Countdown to Kickoff: 55 Days DOUBLE DASH

Double Sunday night special action coming your way for today’s entry on the Countdown to Kickoff! You get two great Auburn running backs for the price of one! What are the chances??

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We start way back in the day — 35 years ago to be exact. Auburn was “real good” while Florida was also pretty good. The Tigers of course finished 1983 at 11-1 with a Sugar Bowl win over Michigan and a conference championship. During that run, Pat Dye’s third team beat Florida 28-21 in the latter half of the season, giving the Gators one of their only two losses on the year.

Florida, meanwhile, was the only team to beat “national champion” Miami, waxing the Hurricanes 28-3 to open the year. Aside from the loss to Auburn, Florida fell 10-9 to Georgia the next week in Jacksonville. The Gators were good, but Bo Jackson toyed with them like no other, ripping that defense apart with touchdown runs of 80 and 55 yards.

Look at that one little jab step Bo gives right at the line of scrimmage before he hits full speed and barrels through the defense. I think one Gator actually got a hand on him, and he flat out runs away from several guys that had an angle on him. There will never be another one like him.

However, as far as fan favorites go, Kerryon Johnson might have Bo beat in the recent popularity department. While Bo was tearing up a good Florida team at home in 1983, Kerryon was tearing up a great Georgia team just this past November on the same field.

After Nick Chubb scored the opening touchdown of the game in this past season’s edition of The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry, Auburn reeled off 30 straight points to put it out of reach. The Bulldogs dared to try and score again, and after both teams traded field goals to make it 33-10, Kerryon put the nail in Georgia’s coffin with a 55-yard touchdown of his own.

So much went right on this play. It helps that Jarrett Stidham and his receivers had done the bulk of the work on this day already, with Stidham running for a score and tossing two touchdown passes. Kerryon ran for 167 yards on the day, but he was mostly doing the dirty work before he got the moment to shine later on.

As you can see, Georgia’s fooled completely, and Auburn’s offensive line has a chance to get out and eliminate Bulldog defenders downfield. KJ is flat out strolling down the field, but his home-run trot allowed everyone to get into full froth to celebrate the impending win.

Rod Bramblett: “Ten, five, dives for the pylon.... INHALE TOUCHDOoOoOoOoOoOoWN AUBURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRN!”

That was all of us. War Eagle, we’re under eight weeks to kickoff. Enjoy your summer.