on Auburn: Auburn runs to win over Vols By Ron Higgins [email protected] October 5, 2003 AUBURN, Ala. - That Auburn football team that was supposed to have challenged for the national championship never showed up in September, not even scoring a touchdown in opening losses to Southern Cal and Georgia Tech. But the Tigers who still have a shot at the Southeastern Conference championship? Well, they made a primetime appearance on Saturday night, taking a 21-point lead and then surviving a late Casey Clausen-led rally for a 28-21 victory over No. 7 and previously unbeaten Tennessee before a Jordan-Hare Stadium capacity crowd of 86,063. Whether it was tailbacks Cadillac Williams, Ronnie Brown, Tre Smith or Brandon Jacobs, Auburn did a lot of north-south running against a Tennessee rush defense that allowed South Carolina 217 rushing yards in the Vols' 23-20 overtime escape a week ago. The Tigers outrushed the Vols 264-4, with Williams rolling for 185 yards on 36 carries and scoring once, and Brown adding 65 yards and a TD. Auburn finished with a 421-359 edge in total offense, and more importantly a 36:04-23:56 dominance in possession time. "Them boys on the offensive line (including former Memphis University School standout Mark Pera) put body on body," Williams said. "You know you've got great blocking when you run five yards before getting touched. Tennessee came in here saying it had the best running backs and we wanted to make a statement." Unlike its win over Carolina, there was no way out this time for Tennessee (4-1, 2-1 in the Eastern Division). Auburn (3-2, 2-0 in the Western Division) didn't have a scoring drive shorter than 63 yards. When the Vols primed to stop the run, Auburn quarterback Jason Campbell went over the top for two touchdown passes. Going against the nation's second-ranked defense, the Vols' offense looked dysfunctional most of the night until Clausen got hot in the fourth quarter. Auburn led 28-7, but Clausen fired TD passes of 16 yards to Mark Jones with 12:01 left to play and 28 yards to Chris Hannon with 7:53 remaining. That set the stage for what could have been a gripping finish. But Auburn converted third downs three times - twice on Campbell passes - to keep the clock winding before Auburn's John Vaughn missed a 46-yard field goal with 1:52 left. Tennessee's last chance came starting at its 29. Using a key fourth-down 22-yard completion to Hannon, a 10-yard Clausen scramble and a late hit against Auburn, the Vols were in striking distance at the Auburn 29. But Auburn cornerback Carlos Rogers ended the threat by intercepting Clausen with 58 seconds left. "There was no doubt that we were going to go down there and score and get the game into overtime," said Clausen, who finished 30-of-47 for 355 yards and two touchdowns, despite being sacked five times. "But the guy (Rogers) did a good job of cutting in front of Mark (Jones) to make the interception." Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer, while noting that his team never gave up, was clearly displeased at being physically dominated, particularly on the defensive front. "We knew Auburn would run the ball, and they rushed better than what we prepared for," Fulmer said. "I'm proud we came back, but you can't spot a team 14 points in their house and expect to win. We never got in sync. We had to totally abandon our running game." Auburn set the tone by scoring on its first two possessions of the game, and the 80- and 85-yard scoring drives were mostly nothin' fancy. The Tigers fed the Vols a steady diet of Williams and Brown, and they left Tennessee defenders strewn in their paths. On Auburn's opening 10-play scoring drive, the Tigers ran seven times with Brown finishing the march with a 6-yard scoring run with 10:46 in the first quarter. On the second Auburn TD journey, four of the seven plays were runs, ended by Campbell's perfect 29-yard scoring strike to Ben Obomanu at the 4:58 mark of the opening quarter. "We've obviously improved a lot in a month," Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville said. "Running for 264 yards on 57 carries. you'll win a lot of games doing that."
We play to win every game. And there nothing better than see auburn come here undefeated in the SEC and go down.
