Countdown to Kickoff: 17 Days

It’s hard to start a game any worse than Auburn did vs Arkansas in 1995. Robert Baker fumbled the opening kickoff setting up a short field for the Hogs which lead to a quick touchdown. It would get even uglier the rest of the half. Arkansas carried a 27-0 lead to halftime and it looked like the #11 ranked Tigers were on their way to a beatdown of epic proportions.

But Auburn wasn’t done just yet. The Tigers scored an early 3rd quarter touchdown which seemed to give Auburn fans a little hope but the offense could not muster up much more that quarter. With just under two minutes left in the 3rd quarter, the Hogs held a 30-7 advantage.

Then things got REALLY wacky.

Auburn mounted one of the greatest comebacks you will ever see. It started with a Patrick Nix scramble for a touchdown late in the 3rd quarter to cut Arkansas’s lead to 30-14. Nix then put together another drive that also ended in a touchdown pass. This one to Tyrone Goodson with just over 10:30 to play. So now it’s 30-21....

The Hogs then put together a ridiculously time consuming drive that ate away pretty much all of the 4th quarter. With just under 3 minutes to go in the game, the Tigers tried to put together one last furious rally. Nix marched Auburn all the way down the field and with 18 seconds remaining, found Errick Low in the flat for the score. Auburn converted the 2 point conversion cutting the once 27 point deficit to 2.

But obviously scoring with 18 seconds left is pretty ridiculous. I mean they would have to recover an onside kick and get into field goal range in the span of only a few seconds. Totally not possible right?

Uhhhhh WHAT??!!

All of a sudden Auburn had an actual, real chance of winning a game they trailed 30-7 with barely any time left in the 3rd quarter.

Nix hit Willie Gosha (more on him soon) to setup a 52 yard field goal for the Tigers. Make this kick and Auburn would pull off one of the most incredible comebacks of all time...

BECOME A LEGEND MATT!

Well... Damn....

So why the heck did I drudge up this terrible memory?

Well besides it being one of the more wild football games in Auburn history, a record was set that day that I think has a chance of standing for quite awhile. Willie Gosha caught 17 passes for 222 yards, setting an Auburn single game record for receptions. His 222 yards sits #3 overall in Auburn football history for receiving yards in a game. Somehow, Gosha didn’t have a single touchdown that day....

Sadly, because of the result of that game, I’m not sure Willie has gotten his due for an impressive performance. So today, in honor of it being 17 days to kickoff, here’s 14 of those 17 receptions from that record setting day (sadly ESPN Classic shortened the game and removed three of his catches). Shoutout to Mr Drew McCracken for providing me his copy of the game. That man’s video collection is scary impressive.

17 days till kickoff! War Eagle!