If Auburn actually hired Bobby Petrino in 2004, imagine what would have happened

So they meet again. Bobby Petrino and Auburn. The coach that got away and the school that later turned him away. For two decades and change, they have been a wannabe match made not in heaven or hell but an uncomfortable place in between known as purgatory.

Come Saturday, they will stand in opposition on game day for the seventh time, and if you have any miles on your tires, you have to wonder. What if Jetgate had enjoyed a smooth, under-the-radar landing? What if the 2003 Auburn plot to fire head coach Tommy Tuberville and replace him with Petrino had not been foiled by those meddling kids in the press?