Fairley leads Auburn defense
Tigers’ top lineman lives up to reputation
GLENDALE, Ariz. – Nick Fairley lived up to his reputation in the BCS championship game, good and bad.
Dirty, dominant. Maybe both.
The All-American defensive tackle was unblockable at times, yes. He also got a personal foul in No. 1 Auburn’s 22-19 victory over No. 2 Oregon on Monday night.
Fairley was flagged for a personal foul at the end of a run by LaMichael James for twisting an Oregon player’s helmet. He had the elusive James slip out of his grasp on the next play, then plowed into quarterback Darron Thomas from behind to jar the ball loose and help end an Oregon drive.
Leading up to the game, Thomas said the Ducks had seen Fairley make “a lot of dirty plays” on film. That echoed the sentiment of some rival Southeastern Conference fans and opponents.
But Oregon didn’t fare much better than the SEC offenses against the junior college transfer who went from mostly unknown to the Lombardi Award winner as the nation’s top lineman. He’ll be a likely Top 10 pick if he chooses to forgo his senior season and enter the NFL Draft.
Against Oregon, Fairley had a hand in some of Auburn’s biggest defensive plays and stands.
He also came up big in the Tigers’ third-quarter goal line stand. Oregon running back Kenjon Barner appeared headed into the end zone on third down, but Fairley tripped him up at the 1 yard line.
“That’s one thing as a defense this year, we bent but we didn’t break,” Fairley said.