Georgia Postmortem

The Prayer in Jordan-Hare sets up the Mother of All Iron Bowls (Kevin Scarbinsky)




Auburn coach Gus Malzahn congratulates quarterback Nick Marshall after their 43-38 victory over Georgia on Nov. 16, 2013, in Auburn, Alabama. (Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com) Print By Kevin Scarbinsky
kscarbinsky@al.com AL.com
on November 16, 2013 at 8:58 PM, updated November 16, 2013 at 9:00 PM


AUBURN, Alabama - Yes. Believe it. It’s finally, miraculously true. The Auburn Tigers are living on a prayer. The prayer. The Prayer in Jordan-Hare.



That old Bon Jovi hit used to be a nice sing-along around here. Now it’ll be an anthem, the soundtrack to one of the most important and improbable moments and victories in school history.



The last two years, the Tigers didn’t have a prayer at either end of Amen Corner. Now after Auburn 43, Georgia 38, their hopes of winning the division, conference and national championships - yes, I said national championship - are still alive.



All because of a prayer. The prayer. The Prayer in Jordan-Hare.



Nick Marshall threw it on fourth-and-18 from his own 27-yard line with half-a-minute left. He was the perfect triggerman with that cannon for a right arm and two game-winning drives already in his pocket.



Two Georgia defenders converged on it about 60 yards downfield. One of them redirected it toward the goal line as the perfect middleman in an unintended and unfathomable tip drill.



Ricardo Louis caught it in full stride and full stretch and carried it home for the game-winning, logic-defying, memory-making touchdown.



And still the game wasn’t won.



Georgia senior Aaron Murray, who’s thrown for more yards and more touchdowns than any quarterback in SEC history, had one last shot, but he didn’t deliver it. He absorbed it, Auburn senior Dee Ford slamming him to the turf and sending his pass fluttering to earth.



After three quarters of Auburn domination and one quarter of Georgia rejuvenation, after the Tigers led by 20 then surrendered three straight touchdowns, after a journey for the home team and the home crowd from daylight to dark and back, that settled the final score and more. It also started the countdown toward the Mother of All Iron Bowls.



As the Jordan-Hare scoreboard flashed in the mother of all understatements, “One more to go.”



As the Auburn students chanted, “We Want Bama!”



They’ll be the first ambitious bunch to get their wish. Barring some shocking misfortune for Alabama, the Crimson Tide will arrive here Nov. 30 with an 11-0 record and a No. 1 ranking. The Tigers will be waiting with a 10-1 record and a chance to win every championship available to them.



When will Gus Malzahn, the author of Auburn’s miraculous turnaround, start thinking about the Crimson Tide? The uber-serious football professor listened to the question, then actually smiled and broke up the room.



“I’m gonna enjoy this,” he said. “That one aged me now. I lost some years off my life. I’m gonna go to church in the morning. After church, I’ll flip the switch.”



He’s already flipped the script, taking the Tigers from 3-9 to 10-1, lifting them from a broken and splintered bunch into a team that believes to the last drop of the last jaw.



Did Malzahn ever imagine, from the moment he returned to Auburn to the instant Marshall took that fourth-down snap, that his team would get to the Iron Bowl with every possible prize still in sight?



“I never let my mind go there,” he said.



It’s time. They’re here. Living on a prayer. The Prayer in Jordan-Hare.