Auburn was buzzing on this cold Wednesday night. Star quarterback of the future, savior of the program Jarrett Stidham had arrived on campus (and was sitting in front of me). Charles Barkley was in the building.
Why? What was the big deal, it was a midweek game between two of the worst teams in the SEC? There was the spectacle of Austin Wiley playing in front of a back-from-Christmas student section for the first time, but that wasn’t quite it.
After two failed attempts on the road in CoMo and Rupp Arena, Bruce Pearl was trying once again for his 500th career win as a head coach.