Day three of the countdown was tough. We’re getting down to the really good ones, and it’s almost possible to put one above the other. I have no idea where I’m going for the next few days, and at this point I still don’t know what #1 is going to be. If you’d like to see the previous entries in the countdown, you can do so here and here.
18. Rudi Johnson carries half of Wyoming down the field (2000, 18 years old)
This run could easily go down as the best run in Auburn history if only it hadn’t come against Wyoming and in a situation where it was actually needed to put the game away late in the 4th quarter. This was my first game as a student at Auburn and the beginning of my current 12-year streak of home games. Obviously, I witnessed this play in the Auburn student section.
17. Chris Porter’s putback dunk against LSU (1999, 16 years old)
The only video I can find of this dunk does not do it justice at all. I remember watching this game on TV and saying “OHHHHHH!!!!!!” for a good 10 minutes after Porter came flying out of nowhere. It was definitely the dunk of the season and probably still one of the best putback dunks of all time. Dude was awesome. Stay off the weed, kids. I watched this play from my parents’ couch.
16. Bret Eddins loosens Marcus Randall’s wisdom teeth (2004, 22 years old)
This play may not be near the top of the list, but it is definitely one of my favorites of all time. There is nothing better to me than an opposing quarterback getting blindsided, and in this case he was blindsided from the front. What makes it even better was how Bret got up and ran straight to the bench like he was just doing his job. I asked him about that once.
I witnessed this play from the Auburn student section during my senior year. Yes, I went for 4.5 years, but I had to get in one more football season… and it was a pretty good one to stay around for.
15. Cam’s Hail Mary to Darvin in the SEC Champ. Game (2010, 28 years old)
I think this is the only successful Hail Mary that Auburn has completed in my lifetime. South Carolina had just scored before the half and had worked their way back into the game. I was preparing for an excruciating halftime as I had to worry about about what would happen in the 2nd half.
Then, for some reason, South Carolina squibbed their kickoff, giving Auburn a short field. Two plays later, Cam to Darvin happened in it’s best form ever. I went nuts. From that point forward, South Carolina had no chance. I witnessed this play from the club level in the Georgia Dome.
14. Nix floats one to Sanders against Alabama (1993, 11 years old)
You know the story. Stan White went down with an injury and in came Patrick Nix on 4th-and-15. Nix then threw one up for Frank Sanders who caught at the 2-yard line and dove into the end zone. Even my 11-year-old self was surprised that Nix was able to come in and win the game. This also happens to be one of Jim Fyffe’s greatest calls. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I witnessed this game from the orange seats, while eating free popcorn, Golden Flake potato chips, and Coca-Cola Classic.
13. Lawyer Tillman’s reverse to beat Alabama (1986, 4 years old)
Ok, this one is sorta breaking the rules. One stipulation I had on the plays in this list was that I had to have seen them live in person or on TV. Well, I was at this game. It was my first Iron Bowl. However, I was 4 years old, and as the story goes, I was asleep in my dad’s lap when Lawyer Tillman mistakenly took a reverse around left end and into the end zone.
So I’m just going to base this one off how I think I would have acted had I actually seen it. It’s one of the most famous plays in Auburn history, and I was there, so it has a place in the count down. Dang, I love Pat Dye.
Check back tomorrow for numbers 7-12, and throughout the rest of the week for the remainder of the countdown. Oh, and you know, if you wanted to send me a birthday present, you could donate to the ‘Blogle, or email me and I’ll give you an address of where you can not send a bomb.
11 comments
After the 1993 Iron Bowl, my 7-year old son was asked by a local meteorologist at an
assembly program at his elementary school what he was most thankful for. He calmly
took the microphone out of Mr. Bow Tie’s hands and said to the 300+ people gathered
in the chapel, “Frank Sanders.”
A friend of mine who’s a big-time LSU fan called me after the 2004 game ranting & raving about the “bull-crap” penalty on the first missed extra point. After he had calmed down, he did say that the hit Bret Eddins one of the best he’d ever seen. I love how AUHD uses that hit in all the pump-up videos.
Sadly, I am older than you and I have full conscious memory of Lawyer Tillman reverses. In fact, whenever I see a reverse in football, I think of him. No one can ever do a reverse better than Lawyer Tillman. It was Auburn football magic.
How about a little Trey Smith flippage? Was arguable the loudest Jordan Hare has ever been.
He’s still not done with the countdown… There is time. I mean, one could ask about “Bo Over the Top” but one knows that it’ll be listed, eventually. I’m going to stop saying “one” now… WDE.
The Cam to Darvin hail mary… Lord. It was amazing. We had some snobby USCe fans next to my wife and I; they said that it was going to be like the Iron Bowl in reverse… Then this happened. The got quiet and left at the half.
The most impressive thing about this throw (or least, however you look at it) is Cam throwing, on the move, off his back foot, and across his body. Wow. Again, Lord, what an athlete.
Blogler,
Does the 2010 Kentucky game where Cam levitated himself through the air sideways, on his way out of bounds, and completed a 533-yard bomb to Kodi Burns (who seemed to come out of nowhere to catch it) count as a Hail Mary?
(Okay, it was only 33 yards, but it SEEMED like 533 yards. Cam was perfecting his Superman impression.)
Now I want to go home and pull out the DVD’s from the 2010 season and watch them all over again.
I’m really enjoying this countdown, ‘Blogle. Keep up the great work.
The 2010 Hail Mary to Darvin Adams i was preparing myself for the halftime show warming up my trombone…just like the kentucky game…but TD!!!! we went crazy and laughed @ all the USCe fans faces…it was epic and we knew when it happened that we were going to the ‘ship!!!!!
Idk if you take requests…i know this is your countdown…but the McElroy sack by T. Bell has to be up there right…i mean his eyes went like this x_x…or the new dance sensation thats sweeping the nation the LUTZIE!!!!!
What about the new movie feat. Cam Newton in Dances with Tigers??? I flipped my wig when he dragged PP in the endzone…also from the band section
I know theres plenty more…im just excited to see where you go with this next
I was at the SEC Championship game, and I remember vividly just how silent it was as soon as Cam let that ball go. It sucked all the wind out of everybody as it was sailing through the air. The TV clip doesnt do it justice at all.