Talk about an SEC surprise.
Just a year ago, the
Auburn Tigers won all of three games and fired their coach. Just a year
ago, the Missouri Tigers looked very much like a school that had no
business joining the mighty Southeastern
Conference.
Well, look at the matchup for Saturday's
championship game.
Tigers vs.
Tigers.
"We're playing a very good Missouri team
that's very similar to us," Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. "I think
about both teams being very hungry. We were both kind of down at the
bottom at the start of the year. But we've improved. I feel like we've
improved each game. They would probably say the same
thing."
Indeed, that's exactly what Missouri coach
Gary Pinkel says.
"We just kept getting better," he
said Sunday. "Our kids played hard every single game at a very high
level. I've been around a lot of good football teams, but I've rarely
been around a team like that, playing at the level they did on a
consistent basis."
No. 3 Auburn (11-1, 7-1 SEC)
earned its trip to Atlanta with one of the most remarkable victories in
college football history, returning a missed field goal 109 yards for
the winning touchdown on the final play to beat two-time defending
national champion Alabama 34-28. (Somehow, these Tigers managed to
surpass their previous Miracle on the Plains, the 2-week-old "Immaculate
Deflection" victory over Georgia.)
Meanwhile,
fifth-ranked Missouri (11-1, 7-1) locked up the SEC East by holding off
Texas A&M and reigning Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel
28-21 on Saturday, showing off a stout defense that helped push those
Tigers to the top of the division in a year when traditional powerhouses
Georgia and Florida were plagued by injuries and failed to meet
expectations.
What a change from Missouri's debut
season in the SEC, when Pinkel's team went 5-7 and won just two
conference games after moving over from the Big
12.
"I thought we would have a very good football
team," he insisted. "But we could have been a very good football team
and not be sitting here 11-1, either."
For all the
giddiness in Auburn and Missouri, their remarkable turnarounds could
actually work against the SEC extending its already unprecedented streak
of seven straight national titles. Formerly top-ranked Alabama slipped
to fourth in all three of the major polls, replaced at the top by
Florida State. The only other unbeaten team from a major conference,
Ohio State, moved up to second.
If the Seminoles
defeat surprising Duke in the Atlantic Coast Conference title game, as
expected, and Ohio State stays perfect with a victory over Michigan
State in the Big Ten championship game, those teams would likely meet
for the BCS title.
Auburn isn't giving up, though,
already lobbying for a spot in Pasadena if it knocks off Missouri at the
Georgia Dome.
"I feel like we are destined to finish
very strong," safety Jermaine Whitehead
said.
Missouri believe it deserves a shot at the
national title if it beats Auburn.
"Any one-loss team
in the SEC (should be considered) just because of the strength of
schedule," Pinkel said. "Hopefully that will be taken into
consideration."
Auburn's 3-9 season led to the firing
of coach Gene Chizik two years after winning a national
championship.
Enter Malzahn, a former assistant at
Auburn.
"I knew we had some talent, but they had been
through a storm the year before," he said. "I was really just focused
on getting our edge back, playing good Auburn football. I didn't have
any expectations as far as number of wins. It was actually real simple:
Get our edge back, play together and improve each week. By the end of
the year, the goal was to be a pretty good football
team."
That they are, though it took plenty of good
fortune to win the SEC West. There was a deflected 73-yard touchdown
pass on fourth-and-18 to beat Georgia in the final minute. Then came a
play that put that one to shame - Davis' touchdown return from the back
of the end zone, after Alabama's attempt at a game-winning 57-yard field
goal came up a few yards short.
Malzahn, though,
said it's imperative that Auburn forget about the remarkable victory as
quickly as possible. It's got to play another team known as the Tigers, a
team that also feels like it's got destiny on its
side.
To show where his mind is, Malzahn hung around
the office late Saturday watching some Missouri
film.
"It was a great night, a great win for us as a
program and all that," Malzahn said. "But we've got to put it behind us
now and move forward."
Auburn limited the Tide to
seven points in the second half and its powerful rushing attack rolled
up 296 yards, led by Tre Mason (164, one TD) and quarterback Nick
Marshall (99 on 17 carries, one score). That formula could prove crucial
against Missouri, which is 17th in the FBS in total offense at 489.5
yards per game -- two spots below Auburn at
491.0.
Quarterback James Franklin leads a
high-powered Missouri attack that features two receivers, L'Damian
Washington and Dorial Green-Beckham, with 10 touchdowns apiece. Four
Missouri players have rushed for more than 400 yards, with leading
rusher Henry Josey (951) piling up 13 TDs on the
ground.
Franklin was outstanding against the Aggies,
passing for 233 yards and two scores while running 18 times for 80
yards.
These teams will be meeting for only the
second time, the first being Missouri's 34-17 victory in the 1973 Sun
Bowl.
