Jeff Thompson sat in the gymnastics team room at the McWhorter Center on Thursday, black leather cowboy boots on his feet.

His mood, attitude and level of tension heading into today’s dual meet at No. 3 Georgia matched his footwear.

Perfectly casual, but appropriately business-like.

“This is the first time since I’ve been here that I really feel like, going into the meet, that we legitimately have a chance to win,” Thompson said. “It’s never been like that before.”

And for good reason. In 61 all-time meetings, the four-time defending national champion Gym Dogs have won every single time.

But there’s reason to believe that this year, in front of a sellout crowd at Stegeman Coliseum, could be different.

The No. 5 Tigers are coming off their best meet of the season, when they picked up season-highs in all but one event last week against LSU. For the season, Auburn, which touts a mix of seniors and underclassmen, has yet to count a fall.

Georgia, meanwhile, picked up its fifth victory last week against N.C. State, but scored a season-low 195.000 — a full 1.575 behind Auburn’s tally.

“I know that people are taking us serious and are scared of us because there’s more talk on the chat boards,” Thompson said. “We’re getting trashed a lot more than we ever used to. People didn’t really used to care about us.”

Today’s meet marks the final time Thompson will square off against longtime Georgia coach Suzanne Yoculan. The charismatic and outspoken Yoculan will retire at the end of the season.

Yoculan is notorious for picking fights through the media with opposing coaches, particularly Alabama coach Sarah Patterson. She recently accused Patterson of “negative recruiting,” saying that Patterson used against her the fact that Yoculan, who is unmarried, lives with a man who is separated, but still married to another woman.

“She tells it like it is,” Thompson said. “I mean, if you’re ugly, she tells you you’re ugly.”

No such hostility exists between Thompson and Yoculan, Thompson said.

“We don’t have that feud with them because we haven’t beat them,” Thompson said. “Since we haven’t beat them, it’s easy to be friends. We don’t talk about each other and we don’t stir the pot.”

Some saw a gesture Yoculan made toward Thompson more than six years ago as a slap in the face, but Thompson felt differently.

Following a meet, Yoculan wrote Thompson a letter saying she was impressed with how much the Tigers had improved and was looking forward to the day when they would finally beat her team.

People around Thompson saw it as arrogance, but Thompson saw it as a sign of respect.

“I don’t want to let her down,” Thompson said. “It’s my last shot.”

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