Auburn return stuns Alabama
AUBURN, Ala. — That crazy tipped pass for a long game-winning touchdown is now the secondmost stunning and improbable play of Auburn’s wild season.
Yes, the Tigers found a way to top “The Immaculate Deflection.”
Chris Davis returned a missed field-goal attempt more than 100 yards for a touchdown on the final play to lift No. 4 Auburn to a 34-28 victory over No. 1 Alabama on Saturday, upending the two-time defending national champions’ BCS hopes and preserving the Tigers’ own.
“We’re a team of destiny,” Davis said. “We won’t take no for an answer.”
He delivered a play that deserves its own nickname. Say the Happiest Return. Or the saddest, depending on which side of the Iron Bowl you sit.
Davis caught the ball about 9 yards deep in the end zone after freshman Adam Griffith’s 57-yard attempt fell short. He then sprinted down the left sideline and cut back with nothing but teammates around him in a second straight hard-tofathom finish for the Tigers (11-1, 7-1 Southeastern Conference).
“I knew when I caught the ball I would have room to run,” Davis said. “I knew they would have big guys on the field to protect on the field goal.
“When I looked back, I said, ‘I can’t believe this.’ ”
Auburn clinched a spot in the SEC Championship Game with the stunning victory over the powerhouse from across the state. The Crimson Tide (11-1, 7-1) several times seemed poised to continue its run toward the first three-peat in modern college football, but couldn’t put the Tigers away.
Asked if it was the biggest win of his career, Tigers coach Gus Malzahn said: “It ranks right up there.” But he said he’d “probably” still celebrate just like he has since his high school coaching days: with a Waffle House meal.
“That’s what you coach for, that’s what these kids play for, to get a chance to win the SEC championship,” Malzahn said.
The Tigers put it away just when
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We’re a team of destiny. We won’t take no for an answer.” Auburn cornerback, who returned a missed field goal for a touchdown to beat Alabama overtime on tap. The public-address announcer in the stadium had already declared the game 28-28 at the end of regulation.
But Alabama got 1 second restored and one more play after a review of T.J. Yeldon’s run to the Auburn 39.
That gave the Tide coach Nick Saban a chance to try the long field goal — and now he probably wished he never did, given the stunning result.
“It was a great game,” Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron said. “Sometimes luck just isn’t on your side.
“It’s one of those crazy plays. It’s almost like a video game. That’s something you do on Madden or NCAA. It’s just a wild play.”
The entire field looked like a sea of orange shakers as the celebration continued long after the climactic finale of one of the bigger Iron Bowls in the bitter rivalry’s 78-year history.
It lived up to the billing — and then some. According to NCAA records, it was only the fourth time that a missed field goal was returned for 100 yards, with LSU’s Odell Beckham Jr. doing it against UAB early this season.
This finale even one-upped Auburn’s last-gasp win over Georgia two weeks earlier. A deflected 73yard touchdown pass from Nick Marshall to Ricardo Louis dubbed “The Immaculate Deflection” with 25 seconds left set up only the second Top 5 Iron Bowl matchup and first since 1971.
McCarron threw for 277 yards and three touchdowns.