As we sit a mere hours away (finally) from the BCS National Title game, it is a good time to take a glance at a few quick thoughts, both serious and slightly non-serious, regarding tonight's contest.

 - Auburn has come from behind plenty this season. They were down 17-0 to Clemson, 20-7 against South Carolina, 21-7 against Georgia, and 24-0 against Alabama. They came back to win each and everyone of those games, which is very impressive.

Here is the thing though; as impressive as it is to dig yourself out of a hole that many times, at some point you have to wonder why you keep jumping into hole. Auburn's got fight, there is no doubting that, but there is a reason they have to fight so hard at times.

Like your buddy from college that always put off all his work until the last possible second, it is always very impressive watching them crank it up towards the end and pull out an A. That is until that one one day when the deadline gets the better of them and the crashing and burning begins.

 - It will be interesting to see how the pacing of the Oregon offense effects Auburn's defense. Auburn gives up a lot of points, 24.5 per game, but they do very well against good running backs.

Against three of the SEC's top five rushers (Cam Newton and Tennessee's, Tauren Poole being the other two) Auburn has done very well. Over those four games, playing USC twice, the combination of Marcus Lattimore, LSU's Stevan Ridley, and Arkansas' Knile Davis have totally 245 yards and only one touchdown.

Oregon may put up more than their share of points against Auburn, but  the Tiger defense my very well be able to slow down LaMichael James and his 1,682 and 22 touchdowns and gain a huge edge.

 - Have the Ducks faced anything close to the freakish robot-life player that is Cam Newton? The closest they have come may very well have been facing Stanford's Andrew Luck, who threw for 341 yards and two touchdowns, with two interceptions, and ran for 39 yards and a score.

Unless they had some secret battle with Robo-Cop over the break, this will be the first time they have faced such a freak.

 - Have the Tigers faced as good of a dual-threat quarterback as Darron Thomas? Not really. LSU's Jordan Jefferson runs well and ran for 74 yards and a score against Auburn, but the kid can't pass at all. 

The top SEC passer, Arkansas' Ryan Mallett, was held to only 96 yards and a touchdown against the Tigers (granted I think he lost his mind in that game and Tyler Wilson did fill in nicely for 332 yards and four touchdowns) and South Carolina's Steven Garcia managed only 170 yards, two scores, and two interceptions against the Tigers in the SEC title game. A lot of the Ducks' hopes will rest on Darron's arm.

Thomas ability to both run and pass and may give Auburn something they have only seen in practice.

Final Thought:

Both teams provide each other with something they have yet to see this season and both teams are excellent at what they do. For this reason part of me is tempted to roll with Perfect Strangers' Balki Bartokomous' strategy in picking games.

**During a mild gambling addiction episode Balki picked all NFL games according to which mascot would win in a fight. It worked for about a week I think.

According to this strategy, the Tigers have an advantage in all areas outside of crapping on everything. Lord knows ducks are the kings of that.

I actually do like Auburn tonight. They have taken the more tested path to reach this game, have dealt with mad outside issues (thank you Cecil Newton), and have kept their poise and come from behind plenty this year. I dig that about them and I think they are the more mentally tough of the two teams.

I think Auburn stops James with their speedy defensive line and Cam Newton goes Gizmo Duck on everyone.

Auburn 52, Oregon 45.