Countdown to Kickoff: 56 Days

The Countdown to Kickoff continues as we hit eight weeks on the dot to Auburn and Washington in Atlanta. At this time eight weeks from now, you should be locking in to get ready to watch the Tigers open the season well against what very well could be a Playoff team come December.

...

56 days until kickoff, and we’ve got 56 yards for Frank Sanders. Frankie became Auburn’s go-to receiver, and one of the best in school history during the magical 1993 season, as he was a key cog in the Tigers’ win streak under Terry Bowden.

Auburn of course went 11-0 in ‘93, and Sanders grabbed 48 passes for 842 yards and 6 touchdowns. The next season, he became even more of a threat, as Patrick Nix became the full-time starter and Auburn continued its winning streak into the 1994 campaign.

The year began with a slim 22-17 win at Ole Miss, then the Interception Game with LSU came two weeks later, and the Cardiac Cats lived on to extend the winning streak to 14. After two eviscerations of East Tennessee State and Kentucky, Auburn got to head out on the road for the first of two straight away from Jordan-Hare to play Mississippi State.

Now, the Bulldogs weren’t a bad team in 1994. They finished 8-4, falling to Auburn and Alabama during the regular season, and compiling the only bad loss against LSU (who went 4-7) early on. Still, this was one of Auburn’s more complete games of the year, as the domination came early and often on the way to a 42-18 victory in Starkville, higlighted by Frank Sanders’ 56-yard touchdown grab from Patrick Nix.

A few things stand out about this play. One, the play fake by Nix didn’t really fool anyone over the top where he wanted to go, but the line’s protection was great. Two, he was going to Sanders the whole time. There was no hesitation to pull the trigger once he stepped up. Three, Sanders made the fantastic effort to haul that in when there was a high probability that he would get sandwiched and crushed by the two defensive backs. Four, the early ‘90s were a time for many good things, but touchdown celebrations were not in that category. Five, you know that this play would get reviewed today since he sort of bobbled the ball as he crossed the plane and it ended up skipping off his knee. It would be annoying and it would probably happen against Georgia or Alabama and we’d all cry conspiracy.

As of 2:30 CST today, we will be under eight weeks to kickoff. Enjoy the rest of your summer! War Eagle!