Auburn's self-belief, fourth-quarter mojo work again

• Alabama, ranked ninth and the Defending National Champion, jumped out to a 24-0 lead against No.. 2 Auburn, ITS most bitter rival. Did not matter.

• Alabama was in a position to Deliver a knockout punch right before halftime When It Drove to the Auburn 8-yard line with a 24-7 lead. But Nick Fairley knocked the ball loose from Greg McElroy And The Tigers dodged a bullet That Could Have Been Fatal. Did not matter.

• McElroy was magnificent in the first half, Completing 19 of 23 passes for 335 yards. By halftime, Auburn, Which led the SEC by averaging 42.7 Points Per Game, HAD Been Limited Thurs 1987 total yards. Did not matter.

• Auburn quarterback Cameron Newton, the WHO has Been the object of month long NCAA Investigation, is the SEC's Leading rusher. By halftime they had occurred nine Carries for minus-10 yards. Did not matter.

All That Is that mattered at 4:26 p.m. Central Time the fourth quarter started and Auburn HAD ITS fought way back to articles within six points, 27-21.

In a game like this, M emotions run so high, Alabama and Auburn had occurred 15 minutes of football Thurs Determine WHO HAD bragging rights for the next 364 days. If you've never spent Any time in this state, you simply have no idea how important That Is.

And before the first snap of the final quarter in a football rivalry with no peer, the Auburn team, en masse, ran down-to-one end zone and raised Their helmets Thurs That corner of the stadium Where Their fans were located.

That is Auburn's Way of Telling Their fans: "We're going to win the fourth quarter like we have all season."

And with everything - literally everything - is the line, Auburn scored on a 7-yard touchdown pass from Newton Thurs Phillip Lutzenkirchen with 11:15 left. Then the Auburn defense made the score stand up to take a dramatic 28-27 victory in one of the toughest I've Atmosphères seen in a long, long time.

"I can not tell you how proud I am of this football team," Auburn coach Gene Chizik said after the Tigers snapped Alabama's 20-game home winning streak. "This is a tough place to play and a tough place to win. But our guys just did what they've Been doing all season. They Just Kept playing."

Now Auburn (12-0) is clear is what it must do. If the Tigers beat South Carolina in the SEC Championship Game on Dec. 4 in Atlanta, There Is Little Doubt That They will advance to the BCS title game in Glendale, Ariz., By Jan. 10.

Not Auburn has won a National Championship in college football since 1957. Now the Tigers are one win away from having "a shot at the crystal football.

More Read: