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We’re only ten days away from the start of this football season, so to get that football feeling going I’m counting down 10 of my favorite Auburn games within the last 20 years!

#10: Auburn vs Mississippi State 2013

Why it’s up there:

This game happened my sophomore year at Auburn. The Tigers went 3-9 my freshman year and had lost 10 consecutive conference games in a row. It was Gus Malzahn’s first year as head coach and everyone was desperately looking for a glimmer of hope from this 3-0 Auburn team.

We were still familiarizing ourselves with a quarterback named Nick Marshall who’d transferred from Garden City Community College out in Kansas. All eyes were upon him in his SEC debut against a talented Dak Prescott. Little did we know this would become Marshall’s coming out party.

College football world, meet Nick Marshall.

The game:

Marshall and the Tigers heated up early on offense. With a Cody Parkey field goal and a 76-yard touchdown pass to Quan Bray, the Tigers led the Bulldogs 11-6 at the end of the first quarter.

Dak and the Bulldogs found their rhythm early in the third quarter and you could feel the pressure mounting against Auburn. Two interceptions and fumble looked like they would kill the Tigers and the defense was getting absolutely torched on the ground, but then this play happened and the stadium once again came to life.

Yes, Nick Marshall threw a pass which was deflected by a Mississippi State defender but instead of letting the ball go to the ground the former defensive back turned quarterback caught the ball and rushed for 37 yards. You know who makes plays like that? Freak athletes like Nick Marshall. Unreal, I will never forget this play for as long as I live.

The Tigers settled for a field goal on that drive to make the score 20-17. The score continued to stay at 20-17 until there were only ten seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. The student section was absolutely bananas during this final drive. I’d finished my hotdogs by this point and had been reduced to a nervous wreck. Nobody in that stadium wanted to go to overtime against Mississippi State, especially CJ Uzomah who caught the game winning pass.

This play was the catalyst for Auburn’s success in the 2013 season. I watched it at least a hundred times before going to bed that night because I was still in disbelief that the Tigers were winning again! Football was exciting again on the Plains and this game was just the beginning of a season that eternally lives on in college football folklore.

AUBURN FOOTBALL IS GREAT AGAIN!