You too, No. 2
AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn’s defense was getting run over again, this time by No. 2 Florida and its two-headed quarterback attack.
Coach Tommy Tuberville had seen enough and challenged his defenders at halftime.
The Tigers responded, scoring on a blocked punt and a last-play fumble return and making a pivotal late interception to beat the Gators 27-17 on Saturday night and leave the Southeastern Conference without an unbeaten team.
“We couldn’t slow them down in the first half, and they couldn’t move it in the second half,” Tuberville said. “Offensively, we didn’t score a touchdown. How do you do that and beat a team like that?”
In the end, that merciless SEC claimed another victim as Florida became the fourth team ranked No. 2 in the AP Top 25 to lose this season, joining Texas, Notre Dame and Auburn.
The 11th-ranked Tigers (6-1, 4-1) turned the tables on Chris Leak, Tim Tebow & Co. in the second half, benefiting from the quarterback’s fumble deep in Auburn territory that killed a chance for at least a go-ahead field goal.
Florida coach Urban Meyer challenged the call, arguing that it was an incomplete pass, but replay officials let the play stand – and it turned the game around. It also cost the Gators their final timeout, but he didn’t grouse about the call after the game. Neither did Leak, though he said he thought his arm was going forward.
“We will go back and watch it on TV, but obviously there wasn’t enough evidence to overturn the call on the field,” Meyer said. “We have to live with the call and we have to get better.”
Eric Brock’s interception of Leak’s pass set up the last of John Vaughn’s four field goals, a 39-yarder with 31 seconds left after missing a 45-yard attempt on the previous possession.
“We needed a big play at that moment,” Brock said. “We played lights-out the entire second half.”
It was just another chapter in the topsy-turvy saga of SEC front-runners this season, with Auburn beating LSU, Arkansas beating then-No. 2 Auburn last week, and Florida (6-1, 4-1) toppling Tennessee and LSU. The internal battering has threatened to leave the conference without a strong national championship contender.
Auburn hardly looked like the same team that was physically whipped in that 27-10 loss to the Razorbacks – at least in the second half.
Tuberville’s halftime scolding of the defense worked.
“He just said it looked like they were playing scared,” said quarterback Brandon Cox, who passed for an efficient 182 yards. “He told us we had just as much talent on defense as they had on offense.”
The Tigers have won six consecutive home games against top-10 opponents and eight of nine overall. The Gators had won five in a row against ranked opponents, one shy of the school record.
Trailing 21-17, Florida got a final attempt from its 20 with 31 seconds left. Three incompletions later, Leak hit Dallas Baker across the middle and Baker lateralled to Jarred Fayson, whose lateral attempt turned into a fumble recovered by Patrick Lee. The defensive back raced 20 yards into the end zone to place an exclamation point on the Tigers win.
“When you face a pass rush like that in this type of environment, bad things can happen,” Meyer said.