So this is how the SEC’s hammerlock on college football is broken. Not simply, certainly. Not without four quarters of proud resistance. And not by anyone undeserving.
Rallying from a 21-10 halftime deficit, Florida State brought all its talent and speed to bear in the second to defeat Auburn 34-31 on Monday night, claiming its third-ever national championship and first since 1999.
Also of interest to that part of the country grown weary of a one-conference system in college football, the Seminoles put to rest the SEC’s streak of seven straight national titles.
Auburn had spent all season teaching others how it felt to be tasered by some big play near game’s end. Now it was the Tigers turn to feel the sting. The Seminoles put up 14 points in the fourth quarter to take control of the game. First it was Kermit Whitfield’s 100-yard kickoff return, then it was a Jameis Winston-engineered 75-yard drive in the last 80 seconds to ultimately win a game that swung wildly at the end.
When Winston found Kelvin Benjamin in the end zone with 13 seconds left, Auburn had run out of miracles and FSU had its title.
Florida State had become accustomed to putting away its ACC brethren shortly after the coin toss. Entering Monday night the Seminoles had outscored all opponents 162-35 in the first quarter and 269-62 in the first half.
Against Auburn, it became quickly evident they weren’t in the Atlantic Division any more.
First, Auburn stripped away the veneer of invincibility the Seminoles had applied with such care to this season. Didn’t take all that long, either. With just more than two minutes left in the first quarter, Nick Marshall dumped a pass to the all-purpose Tre Mason, who beat the world to the end zone from 12 yards out. With the touchdown, the Tigers took a 7-3 lead, representing the first time FSU trailed in a game in the last 583 minutes and 53 seconds of game time (dating back to Sept. 28).
Auburn coach Gus Malzahn had suggested before the game that the first quarter of this game would be important for both teams to get their feet back beneath them after the long layoff since their conference championships. And, indeed, there was a good deal of settling in during the first 15 minutes.
Advantage Auburn. Florida State punter Cason Beatty had only punted on average three times a game all season. He had that many Monday by midway in the second quarter.
The amount of fraying around the very carefully tailored hems of the FSU was stunning. No ‘Nole was within 10 yards of Auburn receiver Melvin Ray as he broke behind the FSU defense and collected an uncontested 50-yard scoring pass. That made it Auburn 14-3.
Then Heisman winner Jameis Winston was relieved of the ball, his fumble recovered by linebacker Anthony Swain on the Florida State 27. Six plays later, Marshall skittered around the left side for a 4-yard touchdown run. Auburn 21, Florida State 3 and believability stretched to its limit.
FSU coach Jimbo Fisher applied a little special defibrillation to his gasping team in the form of a fake punt from his own 40-yard line. Karlos Williams delivered at the business end of a razzle-dazzle reverse fake, picking up seven yards on 4th-and-4.
That seemed to jolt the Seminoles upright, especially Winston. His third-down 21-yard run, complete with a stiff-arm that planted Auburn linebacker Kris Frost like a spring bulb, set up FSU three yards from end zone. Tailback Devonta Freeman negotiated those the next play.
The half ended with FSU trailing 21-10, the serial thumper now in the role of thumpee. It was a temporary condition.
Auburn began to buckle when it yielded a short field to an opponent that didn’t need it, thanks to a Marshall interception early in the fourth quarter. And FSU pounced, driving for a touchdown that made it 21-19 and left them a two-point conversion away from possibly tying the game.
However, an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the other side of the field from Chad Abram’s catch-and-run touchdown took the Seminoles out of range for any such attempt. The call went against Freeman, for chirping at the Auburn sideline.
All that seemed like a minor prelude to the flurry of explosive plays, along with suspect tackling technique, that produced three lead changes in the final quarter.
FSU had the one the last one, the one that mattered, the one that changed the power structure in college football.
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