Coach Tuberville's Top 10: Number 5

This summer, Auburn fans had the opportunity to vote on the Top 10 games during the Tommy Tuberville Era. Fans had 25 games to choose from during the month-long voting. Now, AuburnTigers.com will unveil how fans voted, with game recaps and video highlights daily Monday through Friday for the next two weeks, counting down from No. 10 to No. 1.....So sit back, relax and enjoy....Here's No. 5...

No. 5
Nov. 12, 2005 - Auburn 31, Georgia 30
Samford Stadium, Athens, Ga.

During a Nov. 12, 2005, showdown of the Deep South's oldest rivalry between Auburn and Georgia in Athens, Ga., no lead was safe. The game featured eight lead changes, including four in the fourth quarter, and in the end, junior placekicker John Vaughn clinched one of 2005's most exciting victories with a 20-yard field goal with only six seconds left as the No. 15 Tigers upset No. 9 Georgia, 31-30.

With 3:25 on the clock in the fourth quarter, Auburn worked to its own 35-yard line before facing fourth-and-10 and a two-point deficit. Tiger quarterback Brandon Cox found Devin Aromashodu in the middle of the field for a 62-yard reception and the first down. Aromashodu actually had the ball knocked loose at the 3-yard line, but Courtney Taylor recovered it in the end zone, giving the Tigers the ball at the spot of the fumble. Three plays later, Vaughn was set up to knock through the game-winning field goal and delivered.

Auburn led 21-20 entering the fourth quarter and in just over five minutes, the two teams traded touchdowns. The Tigers regained an edge over the Bulldogs on Karibi Dede's 15-yard fumble return to give Auburn a 28-27 advantage with 9:28 left. A 41-yard field goal by Brandon Coutu gave the Bulldogs a 30-28 lead with just 3:25 remaining, setting the stage for Auburn's game-winning drive.

Running back Kenny Irons put Auburn on the board on the first drive of the game. He capped a 92-yard march on 13 plays with a 30-yard rush up the middle to help Auburn jump out to a 7-0 lead. Irons returned to the end zone in the second quarter on a 6-yard left side rush for a 14-10 lead following a 35-yard completion from Cox to Anthony Mix on the prior play. In the first half alone, Irons led the offensive charge by rushing for 125 yards on 19 carries. He finished the game with a 179-yard performance on 37 carries, running his streak of 100-yard rushing games to five straight.

The Tigers totaled 506 yards of total offense, while the Bulldogs countered with 446 yards of their own. Cox completed 16-of-28 for 279 yards on the evening while Georgia signal caller D.J. Shockley was 20-of-36 for 306 yards and two touchdowns.

Aromashodu led Auburn's receivers with four receptions for a career-high 135 yards including catches of 62 and 53 yards.

Dede, who recovered two fumbles, snatched one on special teams setting up a 30-yard touchdown on an end around by Ben Obomanu midway through the third quarter.

Defensive back David Irons and linebacker Antarrious Williams led the Tigers defensively with six tackles each.

The win gave Auburn its 10th win in its last 12 tries in contests in Athens. It also boosted Auburn's all-time series record against Georgia to 53-48-8.

Tuberville's thoughts looking back... "That was the most exciting game, but probably, after looking at these top games, our worst-coached and played game up until the end. We were fortunate that we stayed in the game. We made some plays; Kenny Irons made some good runs. Defensively we didn't tackle very well. It was one of those games that felt like it was slipping away from us. We couldn't find a handle on it because we'd get something going, then something would go wrong.

"At the end, I'll never forget they scored to go ahead with a couple minutes and we weren't able to do anything in the second half on offense. We got a penalty and got the ball moved back to the 10-yard line so we had to go about 90 yards. We threw the ball around and had to squeeze out a couple of third-down possessions just to get the ball into decent field position. Then they had us on fourth and long and we caught them in a coverage that worked perfect against the play. Devin (Aromashodu) made a good catch.

"Our center was out; Joe Cope tears his knee up and we have a backup center in the game, Jonathan Palmer, who had mostly played guard. Jonathan goes in and we're just worried about getting the snap and getting some plays going. Jonathan does good and he gets stronger and stronger, but on that fourth down play it's a very bad shotgun snap and Brandon (Cox) has to reach down and pick it up because they're coming, they're blitzing. Brandon does a great job of picking it up without looking at the ball, which was very fortunate for us because he gets it back and is able see through the gap to throw a short post route and made the play. "It goes to show you how that team persevered. That was a good football team and to be able to beat Georgia on their own field like that, when they probably had a better team than we did that year, worked out pretty good for us.

"He (John Vaughn) missed five field goals against LSU. We had the ball on the 5-yard line and we had to make a decision...are we going to try to score a touchdown or do we kick a field goal to win this game and run the clock down. So we decided to do that (kick). We ran one outside play and the rest of the time we just tried to center it up to kick it. I never said anything to John; I stayed away from him. All the players knew that this was his chance. Of course, they carried him off on their shoulders and this is what it's all about. "