While we very much enjoy each one of our weekly blogger Q&A exchanges, we have to admit that we circle the Auburn game on the calendar every year and look forward to it as a particular favorite. That's because we're such big fans of Jerry Hinnen and his War Blog Eagle site. His humor, insight and compulsively readable writing style make it a true pleasure to match wits with him.

Many, many thanks to Jerry for finding the time to answer our questions this year in the midst of learning to change diapers and function without sleep (he recently became a father). Once you read this half of the Q&A, be sure to check out our answers to his questions over at War Blog Eagle.

A lot of the pregame hype is quite rightfully centering around Cameron Newton and Ryan Mallett. What other offensive players should the Hogs be worried about? And who else on the Razorbacks' roster concerns you?

The only other true skill-position star for Auburn thus far this season--since the tailbacks, while solid, have been too fumble-prone and have shared the ball too much for any one of them to shine--has been receiver Darvin Adams. We thought replacing Chris Todd might result in receptions being spread out a bit more, since Todd often developed tunnel-vision for Adams, but it turns out our quarterbacks just love throwing to Adams all the time because no matter how bad a pass you throw, he usually makes the catch anyway. Newton, as irony would have it, is of course even more infatuated than Todd ever was.

So expect to see plenty of Adams Saturday. But it's also worth worrying about the Auburn offensive line. They got pushed around and frankly dominated, physically, by the Clemson front. Chizik and line ocach Jeff Grimes both called them out in the press the week following, and they've been lights-out ever since, powering Auburn to more than 300 yards rushing against both Kentucky and a Carolina defensive front that handled itself pretty damn well against Alabama. If Auburn can get some first downs and long drives early in the game, the line has the potential to take over against a tired Hog front in the fourth.

As for who on the Razorback roster concerns us, GregChildsJariusWrightJoeAdamsD.J.WilliamsGregChildsJariusWrightJoeAdamsD.J.WilliamsGregChildsJarius WrightJoeAdamsD.J.WilliamsGregChildsJariusWrightJoeAdamsD.J.WilliamsGregChildsJariusWrightJoeAdams D.J.WilliamsGregChildsJariusWrightJoeAdamsGregChildsJariusWrightJoeAdamsD.J.WilliamsGregChildsJarius 

I could go on, but you probably get the point. Our secondary, to this point it has not been teh good.

What approach will the Tigers take to slowing down Mallett and his receivers? How can the Hogs' D contain Newton (or is that even possible)? Is a shootout inevitable, or will the defenses hold?

To answer your third question first, I don't think a shootout is inevitable, especially if you're defining a shootout as both teams landing in the 30-40 range. Auburn's defense is due for a good game, coming back home after the total egg they laid in Lexington, and they've shown against Miss. St. and Carolina they're perfectly capable of keeping even dangerous offenses somewhat in check. On the other side, I have to admit I'm impressed with the improvement in Arkansas's defense, and Auburn's attack under Malzahn has always had the potential for a 40-point explosion ... but it's also always had the potential to turn in three straight three-and-outs and put up three points in a half. (Remember how it began last year's Arkansas game?) I'll honestly be more surprised if both teams cross the 30-point barrier than if both wind up below it.

The approach Auburn takes against Mallett and Co. will probably be the same they've taken against every passing attack so far this season: deep help, no bombs allowed over the top, keep everything in front of you, let the LBs stuff any running attempts, and wait for either a big play by the defensive line or a screw-up by the quarterback. This strategy worked great against Chris Relf, was iffy against Kyle Parker and Stephen Garcia, and utterly collapsed against Mike "Hey, I got Accurate in the Offseason" Hartline. Mallett obviously has the goods to keep the chains moving ,but we also know he's shown a tendency in the past to get impatient and look downfield for openings that aren't there. If he takes what Auburn gives him, D.J. Williams is going to have an absolute field day and Auburn's going to have a hell of a time getting off the field.

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Now that the conference season is starting, it's time for our annual tradition of Q&A exchanges with our blogging counterparts on the other side of the field. In this first installment, we hear from Kyle King of the excellent Georgia blog, DawgSports.com (definitely read it often this week). Many thanks to Kyle for his time and insightful analysis! And before you do anything productive today, be sure to check out our responses to his questions.

1. Last season was a rocky one by the Bulldogs' usual standards, and this year hasn't gotten off to the greatest start. What's the mentality among the fans at this point? And is Mark Richt truly on the hot seat?

While no one was happy with last weekend’s result, no one should be terribly discouraged or surprised by it, either. Georgia took a redshirt freshman quarterback and a retooled defense on the road to face probably the best South Carolina squad of the Steve Spurrier era, which is led by a highly-touted tailback and a consistently stingy defense. Despite being too conservative on offense and too timid on defense, the Bulldogs were still in the game deep into the fourth quarter.

Those who are howling are baying for the blood of offensive coordinator Mike Bobo, not calling for the head of the head coach. Any jeopardy in which Mark Right might have found himself in 2010 was postponed for at least another couple of years when he cleaned house on the defensive side of the ball. A collapse so complete as to put Coach Richt’s job on the line in 2010 is virtually unthinkable. A coach with 90 wins in his first nine years, a pair of SEC championship rings, a couple of conference coach of the year trophies, and the universal admiration of Bulldog Nation as a good man may have to put up with some grumbling, but, unless the dark days of the mid-1990s return and Georgia goes back to posting six-win seasons with no bowl bids, Coach Richt will be in Athens for the long haul.

2. Now that you've had a couple of games to evaluate Aaron Murray, what are your impressions? Can he be a difference maker in a potential shootout against the Hogs?

Both Coach Bobo and Coach Richt have acknowledged that they should have taken the bubble wrap off of Aaron Murray sooner. The redshirt freshman completed two-thirds of his passes for 192 yards and no interceptions against the Gamecocks, which represented a solid outing compared to the performances turned in by other Bulldog rookie signal callers when facing the Palmetto State Poultry.

Murray is still young, so he’s still green, but he shows signs of being Greene . . . as in David Greene, who started for Mark Richt as a redshirt freshman in 2001 and left school four years later as the winningest quarterback in Division I-A college football history. Murray will be taken off the leash against the Razorbacks, so we’ll see what he can do, but he definitely has the tools, and it’s time to find out just how adept he is at using them.

3. Much has been made about Georgia's transition to a new defensive scheme under Todd Grantham. What's your take on it so far? Which aspects of the D give you the most and least confidence as they prepare to face Ryan Mallet and company?

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As part of our ongoing public service to bring you, the Razorback fan, the best and most in-depth information about the Hogs and their opponents, we like to invite our fellow bloggers over to our little corner of the Internet to give us the scoop on their teams.

This week, we're pleased to present the wit and wisdom of Juco All-American from the Ole Miss blog Red Cup Rebellion. The RCR guys are known for bringing the snark on every play, as it were, and have even been known to say a few derogatory things about Arkansas (the team, state and fans) every now and then. So, we figured it would be a good interview and it was. Thanks to Juco for his time, and read on for all the details:

1. We're not experts on the subject, but it seems like the 2008 version of Jevan Snead may have been the victim of some sort of alien abduction during the offseason. Does the big game against UAB mean that the '08 Snead has returned, or is the jury still out?

Obviously you can’t judge much at all from one game, especially one against a team that ranks dead last in the country in pass defense. Jevan’s struggles have been a recurring first question among the Q&As we do each week. Let me say this. I think Jevan Snead, when given the proper talent around him, is exceptional. He can make incredible things happen with his arm. The problem comes when he doesn’t have adequate protection.

Jevan says that his favorite player, and the player after whom he models himself, is Brett Favre. It’s easy to see why. He relies heavily on his arm, and he thinks he can get out of bad situations by fitting the ball into tight windows. Sometimes it works. Often it doesn’t. But the bottom line is that when Jevan isn’t pressured, and has time to make his reads, he’s quite good. Unfortunately, we haven’t afforded him that luxury this season. Replacing Michael Oher was much more difficult than we expected. It turns out that Ed Orgeron didn’t like recruiting offensive linemen, and Houston Nutt hasn’t done a bang-up job there either yet.

Anyway, I digress. The jury is definitely still out on Jevan. If he is able to perform well against your secondary, which has been up and down this season, then I will be ready to say that he’s coming along.

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Following up from our earlier exchange with the Hobnail Boot, we're pleased to present a Q&A with another top Georgia blogger, T. Kyle King from our SB Nation counterpart, DawgSports.com. Quite frankly, the Bulldogs are kind of a mystery to us, so it was great to get Kyle's insights and general scouting report (note to Petrino: base your game plan on this interview and all will go well on Saturday).

Many thanks to Kyle for taking the time to share his knowledge, and keep an eye out for our answers to his questions coming soon on DawgSports.com.

Give us an overview of Georgia's strengths and weaknesses, and the players that are most likely to make the Hogs miserable on Saturday.

Hopefully, Justin Houston is one of the latter. The Bulldog defensive end is back from a two-game suspension, and not a moment too soon. The Red and Black got pretty good pressure on Stephen Garcia last weekend, but the South Carolina signal caller was able to squirt out of harm’s way. Ryan Mallett is a less mobile quarterback than Garcia and the Georgia defensive line is improved by Houston’s return.

While the Bulldogs boast a fairly solid secondary, receivers can find the seams and surehanded tight ends can turn short passes into big gains over the middle if the opposing quarterback is able to run through his reads. If Mallett lacks adequate time to throw, it will be because Houston is the missing piece of the puzzle for the Georgia front seven. If the Bulldogs can get to Mallett with four down linemen, it could be a long night for the Hogs.

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This is the third and final installment of our Q&A with former Razorback player and coach Ken Hatfield (here are parts 1 and 2 if you need to catch up). In today's segment, Hatfield offers his thoughts on many of the memorable Razorback players that he coached and discusses Houston Nutt and Bobby Petrino. A thousand thanks to Coach Hatfield for being so generous with his time. Interviewing him was a real pleasure.

Expats: Of all the great players you've had, who were the guys who would consistently amaze you with what they could do on the field, and who were the other ones who maybe weren't quite as talented, but they had a lot of heart and they were able to excel because of that?

I'm not sure I can single out anybody because the whole team was full of people like that. Here's Wayne Martin, a guy from Cherry Valley, Ark. They lived in an old cotton patch, and his dad used to do roofing work. His dad would take a Greyhound bus to everywhere Wayne would play.

He'd get to the Greyhound station in Fayetteville and walk all the way from the station to the ballgame, spend the night in Wayne's room on the floor, and get up and walk back to the Greyhound bus station every week, just to see him play.

And then to see Wayne be drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft - and also his brother was drafted in the second round of the NBA Draft the exact same year - and to know they were going to be able to take care of their mother and father, that was one of the great joys of coaching.

Barry Foster didn't even play his senior year and went on to become an outstanding NFL running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Steve Atwater was a quarterback in high school. We gave him one pass play to throw as a freshman, and we immediately moved him to safety! He threw an end-over-end spiral that wasn't too exciting, so I said, "You need to go safety."

And to see the kind of dominator he was in the NFL - he was 6'4" and a just a mean, mean and tough safety. He was like a linebacker playing back there.

Freddie Childress - here's a guy that had played defense all the time. He loved defense, and we asked him the middle of his freshman year to move to offense. He had to think long and hard about it, but he said, "For the good of the team, I will."

I remember the next week, we played SMU, and they had a great All-American tackle. Freddie would bounce right out of that huddle, be the first one to the line of scrimmage, and I mean he would pancake that All-American, just knock him on his butt. And I knew then we had a great player at offensive guard.

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It's time for Part 2 of our Q&A with former Razorback player and coach Ken Hatfield (here's Part 1). Hatfield coached the Hogs for six seasons (1984-1989) and compiled a 55-17-1 record, good enough for the highest winning percentage of any head coach in Razorback history. In today's installment, he discusses his relationships with his former players, the most exciting victories and the most depressing loss of his time in Fayetteville, and his two Cotton Bowl teams. (And once again, thanks to Jacob at hogdb.com for the photos.)

Expats: Do you still keep in touch with many of your former players?

Hatfield: A good number of them. Of course, Quinn Grovey is up here doing the color on the radio broadcasts. I've seen Steve Atwater a couple of times when he's come back. Wayne Martin.

I've seen several others - Mike Shepherd, Steve Hudson. I talked to Shannon Spangler today down in Little Rock. Matt Pitner, who was a center for us, I used to play golf with him down in Houston. I've seen Kerry Crawford, a noseguard for us. Dexter Howard is a preacher here in town.

So I get to see them every now and then. I'm not in close contact with them, but they know that I'd be glad to help them. Any time we need each other, I think we could call on each other.

Expats: Reflecting on your coaching tenure at Arkansas, what would you say was your most exciting victory as Hogs coach? On the flip side, what was the most demoralizing loss?

Hatfield: Well, there's two exciting victories. The first one was against Texas A&M in 1988. A&M had won the conference the year before. They were on probation that year. Their whole big mantra before playing us was, since though they can't compete for the Cotton Bowl, the Southwest Conference is going to send the second-best team.

To beat them up here, 25-20, was a really big, monumental game. They were tremendous. They were a great team. To beat them here before our fans and then to know that we were undefeated in Southwest Conference play that year and not them, I think that was probably as gratifying as anything.

Probably the most exciting game we had, though, was Houston in 1989. They had Andre Ware, that year's Heisman Trophy winner. We had a big shootout, 45-39, down in Little Rock. It was just one of those exciting games from the first play to the last play. You didn't dare go get a hot dog because you'd miss three scores. I don't think they did a lot of business at the concession stands that night, but that's alright.

I think those two were the most exciting.

The most devastating was the loss to Texas in 1987 on the last play of the game. The quarterback threw the ball behind the receiver, and the receiver makes a tremendous catch. He actually pinned the ball to his hip and catches it and falls in the end zone. They win 16-14. They don't even kick the extra point.

That was probably the most devastating loss.

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In the third and final installment of our Q&A with former Razorback great U.S. Reed, the Pine Bluff native talks about Eddie Sutton's perm, how the '78 Final Four squad would fare against the '94 national championship team, and trying to make the NBA. (Here are Parts 1 and 2.) Many, many thanks to U.S. for his time and graciousness. And a special tip of the hat to Kevin Crass, a friend of the blog and a high-school teammate of Reed's who helped us get in contact with U.S.

Expats: During your time in Fayetteville, who were the guys who kept everybody loose, and who were the locker-room leaders?

Reed: Well, all of The Triplets would keep things going and keep people laughing.

Expats: What was Coach Sutton like to play for?

Reed: He was a great coach to play for. He was a real disciplinarian. He was a stickler for doing certain things a certain way.

He was really defensive oriented. He didn't really care too much about scoring - he knew you were going to do that. But he wanted you to stop the other team. He really got excited over defense, which wins games.

During that era, there wasn't a shot clock or three-point shots, so defense was really key.

Expats: We have kind of a goofy question. You were at Arkansas when Sutton went from having straight hair to a perm. We were wondering about the first time he appeared in front of the team with his new ‘do. Did you guys have to work hard to keep from laughing?

Reed: We kind of joked around with him. Everybody kept saying, "You've got hair like U.S. now."

Coach Sutton was the kind of guy who liked to dress and liked to look good. He had a little ego, a little swagger. So, it wasn't a big surprise.

Expats: If the 1978 team played the national championship team, who would win?

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As we've said before, we're big fans of Jerry Hinnen's Auburn blog, the Joe Cribbs Car Wash, so when the Tigers' coaching situation blew up last week we were naturally curious to hear his take on things. Given the various parallels to the Hogs's own bizarre coaching search last year, not to mention the Nutt/Petrino subplots, we thought you might be interested as well.

Big thanks to Jerry for taking the time out of his busy schedule to indulge us (incidentally, you can read our previous Q&A's with him here and here). Now, on to the Q&A:

1. Fired or resigned: What's the truth?

I delved into this in a post today, and I think the best answer is that the truth is neither. What you've got is a coach and administration meeting for three days and after initially sounding positive about an agreement, then declaring that Tuberville had resigned but that he was getting his $5.1 million firin' buyout anyway. Something really unusual and really complicated went down, something too complicated in my estimation to be simply either "Tubby got fired" or "Tubby resigned." My guess (and I'm hardly the only one thinking this way) is that the administration made some kind of demand of Tubby in order for him to return. The facts of that demand is what the missing link here is--if it's just that Tubby fire the offensive assistants that have failed so miserably to get the Auburn offense off the ground the last couple of seasons, well, I don't see that you could blame them for trying to run Tubby off with that. If it was something more constricting--clean house, and we're not going to trust you enough to give you the proper amount of money to hire replacements, as one popular rumor goes--then the "he got fired" camp have a little more ammo.

2. How long has this been building up? When was Tubby's fate sealed?

Well, again, it comes down to how much you believe the Auburn administration (specifically AD Jay Jacobs, I suppose) when they tell you they wanted Tubby to return. If they're telling something akin to the truth, his fate wasn't sealed until he decided his own self to walk away. In the other version, who knows when the Auburn powers-that-be decided they'd make Tubby walk the plank and formulated whatever demands that ran Tubby off? But I will say this: if those demands existed, they didn't get any Tubby-friendlier after the Iron Bowl. That was a hideous, hideous loss in which the Auburn offense appeared totally unprepared for the reality of how good the Alabama defense was, and pretty well crushed the notion Tubby had been trying to float that his team wasn't so much bad as just lacking on a few pivotal fourth-quarter plays. Watching the Iron Bowl, though, it was painfully obvious: they were that bad.

3. Prediction time: Who will be the new Auburn coach?

As I'm not entirely sold on Turner Gill, I'm hoping Auburn's successfully keeping the real frontrunner under wraps and away from the media, but that's just hope: all the smart money at this stage is on Gill. He was the first candidate whose interview with Auburn was media-confirmed, he has a huge groundswell of fan support behind him after the MAC title game, and by all accounts is the kind of charismatic leader who's going to interview really, really well. To boot, all Auburn's other alleged targets appear out of the picture: Muschamp was never going to leave Texas, Nutt has his raise, Paul Johnson seems to be negotiating his as we speak, and while Jimbo Fisher keeps leaving wiggle room in his statements to the press, this is 99 percent likely to be Jimmy Sexton yanking the puppet strings to get his client another unearned bump in salary. (A song and dance BOTH our programs can relate to all too well.) Fisher's buyout is so prohibitive--and his resume so unconvincing, frankly--it doesn't make financial sense for Auburn. And while Mike Leach has reportedly all but offered to pay his own way to Auburn, those same reports all suggest that Auburn doesn't want any part of him. (You would think an 11-1 record in the Big 12 South would be worth at least a polite conversation, but clearly your thinking is not welcome in the SEC.) So who's left? No one but Gill.

4. He's now out of the running, but how upsetting was the prospect of Houston Nutt being the new Auburn coach? Of the names being bandied about, whom would you most like to see get the job?

I want to be careful how I say this, but ... very upsetting. Very, very upsetting. Nutt's a good coach and it sounds ridiculously arrogant to say our program is better than a guy who beats us with as much regularity as Nutt does ... but I think Auburn's better than Nutt. He took you guys to back-to-back losing seasons and would have almost certainly made it three in five years if he'd stuck around for 2008. Auburn's gone through three different coaches, but still had only had four losing seasons in the last 26 years. And that's before we get into the off-the-field stuff--while a lot of it was blown out of proportion, he didn't do himself any favors by doing things like hiring a beloved, creative offensive coordinator and then ignoring his offensive input completely (a lesson I really, really wish Tubby would have learned). I'd like Auburn to avoid that kind of circus--and Jimmy Sexton clients--if at all possible.

So who do I want? For me, you could flip a coin between Brian Kelly and Paul Johnson--either one's got a long and impeccable record both of winning and of the kind of offensive ingenuity it's going to take to get Auburn's battered jalopy of an offense moving again. Failing that, I'd still be delighted to have Leach, whose defensive troubles give me pause (and who would be a tough, tough sell with the Franklin-poisoned, spread-phobic Auburn fanbase) but whose achievements at a much tougher job than Auburn are pretty much undeniable at this point. After those three, it gets dicey, though I'd like to see Charlie Strong get an interview and I'll admit that if Gill can put together a solid staff to help out with what I see as some suspect X's and O's, his charisma, recruiting potential, and attendant positive press for an administration that could definitely use it make him a choice with a lot of upside.