How amazing has this year been for Auburn football? Many people say that this is the most lucky team in college football this year with a few bizarre endings to their games. Many had written Auburn off as going .500 or below after their terrible 2012 season when they went 2-10 overall and 0-8 in SEC conference play. But there was only one way to go after a season like that, and that direction was up. And boy did they go up, it was straight up.
LEADING UP TO THE IRON BOWL
Gus Malzahn was hired at Auburn in 2013 to take over as the Tigers head coach. This was his first year at Auburn, how was he going to take a team that had double digit losses the year before? Gus Malzahn was ready for this attention though. The Tigers opened up the season 3-1 with their only loss to LSU, they finished the regular season 11-1. The game that showed the entire country that Auburn was for real was when they went into College Station, Texas and upset a highly favored #7 Texas A&M football team, a team that beat them 63-21 the year before in Auburn. The Tigers ran all over the struggling Aggie defense and they pulled out the win 45-41. Johnny Manziel was injured during that game and that might have been the difference from which team wins that football game. But, we will never know. Honestly, Auburn deserved that win, just like they deserved every single win they got in this season.
The first bizarre game was when Georgia went into Auburn and had Auburn on their knees when Georgia had a 38-37 lead and it was 4th down and long for Auburn with just about :35 seconds left in the game. Nick Marshall, (Auburn QB), stepped up into the pocket and heaved the ball downfield into double coverage, as the ball was going through the air it seemed to go in slow motion, then the ball looked as if it was going to be intercepted until the ball popped up in the air and fell right into the hands of the Auburn’s wide receiver. It was absolutely unbelievable. I will be honest with you, I couldn’t breathe I was in total shock. Auburn held on to win the game 43-38. Auburn knew if they could win out to the Alabama game, they had a chance to take down the Tide at home with their momentum. The Tigers did just that. It would come down to #1 Alabama against the #4 Auburn Tigers.
THE 2013 IRON BOWL (site: AUBURN, AL)
This was the most anticipated game of the day when the Crimson Tide went down to take on the streaking and mega-pumped up football team, Auburn. Everyone was there, I believe every Auburn fan was in that stadium somehow someway, because the fan base was the best all season long out of every college football team. College Gameday was there, the votes on the game was stuck at 51% in Alabama’s favor. Everyone knew it was going to be a dandy of a game.
The game started off slow until Alabama took a 21-7 lead over Auburn. The game was sort of back and forth. Finally tied at 21, Tide QB A.J. McCarron chunked a 99 yard touchdown pass in the 4th quarter to give ‘Bama a 28-21 lead. I honestly believe that every single Alabama football fan couldn’t breathe because the play was that unbelievable. The game kept going and Auburn found themselves with the ball with less than a minute left in the game, they had to execute. Nick Marshall scrambled out of the pocket and was just centimeters away from crossing the line of scrimmage when he threw the football to a wide open Tiger receiver to tie the football game up at 28 with about half a minute left, now no Auburn fan could breathe. Alabama got the football back and got across midfield. Then after an extended video review, there was still 1 second left in the game.
Nick Saban, head coach of Alabama, subbed out kickers after the starting kicker showed no hope at all. The backup kicker was attempting a 57 yard field goal, which would be the game winner and a spot in the SEC championship game, well it was not to be. he kick wound up short of the goal posts, and Auburn Tiger Chris Davis caught the ball at the very back of the end zone, he began to run it out. Well first it was like “Oh he’s gonna get tackled”, well then he got to the twenty, then it was the thirty, then it was midfield, then the crowd went crazy along with every college football fan (excluding ‘Bama fans) went absolutely crazy. Chris Davis had taken it 109 yards all the way back for a touchdown to win 34-28 and send a team that had no SEC wins the year before, to the SEC championship.
Auburn went on to beat Missouri, which was another shocker for the SEC championship because they too went below .500 the year before. Auburn was the SEC champions of 2013.
Then Ohio State lost to Michigan State and that meant that Auburn was going to the National Championship to take on The Florida State Seminoles.
This season could be called “lucky” for the Tigers, however, the offense is not lucky it is talent. You don’t luckily beat three top teams ranked inside the top 7, Alabama, Missouri, and Texas A&M, this Auburn team is for real. Auburn….Good “luck” for the National Championship.
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