Okay, I was wrong. On Monday I said I wanted Auburn to win the BCS championship but didn’t think they could get it done. Today I’m gladly eating crow.
Auburn defeated Oregon 22-19 in one of the best championship games since the BCS was implemented in 1998, with the Tigers winning the game on a Wes Bynum field goal as time expired.
The Tigers were ranked 55th nationally in total defense entering Monday’s game, but it was that unit’s impressive play that won Auburn its first national championship since 1957.
The Ducks possessed the nation’s most prolific offense throughout the season, leading the nation with an average of 537.5 yards per game.
But Auburn’s defense made the Ducks offense one dimensional, holding Oregon to 75 yards rushing and making a critical goal line stand midway through the third quarter that kept the Tigers up by eight points.
After the Ducks tied the game with 2:33 left in the game on a LaMichael James 2-yard touchdown off a shovel pass and a two-point conversion, Auburn went about doing what they’ve done all year.
The Tigers marched 74 yards in six plays to the Oregon 1 to set up Bynum’s game winning 19-yard field goal, culminating a perfect season and providing a measure of vindication for Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton.
Auburn’s BCS national championship is also especially sweet for head coach Gene Chizik, who wasn’t the most popular choice among many in the Tigers’ community when he was hired to replace Tommy Tuberville.
Auburn’s victory was the SEC’s seventh BCS national championship and fifth straight.
No team representing the SEC has ever lost in a BCS title game, and the conference’s stranglehold at the top of the college football world could very well continue for the next several years.
Congratulations to the Auburn Tigers!
