Auburn and Virginia Tech, but first since 1978, a 18-7 Auburn win in Blacksburg. The two teams also met in 1924, '25 and '75. (Source: auburntigers.com)

My thoughts on the game:

This will be best match-up of defenses you will probably see all bowl season. Virginia Tech ranks fourth in the nation in total defense and third in scoring defense and Auburn ranks fifth in total defense and first in scoring Defense. The game will be decided by which ever defense makes the fewest mistakes. So, you can better believe it, this will be a head-hitting game and the Coach Beamer and his Hokies aren’t coming down to Louisiana to roll over for Auburn. Beamer is one of the best college football coaches in America and a man for whom I respect for his accomplishments. He will have his team ready for our Tigers and if our focus is off by just a little, we could pay for it with a final season record of 12-1.

Yet, Your 2004 Auburn Tigers have faced many huddles this season. Many thought we would crumble under the iron heel of the Saban-Tooth Tiger, but the Hurricane combination of Campbell and Taylor proved too much for the Cajuns.

Many thought “OK, you ONLY beat LSU by one point, now let’s see what you can do against Tennessee in Knoxville at night!” Again, your Auburn Tigers met the challenge of a hostile environment and the Volunteers were ROCKY TOPPED 34-10.

Next, Georgia crossed the border and the DAWG NATION quickly started to mark their territory around Jordan-Hare Stadium. Your Auburn Tigers took this action as out-right disobedience. They picked-up that dog and RUBBED THEIR NOSES IN IT by the score of 24-6.

The Tide attempted to rise up against the Auburn Tigers next, but your Tigers weathered the storm, 21-13.

Tennessee regrouped and played Auburn well but failed in the end by a score of 38-28.

This is Auburn’s time. The Auburn Nation..the Auburn Family is ready. Our Tigers are ready. So, Let’s all go to work.

In closing I would like to say this. God Bless you all. Thank you for a wonderful and unforgettable season. Thank you for supporting my football commentaries. I appreciate all the e-mails and ideas. I love you all. War Eagle, War Eagle Forever, BEAT VIRGINIA TECH and here’s to going 13-0!

John Needham

Hoover, AL

Sugar Bowl Milestone History:

1930s

The 1930s set the stage for the Sugar Bowl as the first-ever Classic was played on New Year's Day in 1935 between Tulane University and Temple University. The Green Wave beat the Owls 20-14. The inaugural Classic was a hit, and in 1936 the Sugar Bowl enlarged Tulane Stadium by 14,000 seats to a capacity of 38,000.

1940s

World War II took center stage during the 1940s, but the Sugar Bowl Classic continued. In 1942, the Bowl played host to the East-West Shrine game as the annual contest was moved away from San Francisco as a wartime safety measure. Named after the Sugar Bowl's first president, the Warren V. Miller Trophy was established to recognize the Classic's most outstanding football player. Texas All-American Bobby Layne was the award's first recipient.

1950s

The 1950s were a decade of firsts for the Classic as legendary coach Paul "Bear" Bryant led his 1951 Kentucky team to a 13-7 win over Oklahoma for his first of eight Sugar Bowl victories, and Navy became the first service academy to play in the Classic as the Middies upset SEC champion Ole Miss, 21-0. The Bowl sponsored its first live television program in 1953 and the game was simulcast coast-to-coast that year.

1960s

Technology played an enormous role for the Sugar Bowl during the 1960s as the Classic became the first bowl game televised coast-to-coast in color as well as becoming the first bowl televised by satellite to Hawaii. Ole Miss played in the most Bowl games of the decade with four and Alabama won three Sugar Bowl crowns under Bear Bryant as he became the first coach to post Bowl wins with two different teams.

1970s

The Bowl continued its rise in popularity and stature in the 1970s. In 1972, a record 84,083 fans witnessed Oklahoma beat Auburn, 40-22, while the very next year, Oklahoma and Penn State played in the Bowl's first-ever night game. The Alabama-Notre Dame game was the most talked about, most attended and most watched on television of any Sugar Bowl contest. Notre Dame won the national title in that game with a 24-23 victory in front of a record 85,161 fans at Tulane Stadium. The game captured 25.3 percent of the national television audience. The Bowl said goodbye to Tulane Stadium, its home for 39 years, and moved into the Louisiana Superdome in 1975 as Alabama christened the Dome, winning its fourth Sugar Bowl title with a 13-6 victory over Penn State.

1980s

During the decade of the 1980s, the Bowl celebrated its silver anniversary, enjoyed a presidential visit and signed its first title sponsor. Auburn edged Michigan, 9-7, in the Classic's 50th Anniversary game in 1984. Former President Jimmy Carter watched his home state team Georgia win a national title in 1981 with a 17-10 victory over Notre Dame and USF&G became the Bowl's title sponsor in 1986. The Classic also saw its first tie as Auburn and Syracuse finished in a 16-16 deadlock in the 1988 game.

1990s

The Sky's has been the limit for the Sugar Bowl during the 1990s as it joined a bowl alliance, changed title sponsors, produced record payouts and hosted three national title games. In 1990, Miami defeated Alabama to win the first national championship of the new decade. In 1991, the Sugar Bowl joined forces with the Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl and Fiesta Bowl to form the "Bowl Coalition." In 1993, the Bowl saw Alabama beat Miami for the national championship in a matchup of the country's top two teams. The Bowl reached its 60th-anniversary in 1994 and in 1995, Nokia, a Finnish telecommunications and electronics supplier became just the second title sponsor of the Sugar Bowl. The Classic celebrated its 63rd birthday in 1997 while hosting the national title game between Florida and Florida State in front of a Superdome record of 78,347. Both teams received a record payout of $8.736 million. In 1998, the Sugar Bowl, along with the Rose, Fiesta and Orange Bowls, joined the Bowl Championship Series, a spinoff of the Bowl Alliance. The BCS guaranteed a matchup of college football's two top teams in a national championship game with the four bowls rotating as host. Under the BCS rotation, the Sugar Bowl would open the year 2000 by hosting the national championship game.

2000s

The Sugar Bowl ushered in the new millennium in grand fashion by hosting college football's first national championship game of the new century. A record Louisiana Superdome crowd of 79,280 saw No. 1 ranked Florida State Seminoles defeat No. 2 ranked Virginia Tech Hokies, 46-29. The Classic celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2004 with its second national championship game of the new millennium. The Fighting Tigers of LSU beat the Oklahoma Sooners, 21-14 for the BCS crown in front of an all-time Dome record crowd of 79, 342. The teams also received a sweet payout of $14-$17 million each.

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Heres one from a Hokie...

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