10 greatest college football national championship games
By Zach Bigalke
6. Auburn survives Oregon 22-19 in 2011 BCS national championship
At a point when the SEC was dominating the BCS, Auburn was pushed all game long by Oregon in the national championship game. In another national championship game that made its way to the desert, the Ducks came to Arizona as an undefeated Pac-12 champion to face an unbeaten Auburn side that claimed the SEC title with Cam Newton at the helm of the offense.
The lead changed hands several times between the two teams, with Oregon drawing first blood on a short Rob Beard field goal early in the second quarter. Just over two minutes later, Newton found Kodi Burns for a go-ahead touchdown pass. LaMichael James caught a Darron Thomas pass out of the backfield to give the Ducks the lead back 62 seconds later.
But a safety and another Cam Newton touchdown pass, this time a 30-yarder to Emory Blake, allowed the Tigers to reclaim the lead right before halftime. After the break, Wes Byrum gave Auburn a 19-11 lead with a 28-yard field goal.
For most of the second half, defense reigned supreme as that eight-point margin held firm. With less than two and a half minutes remaining, though, James caught his second touchdown pass of the game from Thomas to pull within two points. Thomas found Jeff Maehl for the two-point conversion, drawing the Ducks level in the waning moments of regulation.
The Ducks thought they had secured a chance at overtime when Eddie Pleasant tackled Michael Dyer. But the officiating crew never blew their whistles, as Dyer rolled over Pleasant and kept running as though he never hit the ground. That set up the Tigers to give Byrum a chance at the game-winning field goal.
As the 19-yard chip shot went through the uprights and the clock wound down to zeroes, it gave the SEC their fifth of seven straight BCS crowns. The combination of the close score, the strength of the teams, and the low SRS differential has Ducks-Tigers on the cusp of the top five postseason games pitting No. 1 versus No. 2 in the AP Top 25.