Mythical Playoffs (Round 3) '96 Florida vs '04 Auburn
By SECFans on July 26 2009 8:47 PM
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Game Fourteen: 1996 Florida Gators (12-1) vs 2004 Auburn Tigers (13-0)
Tournament to Date:
'96 Florida:
Defeated 1999 Alabama 33-20
Defeated 1995 Florida 34-30
(Players of the Game: Danny Weurffel, Chris Doering)
'04 Auburn:
Defeated 2007 LSU 24-20
Defeated 08 Florida 24-21
(Players of the Game: Jason Campbell, Carnell Williams)
Argument for '96 Florida:
This Gator offense is hitting on all cylinders. They matchup well against the '04 Auburn defense in terms of speed and talent. Make no mistake, this is the best defense top-to-bottom that this '96 squad has seen either during their 1996 campaign, or in this tournament. Don't expect a score fest here. The UF defense will be forced to come up with some stops, because the Auburn defense will certainly find a few.
Argument for 04 Auburn:
In 2004, Jason Campbell didn't have the recognition that Weurffel had. But he has the ability to lead this team to a W. He's got plenty of speed at WR and a running game behind him to really open up the play action or maybe something vertical. The Auburn defense will test this Florida squad both on the ground and through the air. If they can bottle up the Gator running game, look for the Auburn secondary to feast on a one dimensional Florida offense.
How it Plays Out:
Back and forth, back and forth. That's how this one is playing out. Auburn gets on the board early after riding Ronnie Brown with the pass and the run. The key was a 23 yard screen that he turned into 6 points, on a drive where he also had 6 carries for 41 yards. Florida answered with a running back attack of their own. Fred Taylor, showing his versatility, hammered the ball inside, and then gracefully found the corner on a sweep outside. On a 3rd and goal from the 7, Taylor took a draw from shotgun and bounced up the middle for a touchdown. Florida managed two more field goals after back to back 3-and-outs from Auburn.
In the 2nd quarter, Campbell went to work. Cooper Wallace snagged two quick ones. One on a post, and a second on a dump-off as he was Campbell's 4th progression. Aromoshadu grabbed a fade in the back of the end zone to cap the drive and put the Tigers up one. As the quarter progressed, the UF receivers were notably struggling with Auburn's DBs playing some fierce press man coverage. With the foundational tenet of a Spurrier offense being timing, WRs being bumped at the line was throwing a wrench in this normally well-oiled machine. It became a real problem when Carlos Rogers jumped an out route and grabbed the ball with one hand and making an acrobatic foot drag to stay in bounds. The pick led to three points to close the half.
Down 17-13, Florida found itself in unfamiliar territory to start the 2nd half. Fred Taylor, yet again found a way to pick his team up. With Auburn still focused on the passing game, Taylor caught them looking a couple of times and broke of two big runs of 27 and 31 yards repsectively. And on the 2nd drive of the 3rd quarter, he finished the drive with a screen pass streak down the sideline for 67 yards and the Gator lead, 20-17. Auburn answered with their own TD as Obomanu set up a 3 yard Carnell Williams TD with a 38 yard fade route executed to perfection.
The game seemed to remain 24-20 Auburn forever. With 3:31 left in the game, Spurrier elected to punt on 4th and 6 from his own 39. The punt paid off as the ball bounced off of Cooper Wallace's foot as he was turned around engaged as a blocker. Florida swarmed on the ball and recovered on the Auburn 28. Needing to reach the end zone down by 4, Florida tried to get the passing game going. It took 4 attempts, but the 4th one was golden. Looking at a 4th and 10, Weurffel launched a rocket across the middle to a streaking Chris Doering. Before the Auburn secondary knew what happened, he was standing in the end zone handing the ball to the ref.
Auburn was unable to reciprocate on their ensuing drive. Gators survive and advance to a date with the '92 Tide in the Finals.
Final Score: Florida 27 Auburn 24
Link to Bracket (possible spoiler)
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