BCS Championship Review

It is obvious now that I did not go to the game.  Oh, I wanted to go, but there was just no way that I could justify paying that much money and leaving my wife at home with three kids who are 3 years and younger.  I am, however, jealous of the ones that did get to go.  If you didnt know, Sunday before the game we had a bit of what we call in the South "weather".  We had a pretty bad ice storm sweep through Birmingham and the surrounding areas that completely shut down the city.  The airport, too was closed and most all flights out Monday were canceled.  There were many people that did not get out and had to eat the tickets they spent so much money on.  Most did make it, though, and Auburn fans showed up in droves to the game.  I heard that the ratio of Auburn fans to Oregon fans ranged about 3:1 or so.  It was probably around a 63-35 or 70-30 split inside the stadium, or at least thats the way it looked on tv.  Needless to say, there were many Auburn fans there supporting the team and looking for a victory to cap off a great season.

Oregon won the toss and elected to receive the ball.  Auburn forced a 3 and out and I immediately felt better about the game.  Auburn had stopped the might mighty duck offense and now Auburn is going to get the ball and drive down and score.  Um, no.  Auburn got a first down on the first play but thats about it.  Cam forced a ball into double coverage (like earlier this season) while Kodi Burns streaked uncovered down the field and it was intercepted by all-Pac10 Cliff Harris.  Oregon did us a favor by throwing a couple of interceptions too so the first quarter was a turnover-fest and ended with no one scoring.  Oregon, in all their offensive splendor, did not score a single point against a much maligned defense.  Oregon did drive it down deep into AU territory on the next series but Auburn forced OU to a field goal and the score was 3-0.  Auburn took the ensuing kickoff and marched down the field getting first downs with the pass and run (mostly due to Cam's scrambling ability).  Auburn had, I believe, a second down and Cam threw the ball down the field.  It was overthrown a bit, but Cliff Harris made an amazing diving catch while falling out of bounds around the 10.  At the time it happened, the refs called it incomplete because he did not have possession of the ball before he went out, but of course they reviewed the call.  When I saw the review, it looked like he made an incredible play and had possession, but the refs could not find enough evidence to overturn the call, so Auburn ball.  The next play Cam found Kodi Burns over the middle and Kodi made a great move to juke the safety and then outran everybody else into the endzone for his first receiving touchdown of the year.  After everything Kodi has been through, I am so glad he got a TD in his last game and being in the BCS game, it means that much more.  Auburn went up 7-3.  Oregon did score again and made it 9-7 and lined up for the extra point.  Herbstreit kept talking about how OU liked to go for 2 after their first TD and sure enough, OU faked the extra point.  AU had it covered really well but our end didnt cover the man he was supposed to cover thus allowing the ball to be pitched and the 2 point conversion successful.  Zac Etheridge was supposed to cover the kicker and allow the inside LB to race and get the holder (who had the ball).  Zac took the holder and so he pitched it back to the kicker.  Bates couldnt get to the kicker in time before he was able to score, so the score was 11-7.  Auburn took the ball and was able to move down inside the 5 yard line.  On first down, AU ran it with Cam and got to the 2.  Dyer ran it for no gain and Cam rushed to the 1 on third down.  That set up a 4th and 1 from the 1.  Auburn lined up in the jumbo package but on the snap, Cam stepped back to throw to a wide open Eric Smith.  Cam short armed the throw and Eric wasnt able to hold on so OU stopped AU from scoring.  On the second play from OU's one yard line, LaMichael James was tackled by Mike Blanc in the endzone for a safety.  Auburn had cut the lead to 11-9 and was about to receive the ball.  Auburn drove down to the OU's 30.  Cam dropped back and had lots of pressure.  He found Emory Blake streaking down the sideline, beating the defensive end that had dropped into coverage because the corners had blitzed.  Blake caught it and scored a TD with less than a minute remaining in the first half to give AU the lead 16-11.  That's how the first half ended.

In the second half, Auburn took the ball and was driving again but stalled and had to settle for a field goal to make the score 19-11.  After that, no one scored again until late in the 4th.  Auburn did stuff Oregon 4 straight times from inside the AU 3 yard line for a goal line stand.  Nick Fairley made huge plays and the defense did an outstanding job in containing the OU offense and only allowed James 49 yards rushing.  He averages about 160 ypg.  AUsome!!!!  With about 5 min to go in the game, Auburn had the ball and only had to run out the clock to win the game.  Casey Matthews chased down Cam on a QB draw and popped the ball out and OU recovered.  With that huge momentum change, OU took the ball down and scored a TD and converted their second two point conversion of the night to tie the game 19-19.  Auburn had about 2.5 min to get into field goal range and give one of the best clutch field goal kickers in AU history a chance to win the championship.  On the second play, Mike Dyer took the ball and was spun down on top of an OU defender and popped right back up.  He hesitated for a second and then kept running all the way down to the 25 yard line.  Of course, the play was reviewed because everyone thought he was down, but the review showed that Mike's knee never hit and he kept only his hand on the ground.  It was the correct call and AU was in business!  On third down, Dyer got the ball again and broke through the line and raced down to the one where he was, again, spun down and thrown into the endzone.  The original call was a TD which sent me into a complete frenzy!  The call was reversed because this time his knee was down at the 1/2 yard line.  AU let the clock run down to 2 seconds and Wes Byrum kicked it through for a 3 point AU Championship win.  It was so awesome and hopefully wont be the last time that this happens. 

There are so many players that have been so vital to this team and I want to dedicate a post to them so that will hopefully be my next one.  It has been an awesome week and I will continue to relish in this for a long time.  It's still sinking in: AU National Champs!