It must be a slow news day today, because the sAUsage is a little lighter than normal. Unfortunately, you might have to find supplemental entertainment to waste time at the office this afternoon.

It's no surprise, but Kenny Gabriel is questionable for Saturday's basketball game against Arkansas with a badly bruised lower back. Anyone that saw the falls KG took against Florida must be amazed that he can even walk right now.

Gabriel proved just how valuable he is to Auburn when he left the game for good on Tuesday. With KG out, Florida went on a 21-8 run to end the game.

In addition to its No. 24 ranking in the NFCA Poll, the Auburn softball team is ranked 19th in the ESPN/USA Today Poll. No. 19 seems to be a more accurate ranking for a team with the kind of resume that Auburn has.

College Baseball Daily is already projecting this year's NCAA Tournament field. After a 1-2 weekend against Missouri, Auburn doesn't make the cut.

After a 22-0 drubbing on Tuesday, the Tigers host Alcorn State today at 3 p.m. Let's see if the Auburn bats have any life left in them.

Folks up in Penn State Country are trying to hype up new defensive coordinator Ted Roof, which makes all of us down in Auburn chuckle.

A sad story out of Lubbock, Texas: An 87-year-old man, who was involved in a serious car accident on Nov. 1 with Suzanne Tuberville, has died. Suzanne is the wife of former Auburn football coach, Tommy. Details of the man's death have not been released.

The men's basketball team plays at Florida tonight, and the Tigers are looking for their second straight win over a top 25 team. If Auburn can pull off the upset, it'll be the first time since 1986 that the program has won back-to-back games over ranked opponents. Auburn-Florida is set for a 6 pm tip-off on ESPNU.

Believe it or not, beating a top 25 Mississippi State team has given the Tigers confidence going into the Florida game. We're sure you're just as shocked to hear that as we are.

Florida guard Mike Rosario could be back in the lineup tonight against the Tigers. Rosario averages about eight points per game and is a 38-percent 3-point shooter.

Gator head coach Billy Donovan is trying to keep his team's focus squarely on tonight's game against the Tigers. With upcoming games against Vanderbilt and Kentucky, the Gators could very well be looking past Auburn. Let's hope that's the case.

David Dahl, a senior at Oak Mountain High School and Auburn baseball prospect, is the 10th-best high school player in the country, according to Baseball America. 

Kevin Ives gives us our baseball STAT of the Union for Week 1. Despite a 1-2 start, Auburn is faring well, comparatively, to other SEC teams. Ives also makes a few predictions for this week's SEC games.

Auburn baseball hosts Alcorn State today and Wednesday. First Pitch for both games is set for 3 p.m.

Lauren Schmalz was named SEC softball pitcher of the week on Tuesday. All Schmalz did over the weekend was pick up wins over then-No. 15 Oklahoma State and No. 23 Georgia Tech. At 8-0, the Tigers are ranked for the first time this season, coming in at No. 24. Frankly, we think that's a little low after a 3-0 weekend that included two wins over ranked opponents and one no-hitter.

In an effort to obtain ALL THE OFFENSIVE LINEMEN, Auburn has offered a scholarship to Maryland transfer Max Garcia. Garcia is 6-4, 310 pounds, and has decided that he wants to play closer to his hometown of Norcross, Ga.

Former Tiger quarterback Jason Campbell and his fiancee ran an audible over the weekend, calling off their wedding just hours before it was supposed to happen. No matter the reason, the guests that had already made the trip to the Dominican Republic must have been thrilled to hear the news.

Another former quarterback, a guy you might remember named Cam Newton, recently starred in an Under Armour commercial that will debut during the NFL combine. Have you missed the incessant crying of Cam haters during the offseason? If you open your ears, we're sure you'll hear them again very soon.

Missouri is going to have to "step up" if it wants to be across-the-board competitive in the SEC. The third edition of the conference's Tigers might be in just a bit over its head.

Harvey Updyke's attorney says stuff that will likely make your blood boil. Updyke's trial for allegedly poisoning the Toomer's oaks is set to begin on March 5. Just remeber, despite what those in Tuscaloosa will try to tell you, THIS IS ALABAMA FOOTBALL.

In other Auburn/legal-related news, the attorney for former Auburn DB Mike McNeil has argued to suppress evidence in McNeil's upcoming armed robbery case. That trial, too, is tentatively set to begin March 5.

Birmingham News columnist Jon Soloman takes a look at the state of college basketbal in Alabama. Unsuprisingly, the results aren't pretty.

What kind of non-conference opponents have SEC teams scheduled in 2012? A few teams will be plying against some real competition -- like Auburn opening against Clemson in Atlanta -- but there are plenty of cupcakes to satisfy the conference's sweet tooth.

If you didn't realize that this past weekend was a pretty big athletic event on the Plains, we aren't really sure why you're reading an Auburn sports blog. But in case you missed any of the results, here's a recap of the All In Weekend:

The Auburn men's basketball team recorded it's biggest win of the Tony Barbee era, upsetting No. 23 Mississippi State at Auburn Arena. Hopefully, the team can use that win as a springboard to a strong finish and build momentum going into next season.

Gymnastics lost at home to No. 2 Florida, but the 17th-ranked Tigers achieved the second-best score in school history.

Men's swimming and diving won its 16th consecutive SEC title and the conference championships in Knoxville. The Auburn women placed a solid fourth.

The top-ranked equestrian team fell to No. 3 Georgia. The teams actually tied, but Georgia won by virtue of more raw points. A tie that is really a loss? That reminds us of the 1994 Auburn-Georgia football game.

Softball had a stellar weekend, beating No. 15 Oklahoma State on Friday and Virginia Tech and No. 23 Georgia Tech on Sunday. The Tigers are now 8-0 and already have recorded two no-hitters on the young season. 

Baseball started strong with a 5-2 win over Missouri on Friday, but the bad Tigers swept Games 2 and 3 on Sunday, knocking the good Tigers to 1-2 on the year. On the bright side, Auburn's Derek Varnadore was named SEBaseball.com's pitcher of the week thanks to his 11 K, one run performance on Friday.

Men's tennis went 1-2 at the ITA Indoor Championships in Charlottesville, Va. The Tigers defeated Baylor but lost to Virginia and Texas.

Women's basketball dropped to 3-11 in SEC play after a 16-point loss at LSU.

Junior college wide receiver Cordarelle Patterson chose to join Derek Dooly's Tennessee Volunteers this morning, spurning offers from Auburn, Georgia, LSU and Ole Miss. Patterson is listed at6-foot-3, 205 pounds and has a reported 40-yard dash time of 4.49 seconds. Scout and 247 rate him as a 5 star, and Rivals gives him 4 stars. Last year at Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College, Patterson had 61 receptions for 924 yards and 15 touchdowns to go along with 32 rushes for 390 yards and six touchdowns. He averaged 10 yards per kickoff return and took three returns back for touchdowns.

The staff here at College and Magnolia isn't as pessimistic as some about how Auburn's coaches close with this recruiting class. In fact, there is some optimism.

We polled the staff along with a couple friends of the blog that are considered to be quite knowledgeable when it comes to recruiting.  Jordan Powell (@smuphy) and Kyle Kolumbus (@kolumka) were kind enough to give their predictions as well. There are 11 main targets left on AU's board, and due to his flirtation with UGA, JaQuay Williams is also on this list. The concensus on those is as follows:

Eddie Goldman - 50/50 split between Auburn and Florida State.
Leonard Williams - Auburn with the majority vote, although recent news has some leery of the pick.
Kwon Alexander -  LSU
Ronald Darby -  Auburn with the majority vote over FSU.
Jordan Moore - Auburn
Avery Young - Auburn with the majority.
Jordan Diamond -  Michigan with the majority.
Will Adams - Auburn
Cordarelle Patterson - Georgia with the majority pick.
Stefon Diggs - Split between Auburn and Florida. It may depend on who Nelson Agholor picks.
Ricardo Louis - Auburn
JaQuay Williams - Everyone feels confident Auburn hangs onto him.

It looks like a coin flip right now for Goldman, Williams and Diggs. If this holds up, then Auburn will sign the current 15 commitments, the All-American transfer Jay Prosch, and between seven and nine signing day decisions, only two of which are less than a 4 star prospect. That doesn't sound like doom and gloom to us. It's quite possible some of these are completely wrong. And we hope we are wrong on a couple of the ones predicted not to go our way. If you want to see the breakdown of everyone's predictions, check out the chart below.

-- 4-star offensive lineman Alex Kozan chose Iowa over Auburn late last night. Auburn made a good push but in the end, his favorite from the beginning won out.

-- In case you missed it, Arik Armstead chose Oregon over Auburn and Cal. Staying close to home was a big deal for Armstead, and that proved to be too much for Auburn to overcome.

-- The "quiet period" has started and no contact can be made betweens recruit and coaches between now and signing day.

-- Auburn got the last visit with Eddie Goldman's parents before the quiet period began, and his parents are very high on the Tiger coaches. Especially Coach Tommy Thigpen, who has been the lead recruiter on Goldman. We still think Florida State holds a slight edge, but Auburn is not far behind at all. Auburn has a done a great job recruiting Goldman and feels confident that it did a good enough job.

-- Will Adams, a Georgia Tech commit, is a 3-star offensive lineman out of Georgia. Adams visited Auburn this weekend with his teammate, JaQuay Williams. There were some reports out that Adams had flipped from Tech to Auburn, but that's not quite the case, yet. It seems he has opened up his recruitment, and that bodes well for the Tigers.

-- Speaking of JaQuay Williams, we think Georgia has done a decent job recruiting him as of late, but we think UGA got in on Williams too late and with Adams looking more and more like he will ink with Auburn, look for JaQuay to do the same.

-- Stefon Diggs took a visit to Ohio State over the weekend. The visit didn't get the rave reviews from Diggs like Auburn or Florida, but he does like Urban Meyer and enjoyed his visit. He will take a visit to Maryland next weekend and make his final choice on February 10. Maryland could be a dark horse after getting the last visit, but we still see this as an Auburn-Florida battle for the speedy wideout.

-- Not much has changed on the Kwon Alexander front, as it still seems to be an Auburn-LSU battle for the 4-star linebacker. Alabama has offered a grayshirt but it seems Kwon is not really interested in that route. Both the Auburn and LSU coaches feel confident about Alexander, so this one will come down to the wire.

***We will have a post up soon with all targets and commitments signing ceremonies dates and times.

***Also, we will be doing a live blog all day on National Signing Day. We will get started early and will run until the last fax has been received.

***Follow us on twitter @CollegeAndMag, and remember we're doing a free AU Bookstore gift card giveaway. We're already giving away one. If we get to 750 followers on Twitter before NSD we will do two, and at 1,000 we will do three.

War Eagle!

The final Sunday before National Signing Day on Wednesday is usually an eventful one. A "quiet period" for recruiting began at midnight Saturday night. Meaning that face-to-face contact was only permitted on-campus. Sunday marked the final day before the "dead period" begins, meaning no more face-to-face contact between coaches and recruits. The final official visits are wrapped up, and un-committed recruits begin to narrow their choices. So, what kind of roller coaster did Auburn fans ride this weekend? There have been a few ups, downs, and even a couple of barrel rolls in the past few days ...

On Friday and Saturday, news began to trickle out that Georgia Tech offensive line commit Will Adams had decided to take a last minute official visit to Auburn. Adams is 6'7, 275, rated a 3-star by the recruiting services and just so happens to be the high school teammate of Auburn commit JaQuay Williams, who has worried Auburn fans the past week with his flirtation with Georgia. JaQuay made the trip to Auburn with Adams and by all reports, both had a good trip. Both elected not to give interviews on Sunday as they left. Will Adams switch his commitment to Auburn? A report on GT's Scout site stated that Adams had indeed switched his pledge. However, it has not been confirmed by Adams or anyone close to him. Did Auburn's coaching staff firm up the commitment of JaQuay? Williams tweeted that he will announce between Auburn and Georgia on February 1.

Top prospect Arik Armstead was scheduled to make his announcement Sunday afternoon. Auburn was a finalist and reports on Saturday indicated he had narrowed his list to three, including AU. Armstead is from California and in the end, the desire to stay on the West Coast was too much. Armstead committed to Oregon.

A report on Florida's Rivals site late Sunday afternoon stated that Leonard Williams had narrowed his list down to Florida and Southern Cal. Williams is a highly recruited defensive line prospect that had long been considered an Auburn lean. The elimination of Auburn from consideration came as a surprise to everyone who follows recruiting. Attempts to contact Leonard by representatives from Auburn's various recruiting sites were unsuccessful. However, they did speak to his coach who called the report "inaccurate" and that he still considered Auburn to be Williams' leader. The Florida site that made the initial report later posted a story quoting Williams via a Facebook chat the seemed to back up their initial claims. However, no one else has spoken with Williams to confirm the report. So, does Auburn still have a shot? If the Tigers were eliminated suddenly, what happened? We may not know until Wednesday. 

Alex Kozan, an offensive line recruit out of Colorado, was thought to be announcing his choice on Sunday between Auburn, Iowa, and Michigan. As of 10 pm Sunday night, that decision had not been made. There were a few tweets late Sunday night from fans of Michigan and Iowa that Kozan had chosen Auburn, but no confirmation or reports from credible sources. Then, shortly before midnight it was reported by several recruiting sites that Kozan had made Iowa his choice.

The next couple of days leading up to signing day are likely to be much the same. There will be some reports of good news and some with bad news. Take it all with a grain of salt and remember that nothing is final until the ink is dry. Wednesday is likely to be another roller coaster ride, so buckle up and hold on. It's going to be a wild couple of days.