AUBURN, Ala. — That crazy tipped pass for a long game-winning touchdown is now the second-most stunning and improbable play of Auburn’s season.
Yes, the Tigers found a way to top “The Immaculate Deflection.” Maybe call this one Auburn’s happiest return.
Chris Davis returned a missed field-goal attempt more than 100 yards for a touchdown on the final play to lift No. 4 Auburn to a 34-28 victory over No. 1 Alabama on Saturday, upending the two-time defending national champions’ BCS hopes and preserving the Tigers’ own.
Davis caught the ball about 9 yards deep in the end zone after freshman Adam Griffith’s 57-yard attempt fell short. He then sprinted down the left sideline and cut back with nothing but teammates around him in a second straight hard-to-fathom finish for the Tigers (11-1, 7-1 Southeastern Conference).
Auburn clinched a spot in the SEC championship game with the stunning victory over the powerhouse from across the state. The Crimson Tide (11-1, 7-1) seemed at several times poised to continue its run toward the first three-peat in modern college football.
Asked if it was the biggest win of his career, Tigers coach Gus Malzahn said: “It ranks right up there.” But he said he’d “probably” still celebrate just like he has since his high school coaching days: With a Waffle House meal.
The Tigers put it away just when overtime seemed their best hope.
Alabama had gotten 1 second restored and one more play after a review of T.J. Yeldon’s run to the Auburn 39.
That gave the Tide a chance to try the long field goal — and now it probably wished it never did.
The entire field looked like a sea of orange shakers as the celebration continued long after the climactic finale of one of the biggest Iron Bowls in the bitter rivalry’s 78-year history.
It lived up to the billing — and then some.
This finale even one-upped Auburn’s last-gasp win over Georgia two weeks earlier. A deflected 73-yard touchdown pass from Nick Marshall to Ricardo Louis dubbed “The Immaculate Deflection” with 25 seconds left set up only the second Top-5 Iron Bowl matchup and first since 1971.
A team that went 3-9 last season and had been destroyed by Alabama 91-14 combined the past two seasons will play for an SEC title and perhaps a trip to the BCS championship game.
Undefeated Ohio State, which was third in the BCS standings this week and figures to move up to second behind Florida State, will have something to say about which teams play for the national title, too. No doubt the Buckeyes, who won their own thriller against Michigan earlier in the day, were celebrating Auburn’s win almost as much as the Tigers.
On the final play, Alabama turned to Griffith to replace Cade Foster, who had missed three field goals, with a potential clinching 44-yarder going low and getting blocked in the final minutes. Griffith was only 1 of 2 all season with a long of 20 yards.
Marshall had tied the game with a 39-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Sammie Coates with 32 seconds left after Auburn blocked a low field goal attempt. The Tigers moved 65 yards in 2 minutes all on the ground with Mason until that play.
Marshall raced toward the line with two defensive backs coming after him. Then he pulled up just in time with the ball tucked in his left hand, deftly switching it to his right and lofting the pass to Coates standing all by himself.
McCarron, a Heisman Trophy candidate, had staked Alabama to a 28-21 lead with a 99-yard pass to Amari Cooper for the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter.
The Tide had a few chances to put the game away, but couldn’t convert a fourth-and-short deep in Auburn territory, had four missed field goals and a dropped potential TD in the end zone by Cooper.
McCarron might have had a Heisman moment with his pass to Cooper from the end zone, when Cooper shook off a defensive back on his way to the end zone.
The quarterback, who is 36-3 as a starter, completed 17 of 29 passes for 277 yards and three touchdowns.
Marshall led his team with a dual-threat style that was never more evident than his final pass. He was 11-of-16 passing for 97 yards but also rushed 17 times for 99 yards.
Tre Mason ran 29 times for 164 yards and a touchdown. Auburn ran 52 times for 296 yards against a defense that came in giving up 91 yards a game on the ground.
Alabama, which outgained Auburn 495-393, countered with Yeldon’s own workhorse performance. Yeldon gained 141 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries.
The defenses both came up big late in the fourth.