I'm a huge St. Louis Cardinals fan, and I had thought that Thursday evening, when Matt Holliday bobbled would should have been a game-ending fly ball, was about as dejected as I would be, as a sports fan, for a while.

For a few nausea-inducing moments in the third quarter there, when Auburn peeled off three touchdowns in the blink of an eye, I was beginning to wonder if I had been wrong.

I suspect you were having panicky thoughts as well. We've watched these Hogs cough up too many leads over the years.

But thank God for Dennis Johnson. His 65-yard kickoff return to close the third quarter seemed to steady the Hogs, and it gave me hope that Arkansas just might make it out of the afternoon alive.

We are alive indeed. Alive and kicking.

That's thanks not only to Johnson, who gained 140 yards on three kickoff returns, but also Michael Smith. The senior running back came out of hiding to gain 145 yards on 18 carries and scored one touchdown. In fact, the whole backfield came out of hiding, as the Hogs rushed for 221 yards on 45 carries. Those yards on the ground led to some nice, long scoring drives that helped to eat up clock and keep our defense off the field.

And speaking of the D, sure it looked like Swiss cheese throughout much of the third quarter, but how's about 378 yards of total offense for Auburn? Not too shabby when you consider the Tigers came into this game averaging 512.8 total yards a game.

I'm undoubtedly leaving several heroes out of the dicussion, but I've rambled on long enough. Let's hear from you. And, oh yeah ... Woo Pig Sooie!!

(Box score)