Auburn pulled off the miracle of the weekend just when it appeared the Tigers were out of options.
After Georgia had scored 21 straight points to take a 38-37 lead with 1:45 left in the game, Auburn faced a fourth-and 18 from its own 27-yard line. It looked as if Auburn’s SEC championship hopes were about to go down in flames, but Auburn quarterback Nick Marshall dropped back and just heaved a pass deep down the field.
Georgia played it well with two defenders in position to knock down the ball and celebrate all the way back to Athens. But they didn’t knock the ball down. Instead, they tipped it up in the air and Auburn wide receiver Ricardo Louis pulled it for the game-winning touchdown with 25 seconds remaining.
“The only thing that was going through my mind was try to make a play,” said Louis. “At first I was going to try and jump for it, but they took the angle, so I just kept my eyes on the ball over my shoulder and watched the ball all the way in.
“It was unbelievable; I thought I was going to drop it for real. Coach (Dameyune) Craig always tells us to always look the ball all the way in. Coach Craig is the reason I caught that ball. He says stay focused on the ball all the time and I did.”
Auburn coach Gus Malzahn put it best.
“It was special, no doubt,” he said.
Auburn’s main go-to receiver Sammie Coates felt he was open on the final play and looking for the ball to come his way.
“I turned around when I came out of my cut, I saw that no one was around me and then I saw the ball in the air,” said Coates.” I didn’t know what to think. I just hoped someone came down with the ball and Ricardo (Louis) did.”
Georgia’s Mark Richt was proud of his team’s comeback to take the lead.
“I didn’t know what to say after that,” said Richt. “I told them I thought they were a pretty amazing group of guys to get it to 38-37 like we did. I think most teams would have folded or found a reason to quit but they didn’t do that. I just talked a little bit about what we could learn from it.
“We had a lot of things happen in the game that if we were more disciplined we would have been in better shape. I talked about being disciplined on and off the field. If your goal is to live a disciplined life, you probably have a blessed life. I just said be first class when you speak to the media and give credit to our opponent, who did a good job.”
While Auburn’s win moved the Tigers to 10-1 on the season and 6-1 in the SEC, and it also set the Tigers up for the crucial showdown with Alabama in two weeks — with a trip to the SEC Championship Game going to the winner.
Alabama suffered a slight letdown after beating LSU and faced a tougher-than-expected Mississippi State team in Starkville. Although the Bulldogs never led, they pushed Alabama hard before finally dropping a 20-7 decision.
Quarterback AJ McCarron broke the Crimson Tide career total offense record in the win, surpassing John Parker Wilson (8,099 yards from 2005-08) for the most yards of total offense in a career, finishing the game with 199 yards (187 passing; 12 rushing), which brought his career total to 8,146. Running back T.J. Yeldon also had a big night for the Tide, rushing for a career-best 159 yards.
“We struggled to run the ball at times in the first half. We didn’t control the line of scrimmage like we would have liked. We turned the ball over four times. That’s not the kind of football that we need to play if we’re going to be able to be the kind of team we are capable of being,” said Nick Saban.
“We have to keep fighting, because we have a tough game against Arkansas next week and we have to find a way to bounce back and win that one and get ourselves to a bowl game,” said Dan Mullen.
Vanderbilt became bowl eligible for the third year in a row under James Franklin, who is not thinking about a bowl just yet.
“We’re really excited about being 1-0 this week,” Franklin said, “but we’re not changing our plan; we’re not changing our process. We have expectations, internal expectations of how to play and how to conduct our business. We’re going to keep focused on that. I think that it’s done us well over the last couple years, so we’re not changing.”
Franklin may not be thinking about bowl games, but the players are well aware of what they have achieved.
“I’m really glad we got to that threshold (six wins) because now we can just focus on beating our next opponent,” quarterback Austin Carta-Samuels said. “Our coaches keep us really in the moment.”
Florida overcame another injured quarterback when Skyler Mornhinweg, the third-team quarterback when the season started, had to lead the Gators against South Carolina. He did a decent enough job as Florida gave South Carolina all it wanted. But Elliott Fry’s four field goals proved to be the difference-maker as the Gamecocks won 19-14, their 16th consecutive home victory. The Gators lost for the fifth consecutive time, their longest losing streak since 1979.
“We had trouble scoring obviously around the three-yard line two or three times. Elliot Fry kicked some field goals and our defense was sensational in the second half. First half they [Florida] had us a little bit on our heels. Running the ball. But our guys got tougher in the second half and shut Florida down pretty good. Somehow it worked out for us. We weren’t very good on offense again,” said Steve Spurrier.
Florida’s Will Muschamp is feeling the heat from a dissatisfied fan base in view of the current five-game losing streak.
“I am extremely proud of our players and the way they continued to fight in the game,” he said. “There’s a lot of negativity out there. These guys pulled together and showed you a little something of what they’re about. We just need to make some plays in those situations and win the game. The bottom line is winning, and we didn’t do it. We did not get the job done. So that’s on me, and we will go back and continue to work hard with these last two [games].”