Statement not very decisive

NEW ORLEANS – Auburn filled in a piece of its improbable championship puzzle by hanging on in the Sugar Bowl, though it was hardly a masterpiece.

Jason Campbell threw a touchdown pass, John Vaughn kicked three short field goals and the No. 3 Tigers completed a perfect season with a 16-13 victory over ninth-ranked Virginia Tech on Monday night.

But was it enough to share the title?

Auburn (13-0) had a couple of second-half turnovers and gave up an 80-yard touchdown pass with two minutes left – a major blow to their hopes of swaying the voters to split No. 1 again.

Not that the Tigers were willing to concede anything to the winner of tonight’s Orange Bowl between No. 1 Southern Cal and No. 2 Oklahoma.

“Neither team is better than us,” coach Tommy Tuberville said. “We’ll play them anytime, anywhere.”

Virginia Tech (10-3) could have made things even easier on the Bowl Championship Series by upsetting Auburn. But the Hokies had a couple of major blunders, dropping a pass in the end zone and missing a chip-shot field goal.

When Bryan Randall threw a 29-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan with 6:58 left, ruining the shutout, one could almost sense that USC, Oklahoma and – especially – the BCS were breathing a little easier.

Randall dealt another blow to the Tigers when he threw the long touchdown pass to Morgan, surely costing a few more votes.

Auburn recovered the onside kick and kneeled down to run out the clock, deciding to preserve the victory rather than try to win more impressively.

The Auburn band even launched into a Bon Jovi song that summed things up for the Southeastern Conference champions: “Living on a Prayer.”

“I just wanted to win by one,” said Tuberville, who nearly lost his job at the end of last season. “That’s all that counts. If you have to win with style points, you might as well throw out all the systems.”

Campbell was named MVP after completing 11 of 16 passes for 189 yards with one interception. Randall threw for 299 yards but was picked off twice.

“People just don’t understand how hard it is to go 13-0,” Campbell said. “I’m not going to sit here and say we’re No. 2 behind anybody.”

The odd team out in a troika of 12-0 teams, Auburn settled for a spot in the Sugar Bowl against the Hokies, while USC and Oklahoma were tapped for the Orange Bowl – the BCS title game.

Nothing ever seems to work out smoothly in Division I-A football, the only college sport that insists on using a mix of polls and bowls to determine its champion rather than settling things with a playoff.

Auburn’s hopes were based on this convoluted scenario: The Tigers defeat Virginia Tech convincingly, Oklahoma knocks off USC in an ugly Orange Bowl and enough voters in the Associated Press media poll pick Auburn No. 1, creating a split championship.

The winner of the Orange Bowl is assured of being voted No. 1 in the coaches’ poll. But the AP rankings aren’t tied to the BCS.

Last season, USC was voted No. 1 by the AP after winning the Rose Bowl, while LSU won the BCS title by beating Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl.

The overlooked Hokies hurt themselves with those two major miscues. Jesse Allen dropped a sure touchdown pass on fourth-and-goal at the 1 midway through the second quarter. Then, Brandon Pace yanked a 23-yard field goal just left of the upright early in the fourth.

“Well, we played hard, we just didn’t play well enough,” Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer said.

Carnell Williams, half of Auburn’s heralded running back duo, was held to 61 yards rushing. He also fumbled in the fourth quarter when the Tigers, leading 16-0, were driving for the score that could have made the victory a lot more convincing.

Auburn had a chance to blow it open in the first half, too, but went 0-for-3 from inside the Virginia Tech 10. The Tigers had to settle for three short field goals by Vaughn, who connected from 23, 19 and 24 yards for a 9-0 lead at halftime.

After taking the second-half kickoff, Auburn finally drove all the way. The biggest play was a third-and-16, when Campbell scrambled near the Virginia Tech sideline and spotted Anthony Mix breaking open, connecting with him on a 53-yard pass.

Then on third-and-2 from the Virginia Tech 5, Campbell froze the linebackers with play-action and hit Devin Aromashodu on a quick slant over the middle for Auburn’s only TD, hardly the sort of definitive statement the Tigers hoped to make