Countdown to Kickoff: 22 Days

We’re going full Tuberville today, folks. It’s 22 days to kickoff, tomorrow marks three weeks until Auburn football, and we couldn’t be more excited.

The Countdown to Kickoff wouldn’t feel right without a game where Auburn took a nice early lead, sat on it, and scored a late touchdown when necessary to win a close ballgame over a less-talented team.

That’s exactly what happened in the 2006 Iron Bowl.

2006 was a year that started promisingly enough. Auburn began the year ranked fourth, smoked Washington State, slugged past LSU to reach #2 in the polls, then some HIGH SCHOOL MADMAN COACH named Gus Malzahn used trickeration and dipsy-doodle plays to help Arkansas beat us.

Brandon Cox was gimpy, Kenny Irons was banged up, we got run by Georgia, and came into the Iron Bowl at 9-2. The national title hopes we had were pretty much gone, but it would always be nice to beat Bama at their place (where they still hadn’t ever taken us down).

The Tide jumped up early with a field goal from Jamie Christensen (who was nicknamed “Money” if you recall), then touchdowns run Irons and Brad Lester gave Auburn a 14-3 lead. Bama jumped back on top with two touchdown passes from John Parker Wilson, and led by a point as we hit the late stages of the third quarter.

Auburn began a drive near midfield, Cox hit Carl Stewart on the wheel route (be still, my heart), but soon faced third down and fifteen from the Bama 22-yard line.

Cox’s jump ball toss to Prechae Rodriguez was one of just six completions on the day, and part of Auburn’s paltry 261-yard effort on offense. Hey, it worked, and Auburn won its fifth straight Iron Bowl.

War Eagle!