Auburn Tigers

Five years since the weird 2011 game vs. Auburn

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Five years ago Mississippi State played a game vs. Auburn that featured some really weird stuff.

I know this isn’t a game you really want to remember, but that’s why I also put together THIS PIECE on the 2014 Auburn game earlier today. And since we don’t have a game to talk about this week I gotta write about something, right?

I’m not going to set the stage by discussing the Cam Newton saga from the prior year or that Auburn was the defending national champions or that MSU was a seven point favorite on the Plains, but you get the idea.

The traditional eagle flying at Auburn had an unusual mishap when it ran into a skybox window…

Auburn got out to a 14-0 lead in no time, and then Mississippi State charged back to tie the game 14-14 by the end of the 1st quarter.

After a Johnthan Banks pick six it was 21-14 Dawgs. Sidebar:

Then, of course, Auburn scored a couple of unanswered touchdowns before the half, add in a couple of field goals and the scoring frenzy ended at halftime with Auburn leading 31-24.

Then in the second half it got more weird as MSU’s headsets quit working. Dan Mullen told the officials and by rule Auburn had to stop using theirs as well.

Late in the third quarter, Auburn was up 34-27 when they faced a 4th & 1 from the MSU 31 yard line. Michael Dyer ran for “one yard”, which I put in quotes because he was obviously short based on the measurement….but STILL the refs gave it to them. That drive ultimately resulted in a touchdown to make it 41-27 Auburn.

Against these odds, Mississippi State still was able to pull within a touchdown at 41-34 and had the ball in the closing minute of regulation in Auburn territory. From the eight yard line with just 24 seconds to play, Vick Ballard dove for the endzone in a confusing pylon call. The refs placed the ball at the one after much discussion, despite some folks saying the plane of the endzone should have been extended in that circumstance and it called a touchdown. I’m still a bit confused.

Then with 10 seconds left and no timeouts, Dan Mullen elected to run Chris Relf on the option play and he was tackled just inches short of the endzone and time expired. Of course, if MSU had a timeout they could’ve used it and ran another play. And there was a lot of second guessing about the call as Mullen could have thrown on that down and still had another play. Lastly, Relf could’ve pitched to Vick Ballard who would’ve walked into the endzone.

Not to pick on Relf, however, because he played a great game with 195 yards passing and 106 yards rushing.

It was a weird one, and a gut-punch the way it ended.

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