#1 Florida State vs. #2 Auburn - The Final BCS Championship Game Thread

[Zososoxfan]

If Auburn had won, wouldn't MSU have had a legit case for a split NC?
 
Edit: To add, I rooted for FSU because I'm sick of the SEC. It would've been a lot easier to root for them if it wasn't for the chop.

 

[OCST]

I saw some of the first and second quarter.  I have no rooting interest in either team, and it seemed to me like Auburn was flat-out kicking FSU's ass, so I went to bed.
 
I have no idea how the FSU team that I saw in the first half won this game.  None.

 

[Yeah Jeets]

 

[BigMike]

If Auburn had won, wouldn't MSU have had a legit case for a split NC?
 
Edit: To add, I rooted for FSU because I'm sick of the SEC. It would've been a lot easier to root for them if it wasn't for the chop.

 
In their own mind, but no one would have taken them seriously.    
 

I saw some of the first and second quarter.  I have no rooting interest in either team, and it seemed to me like Auburn was flat-out kicking FSU's ass, so I went to bed.
 
I have no idea how the FSU team that I saw in the first half won this game.  None.

 
The real FSU team for the most part showed up int he second half.   They played defense,  and they blocked enough so that Winston could get throws off

 

[DukeSox]

I saw some of the first and second quarter.  I have no rooting interest in either team, and it seemed to me like Auburn was flat-out kicking FSU's ass, so I went to bed.
 
I have no idea how the FSU team that I saw in the first half won this game.  None.

In the beginning of the game Auburn was running straight ahead and gaining 7-8 yards each time.  FSU finally stopped that in the second half, and Auburn kept pounding away into the pile for 1-2 yards, leading to little offensive movement.

 

[WayBackVazquez]

I hear you.  Winning makes losing not as horrible.  
 
The Pat Dye thing was torture.  SU was undefeated, and actually had a chance at the national title that year.  Auburn already had one loss and was out of the national championship picture.  They had a chance in the last second to play for the win, but instead Pat Dye cowardly went for the tie, which accomplished absolutely nothing for Auburn but which cost SU any chance at a national title.  When called on it, his response was simply, If Syracuse wanted to win, they should have blocked the field goal.  What an asshat kind of statement.  I would much rather have had SU lose on a last-second TD by Auburn than to have a tie game.  
 
This article from SI at the time really takes Dye to task, and rightfully so:  http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1066916/
 
It was one of the most aggravating sports moments of my life, and my team didn't even lose.  Dye deserved every ounce of crap he took for that weak decision.  
 
But hey, I'm not still bitter  ;-)

I dunno, man. Auburn was at the 13-yard line, not the 2 or something. The odds of conversion were very low. Moreover, don't you think it's a little unfair to expect Auburn to go for the win, when Syracuse had kicked the field goal ( on fourth and INCHES) to make it a 3-point lead just two minutes earlier? I mean, Cuse kicks a field goal with two minutes left, and is really thinking, "HA! We've got a field goal lead, now they need to drive the full length and score a TD!"

 

[ivanvamp]

SU did its job, taking the lead.  And they were playing for a national championship.  In the last game of the regular season that year, SU played West Virginia.  SU was down by 7 and scored in the last few seconds of the game to pull within one.  At that point, Dick MacPherson had a choice to make:  kick the PAT and finish with a tie, which would have kept their undefeated season alive but would have killed their national title hopes, or go for 2 and the win, keeping their undefeated season and national title hopes alive, but risking both big-time in the process.  Well, he chose to go for two.  He risked it all, went for the win, and got it.
 
Auburn literally had nothing to play for.  No undefeated season, no shot at a national title, all the players on Auburn were upset they didn't try for the win, and Dye said afterward that he just didn't want to lose.  What a wuss.  
 
The two situations (SU's and Auburn's) were not at ALL analogous.  

 

[WayBackVazquez]

Are they listed as co-champions? Do they have a trophy in Birmingham?

Sorry, but I think the situations are completely analogous. Syracuse wanted to make a 3-point lead count as 7-point lead; doesn't work that way. Cuse could have gone for it on fourth and inches, or the D could have stopped Auburn from marching 70 yards in two minutes. Expecting the other team to do your work for you is pretty weak.

"I told my players after we kicked the field goal to go ahead that it was as good as a touchdown. I was shocked when he went for the field goal. For someone to allow that little guy to come out and kick, I just don't understand.''"

 

[dcmissle]

I saw some of the first and second quarter.  I have no rooting interest in either team, and it seemed to me like Auburn was flat-out kicking FSU's ass, so I went to bed.
 
I have no idea how the FSU team that I saw in the first half won this game.  None.

 
Much more impressive than had FSU blown them out, cause it would have been so easy to fold in this game.  The whole SEC/sos thing. A freshman QB soiling himself.
 
Jimbo put them on the firing line with the fake punt and they responded.

 

[ifmanis5]

Is there like a mandate that stuffy middle aged white men must have that exact kind of baldness?

It's the justified result of extreme exposure to Springsteen, ballwashing Jack Morris and an unnatural love of The Human Element.

 

[ivanvamp]

Sorry, but I think the situations are completely analogous. Syracuse wanted to make a 3-point lead count as 7-point lead; doesn't work that way. Cuse could have gone for it on fourth and inches, or the D could have stopped Auburn from marching 70 yards in two minutes. Expecting the other team to do your work for you is pretty weak.

"I told my players after we kicked the field goal to go ahead that it was as good as a touchdown. I was shocked when he went for the field goal. For someone to allow that little guy to come out and kick, I just don't understand.''"

 
Clearly SU did a bad job on defense on Auburn's drive - nobody is disputing that.  And there isn't a coach in the world who wouldn't have kicked the field goal in MacPherson's position there.  
 
And there almost isn't a coach in the world besides Dye who would have kicked the field goal in *his* position there.  At the time, the outcry against Dye was essentially unanimous, from all corners - other coaches, media, fans, even the players on Auburn weren't happy.  It was a weak-ass decision with absolutely nothing on the line. 
 
Not the same situation AT ALL.  Not even close, really.

 

[DJnVa]

http://deadspin.com/auburn-came-this-close-to-springing-the-final-play-for-1496232853
 
He had some blockers....
 

 

[WayBackVazquez]

Clearly SU did a bad job on defense on Auburn's drive - nobody is disputing that.  And there isn't a coach in the world who wouldn't have kicked the field goal in MacPherson's position there.  
 
And there almost isn't a coach in the world besides Dye who would have kicked the field goal in *his* position there.  At the time, the outcry against Dye was essentially unanimous, from all corners - other coaches, media, fans, even the players on Auburn weren't happy.  It was a weak-ass decision with absolutely nothing on the line. 
 
Not the same situation AT ALL.  Not even close, really.

Nothing on the line? NOBODY has anything on the line in a bowl game other than #1 -#3. By tying, Auburn ended the season ranked in the top ten, which it likely would not have if it had gone for a ridiculous 13-yard, short-field conversion. The only thing not analogous AT ALL is your comparison to Cuse going for a two-point conversion earlier in the season. McPherson said it all. He expected his FG to be worth 6 points, and he expected Auburn to go for the end zone on its last play, whether it was from the 1, the 13, or apparently the 30.

And as for almost no other coach in the world kicking the field goal from the 13 yard line, that's just wrong. Games ended in ties on game-tying field goals regularly enough, and in big games. Bobby Bowden didn't even go for the two point conversion against Florida in 1994.

The truth is, Syracuse had no chance at even a split NC anyway.

 

[DukeSox]

http://www.theacc.com/#!/news-detail/2013-All-ACC-Academic-Football-Team-Announced_02-17-14_ruppdb 
 

 
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Duke offensive tackle Perry Simmons, who was named the winner of the 2013 Jim Tatum Award as ACC’s top scholar-athlete, Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston, the 2013 Heisman Trophy Winner and Boston College tailback Andre Williams, who captured the Doak Walker Award as the nation’s top running back, headline the 67-member 2013 All-Atlantic Coast Conference Academic Football Team, announced Monday by Commissioner John Swofford.