Auburn is not where they wanted to be when the season started.
They looked to be back in the BCS National Championship and defending its title. But without Cam Newton, this team struggled to get anything going on offense all season.
That was not the case in the Chick-fil-A Bowl at the Georgia Dome as they racked up 273 rushing yards to run past Virginia 43-24.
The Tigers were able to perform well on offense without their starting quarterback, Clint Moseley and their starting running back, Michael Dyer.
Moseley played at the start of the game, but had to leave due to an ankle injury. Dyer was suspended for the Chick-fil-A Bow due to undisclosed reason.
So who stepped up for the Tigers? Backup quarterbacks Barrett Trotter and Kiehl Frazier stepped up for the Tigers as well as backup running backs Onterio McCalebb and Tre Mason.
“I knew we needed to run the ball well today as team,” McCalebb said who was named Offensive MVP for his 109-yard rushing performance. “We knew we had to do that to get that win.”
It looked like it was going to be a game that went back-and-forth. The Cavs got on the board first as Michael Rocco threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to Kris Burd midway through the first quarter.
Auburn was able to answer later in the quarter as Frazier scored on a 3-yard touchdown run.
“I’ve been able to adjust to the speed of the SEC over the season,” said Frazier who is a freshman from Arkansas. “It felt great to see other freshmen out there doing well.”
After another Rocco touchdown pass to Burd early in the second quarter, the Tigers answered on the ensuing drive as McCalebb scored on a 3-yard run to tie the game at 14.
The Tigers knew they had to shake things up in order to take control of the game, and they did just that as they recovered an onside kick which led to a Frazier 1-yard touchdown run to give the Tigers the lead for the first time.
“We told them after we scored the first TD we were going to do it and I forgot being concerned with the defense,” Auburn head coach Gene Chizik said who was also playing the role as defensive coordinator. “But we promised to do it. We are kinda undefeated in that area.”
The Tigers added to their lead before halftime with a Trotter 25-yard touchdown pass to McCalebb and did not look back after that.
At the start of the third quarter, Mason got into the mix with a 22-yard touchdown run to give the Tigers the 35-17 lead.
The Cavs did score on the ensuing drive with a Kevin Parks 1-yard score, but the y gave the Tigers two points shortly after that when the Tigers blocked a Virginia punt in the endzone, which went out of bounds.
That was the second blocked punt of the night with the first coming in the first quarte,r which set up the first touchdown for the Tigers.
“That’s one part of the game,” Virginia head coach Mike London said when talking about the special teams hurting them. “It’s my responsibility to make sure we play all facets of the game well.”
Overall, the Cavs did almost everything what they needed to do in order to win. They had 435 yards of total offense, went 8-of -13 on third down conversions and committed only thee penalties.
But they struggled on special teams with the two blocked punts, the miscue on Auburn’s onside kick and they missing a fake field goal attempt.
As for Auburn, they got good play from their young players and only look to get better as next season arrives.
“I’ve said it before, the future is extremely bright,” Chizik said. “This win gives a good idea the direction we’ve been going in.”
And if they continue to head in the right direction, the rest of the SEC need to watch out for the Tigers in 2012.
Loading ...
