Reliving Auburn & Mississippi State – Part One
Auburn and Mississippi State first met on the football field in 1905 and have played each other almost every year since. Saturday’s meeting will be the 88th between the schools. And while Auburn has dominated the series 59-26-2 (we don’t count NCAA forfeits in my articles), the Bulldogs have certainly had their moments against the Tigers.
In this first of two articles about the history of the series, I’ll review a big win from that past that I personally attended – the 1981 game played at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn. I was a student at Mississippi State and a sports writer for “The Reflector” at the time, so my vantage point was the press box at the stadium. (I did make a trip to the MSU student section at halftime for “refreshments”, but that’s a story for another day.)
MSU was riding high at the time, sporting a 5-1 record and a #9 ranking. Despite an early slip up to Missouri, the Bulldogs had bagged wins over Memphis, Vanderbilt, Florida, Colorado State and the previous week over #13 Miami, a 14-10 victory that ranks as the #8 all-time victory in the history of Scott Field. Following the Auburn game was a much anticipated rematch with Alabama, who the Bulldogs had defeated the previous year to end the #1 Tide’s 28 game winning streak.
Auburn, after a disastrous 1980 season in which they went winless in the SEC, had a new coach in Pat Dye and the Tigers were much improved. Two weeks earlier, the Tigers had finally broken their SEC losing streak by defeating LSU, then followed that up by pounding Georgia Tech. The game had all the makings of a classic “trap” game for the Bulldogs.
State led 14-7 at half and appeared to have things well in hand. But the Auburn defense stiffened in the second half and shut down the Bulldogs’ wishbone offense. Meanwhile the Tigers got a field goal and blocked punt return for a touchdown to take a 17-14 lead late into the fourth quarter. With only a few minutes left in the game, Auburn had possession of the ball and was trying to run out the clock.
Facing a 4th down and 4 from near midfield with just under two minutes to play, Auburn elected not to punt and came to the line hoping to draw the Bulldogs offside. The Bulldogs jumped but did not cross the neutral zone. The Auburn center, thinking MSU was offside, snapped the ball and Johnie Cooks immediately tackled the Auburn QB.
A discussion ensured and the officials ruled the ball over on downs to the Bulldogs. A penalty for an “illegal snap”, which I never understood, was called against Auburn and of course, the Bulldogs declined. My first thought was that State had jumped offside on the play, but a close review of the game tape clearly shows while the Bulldog defenders did jump, they did not cross into the neutral zone. Pat Dye was livid and protested vigorously to the officials, but to no avail.
With possession of the ball at midfield, the Bulldogs still had work to do against a defense that had stifled it for much of the second half. Three unsuccessful plays left State facing a do or die 4th & 10. QB John Bond rolled to his left and hit flanker Danny Knight for a 31 yard completion to the 19. Two plays later, Bond hit Knight again for the winning touchdown as the Bulldogs survived a 21-17 scare from the up and coming Tigers.
Looking back, what is especially great about that 1981 win is that there is outstanding footage of the final two minutes of that game, featuring the radio call of the legendary Jack Cristil from the prime of his career.
I’ll have details for you on other great games played between these two schools later today in part 2 of my article on the history of the Auburn – Mississippi State series. Stay with Maroon & White Nation as we keep you in the know about all things Mississippi State.