Auburn football made Homecoming weekend a spectacular one for all Tiger fans that made their way to the Plains.
Usually, this weekend is one that doesn’t make you sweat beyond the mid-afternoon East Central Alabama sun pounding on one’s skin like Tank Bigsby to a defender.
Against Georgia State, AU fans felt all the things that define what being in the Auburn family is about.
There was disappointment in Bo Nix’s 13/27 performance. It wasn’t putrid by any means, but it wasn’t enough to outscore the Panthers due to their prolific run defense and surprising ground dominance on the offensive end. Tank Bigsby and Jarquez Hunter were both held under 70 yards on the ground and Nix generated one rush of positive yardage. For one yard.
Then, there was triumph in truly unfathomable fashion.
Due to these five stars, the Tigers avoided a nearly disastrous early-season loss and pulled out a spectacular victory over a Sunbelt representative:
Auburn football star #1: QB TJ Finley
I mean come on.
Does it get better than what TJ Finley just did? He snatched victory from the jaws of defeat with one of the craziest late-season comebacks in recent memory. With a showdown at his former home stadium next week.
It had to be against Georgia State for Finley to be leading the charge. The moment of truth had to come for Bryan Harsin to execute what would be the most talked about personnel decision in college football.
It came. Finley showed slight shades of Cam Newton, sporting #1 and all, in evading tackles and finding receivers at pivotal points. Shedrick Jackson’s go-ahead touchdown reception and Kobe Hudson’s 2-point conversion lit up Jordan-Hare Stadium.
And then…
Auburn football star #2: S Smoke Monday
The Smoke Monday pick-six was the cherry on top that may just convince the AP voters who didn’t watch the whole game that this was a more decisive win that it seemed.
In turn, that should keep the Tigers in the AP Top 25, with Kansas State’s doors currently being blown off by the Oklahoma State Cowboys and the Wisconsin Badgers having the same already done today at Soldier Field at Notre Dame’s hands. Even Fresno’s State’s win carries less weight since it was by less and over a UNLV that lost to Eastern Washington of the FCS Week 1.
Monday’s INT covered someone’s alternate spread somewhere, and for that we salute you.
Auburn football star #3: LB Zakoby McClain
You just can’t keep a good man down. I’m so looking at you SEC officials.
After a Southeastern Conference officiating went up to Happy Valley and made a fool of themselves with multiple missed calls–with none more egregious than the second-half targeting call that disqualified Zakoby McClain from the Penn State game–the Tigers found themselves down a man in the first half against Georgia State.
McClain came back in the second half and still had four tackles, two solo. The Ricochet Rabbit solidified the run defense, and Panthers RB Tucker Gregg amassed just eight yards in the second half after collecting 142 in the first half.
Auburn football star #4: WR Kobe Hudson
The sophomore out of Pine Mountain, Georgia showed out against a Group of Five team from his home-state, leading the Tigers WR room with five catches for 76 yards.
He didn’t get the major moment that ultimately sealed the deal for the spectacular comeback win, but Hudson had several key catches down the stretch on TJ Finley’s game-winning drive.
He also had a 2-point conversion that swung the momentum pendulum in Jordan-Hare Stadium so far in the favor of the orange and blue that Panthers QB Darren Grainger would have been better off kneeling the ball away to end the game.
Auburn football star #5: WR Shedrick Jackson
Right behind Kobe Hudson in receiving impact was senior WR Shedrick Jackson, who caught what could go down as a season-changing throw as part of his 70 yard afternoon.
Jackson had a breakout game that propels him past Demetris Robertson and John Samuel Shenker on the 2021 WR leaderboard. It’s not known whether Jackson may take advantage of the extra year granted because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but he had a life-changing moment in his go-ahead TD catch with under a minute left.