The Clemson Game

Auburn 27...Clemson University 24

ACC versus SEC. Tiger versus Tiger. Auburn with a lake versus hot and dusty Auburn. Dabo versus Chizik. Shutupandplayfootball!

We had a scorcher of a day, helped not in the least by the previous day's Open Container Open Golf Tournament. The name says it all.

General consensus seemed to be that Clemson was coming to Auburn just to make Auburn look good. I don't know where to find the good general, but I'd like to slap him!

Clemson's Tigers soundly spanked our Tigers in the first half and then had their hearts ripped out in overtime. I'm looking forward to seeing the lake next year on our return trip.

One quick note, we had what we think is the largest Hot Damn! gathering in history. You can read about our silly tradition towards the bottom of the home page...click on the center picture.

Behind The Head player of the game...Wes Byrum. A 35 yard field goal for our first points, a 39 yarder for our last points and 3 PATs made for a perfect evening. Give me Wes when we've gotta have 'em.

Runnerup...Josh Bynes, who had 11 tackles and directed the new (and old) guys while on the field.

In the spirit of friendship, Captain Tailgate gave the Clemson fans their very own rock to touch on the way to the game, just they do at home. You have to look real close to see it!

There were people everywhere. The excitement was just too much for Mark to handle!

The Good Tigers wore blue shirts...and not blue hats or pants...just more rumors.

This is a "Just for Grins" picture. With most Auburn fans wearing blue, the Clemson pumpkins really stood out. I "stitched" two pictures together for a little panoramic effect.

This is a sight I got tired of seeing...Andre Ellington running free. This was for 12 yards.

Unwanted sight number two: Kyle Parker throwing a touchdown pass to Jamie Harper.

Nick Fairley finally caught up with Parker, but not often enough in the first half.

On fourth and one at the Auburn 41 yard line, Fairley and T'Sharvan Bell dropped Harper in his tracks.

Erin Andrews tried everything to get to the Auburn bench during the game. Security kept her out for whatever reason. Of course, there was a spot for her in section 12...I'm just sayin'.

Zac Etheridge looked as if he was trying to pull Harper apart on this play. Harper outweighs Zac by 40+ pounds, so I doubt he noticed.

Josh may need to attend the Trooper Taylor Receiving Academy.

You could see this coming from Section 12. I even stopped taking pictures of the Clemson baton twirlers long enough to snap this toss from Parker to Harper and the ensuing catch.

And what a catch it was. This was number one in the ESPN top ten plays of the day. Oh, by the way, that made it 0-17.

Riding down the field on the talent of Cam Newton, Auburn kicked a field goal as time ran out in the half.

Auburn looked like a different team for most of the second half. On third and one, early in the third quarter, Newton hit Darvin Adams for a cool 34 yards.

Two plays later, Onterio McCalebb scampered around the Clemson defense for a 12 yard touchdown.

The Good Tiger defense, led by Josh Bynes, shut down the Bad Tiger attack. Here, Ellington went down behind the line of scrimmage.

McCalebb got the next Auburn drive started with a 15 yard run that featured some effective down field blocking.

On a pass play that was ruled incomplete, Adams caught this Newton pass in the endzone. After further review, the field judge was ruled incompetent. Touchdown Auburn.

Not to complain "too" much about the officiating, BUT...I've heard every explanation imaginable as to why this wasn't a safety. 85,000 people saw Marcus Gilchrist field the kickoff, step ON the goal line, then kneel down. As you can see from the picture, Gilchrist was holding the ball in front of his body, so the ball also broke the plane of the goal line. Maddening!

After another stuff job by the Auburn defense, Cam pump faked Terrell Zachery's coverage out of the play and lofted a perfect rainbow to T-Zach for six points. Auburn was now up 24-17.

Clemson came storming back. With Harper (shown here) and Ellington leading the way Clemson knotted the score at 24.

Despite minor offensive threats from both teams, we were heading to overtime.

After 3 unsuccessful (to say the least) plays to open overtime, Wes Byrum drilled a 3 pointer to put Auburn up 27-24.

Utilizing the "Stone Hands" defensive strategy that worked so well in the first 2 games, Auburn's secondary gave the Clemson receivers plenty of room to let the ball slip through their hands. Jaron Brown demonstrated how effective this defense can be as the ball fell harmlessly into the endzone.

Chandler Catanzaro nailed Clemson's tying field goal from 26 yards out...

...but the center double clutched the snap drawing the yellow table linen.

After the five yard penalty, Catanzaro hooked the football into the Auburn student section setting off a prolonged celebration by the Lake-less Tigers.

Half a state down, next week we get the other half. Lattimore versus Dyer, The Old Ball Coach versus Gus Malzahn...