Tigers hold off Hokies to finish 13-0 season

By Bradley Handwerger
DAILY Sports Writer
bhandwerger@decaturdaily.com · 340-2462

NEW ORLEANS — As Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville trotted off the field doing his signature hat wave to the Tigers faithful, there was only one place for Auburn's players to go. It wasn't the locker room.

Just beyond the corner of the Auburn end zone, ESPN had its stage for college football analysts Trev Alberts, Rece Davis and Mark May.

Alberts and May haven't been this close to football players since their careers ended more than eight years ago.

With a 16-13 win over No. 9 Virginia Tech in Monday night's Sugar Bowl, Auburn players made it a point to prove their point to the worldwide leader of sports. "The reason was to push us to be national champs," said Jason Campbell, the game's most valuable player. "We were just on TV trying to push it."

Said safety Junior Rosegreen: "This win means a lot to our program. We came out and did everything we could do and we went 13-0.

"We're No. 1."

No matter what Alberts, Davis and May think, Auburn's performance Monday night in the Louisiana Superdome probably wasn't enough to move Auburn — 13-0 for the first time in school history — past Southern Cal and Oklahoma to the top spot in the Associated Press poll.

In the majestic Gulf Coast city of New Orleans, where several Hollywood movies have been set, the stage was all Auburn's.

Entering from the left, Auburn had a quality opponent to play against to prove it deserved a piece of the pie.

The Tigers likely didn't do enough to sway voters when the final AP poll is released Wednesday.

"There's a game tomorrow night (between Southern Cal and Oklahoma)," Tuberville said. "Neither team is better than us. We'll play them any time, anywhere. We beat the champion of the ACC tonight on a neutral field. I feel like we made a statement."

Auburn almost didn't make that statement.

With less than nine minutes to play and Auburn leading 16-0, Virginia Tech struck.

Hokies quarterback Bryan Randall, under a heavy blitz from eight Auburn defenders, hit Josh Morgan on an out route from the 29. Morgan wheeled around left and moved into the end zone. The 2-point conversion failed, making the score 16-6.

Two Virginia Tech series later and the Hokies cut the Auburn lead to three. Randall again found Morgan, this time on an 80-yard touchdown pass. Auburn safety Will Herring bit on a run fake giving Morgan the room to run free.

The audition, as Tuberville has been calling it all month, wasn't as dominating as it could have been.

Auburn played the ultimate bend-but-don't-break game, allowing the Hokies to penetrate the Tigers' 10-yard line twice in the first three quarters before giving up the two touchdowns late in the fourth quarter.

There's no doubt the defense was lucky several times.

On Virginia Tech's first possession inside the Auburn 10, the Hokies moved the ball to the 1. But on fourth-and-goal, Hokies fullback Jesse Allen, open in the end zone, dropped a perfectly thrown ball by quarterback Bryan Randall.

That catch would have given Virginia Tech the lead.

Instead, Auburn cashed in with a 92-yard drive capped by a John Vaughn 24-yard field goal that gave the Tigers a 9-0 lead at halftime.

In the third quarter, the defense again came up with a red zone stop, this time ending the Virginia Tech drive on the Auburn 6. This time the luck came by virtue of a missed Virginia Tech field goal.

Still, it was Auburn's pedestrian showing on offense that kept Virginia Tech in the game.

Three times in the first half the Tigers drove inside the Virginia Tech 10. Three times they came away with just a field goal.

Campbell threw for 189 yards and a touchdown. Neither Ronnie Brown nor Carnell Williams, both seniors, was able to break 70 yards.

For Auburn, the game wasn't about stats. It was about proving it was the best team in the country.

"I'm not going to say we're No. 2 behind anybody," Campbell said. "I think we deserve to be co-national champs just like last year." Even if that doesn't happen, the team will still get rings.

Tuberville won't have it any other way.