The Auburn Tigers’ live eagle mascot Nova nearly collides with the upright on a goal post during the War Eagle Flight on Saturday night before kickoff.
The Auburn Tigers have one of the most iconic pre-game rituals of any college football program in the country. Before every home game at Jordan-Hare Stadium, the Auburn faithful get to witness the War Eagle Flight.
Auburn’s live eagle mascot Nova usually does a fine job soaring around Jordan-Hare, but had a little trouble on Saturday night. Nova almost collided into the upright on one of the goal posts.
Auburn was about to play an easy non-conference game against the Alabama A&M Bulldogs. Nova was inches away from crashing completely into the upright, maybe only just clipping it a bit.
The Tigers saw their 2017 College Football Playoff hopes crash into nothing by falling on the road to cross-divisional rival Georgia in Athens last week. Had the then No. 9 Tigers been able to handle Georgia, Auburn could have been playing for an SEC West division title against the arch rival Alabama Crimson Tide.
Like many in War Eagle Nation, perhaps Nova was still a bit woozy after losing a tough game on the road a week before to the Georgia Bulldogs? Most of Jordan-Hare Stadium what aghast at seeing their live eagle mascot nearly careen into to the upright. It could have been so much worse had Nova been a few inches to the right.
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Auburn has come out of the gate and has handled Alabama A&M on Saturday night. With the LSU Tigers losing to the Florida Gators at home on Saturday afternoon, maybe Auburn is now the most likely team to reach the Sugar Bowl? Then again, Auburn still has to play undefeated Alabama. Who in the SEC is going to the Sugar Bowl anyway?