Saturdays to Remember... 1987

(This post is dedicated to the memory of Kurt Crain, the best linebacker I have ever seen at Auburn)

This will always be a very special year for me personally.  I started at Auburn as a freshman in the fall of 1987.  I say with a lot of pride that I was a student at Auburn during the best three year run in the long and storied history of Auburn football from 1987 through 1989.  I really feel fortunate to have been down there as a student during this period.  It was a magical time that I will never forget.

 

This was also the year the second upper deck opened at Jordan Hare Stadium.  While I would sit in the student section most of the next five years, our family's season tickets moved from our spot in the end zone in section 45 to section 101 of the new upper deck.  I would watch just about every home game after I graduated in 1992 from section 101 through the 2001 season.  I have been to at least one game a season, usually back in section 101, since then. My parents are still going though, still in section 101 since this 1987 season. 

A Saturday to Remember...
The good seasons have so many.  Auburn would have a big one to start the season against Texas.  This was one of those rare seasons where Auburn would open with a huge game against another big-time school.  From those new seats in section 101 we got to watch Auburn lay a beatdown on the Longhorns 31-3 and get a little payback for 1983.  Texas was not a great team that season but it was still a big win.  Auburn would absolutely crush Kansas the next week before a tie against Tennessee in Knoxville.  I remember listening to the Tennessee game on the radio with a bunch of friends before school started in Auburn. 

A few weeks later Auburn would pull one out against Georgia Tech on one of the late Jim Fyffe's greatest calls.  On fourth down Jeff Burger drilled one high that Lawyer Tillman somehow snagged in the closing seconds of the game.  "TILLMAN! TILLMAN TILLMAN!"  On top of that this was the game that Aundray Bruce completely dominated grabbing an interception and taking it in to close the game seconds later.  Auburn would crush Mississippi State the next week to set the stage for Amen Corner, oops sorry Amen Corner PLus Florida State.

As I stated above, 1987 through 1989 were the best three years in Auburn history and not coincidently they are the only time Auburn ever swept Amen Corner three years in a row.  Even if you substitute LSU for Florida after going to division, we never did it three years in a row.  Winnng the SEC championship three years in a row is impressive but sweeping Florida, Georgia and Bama is equally as impressive.  That is why the biggest Saturday to remember for each of these three years is one of these Amen Corner games.

Auburn would win another tough hard fought game against a top ten Georgia team in Athens to clinch the SEC title, just like they did in 1983.  They would then go and shut out Bama 10-0 in the last so-called "50/50 split" game at Legion Field in Birmingham.  For those too young to know much about these games, be thankful Coach Dye got this game to Auburn.  Whenever you hear someone wax nostalgic about the "50/50 split", remember that it was never like that.  It was always more like a "65/35" split to Bama.  Basically Auburn and Bama would get a third of the tickets and the city of Birmingham would get the other third and back then Birmingham was mostly Bama.  Also, Bama still played several games at Legion Field while Auburn did not.  On top of all that Legion Field was turf and while Bryant-Denny was turf for a long time, Jordan-Hare Stadium has always been grass.

With that said, it was nice to see Auburn win the last game of that arrangement wearing our blue jerseys.  As for the game itself this year, it was definitely the second best Saturday to remember.  The Auburn defense just crushed Bama as the score indicates.  Jeff Burger hit a deep pass to Lawyer Tillman to finally get Auburn moving at the end of the first half.  Auburn would go on to score right before halftime and the game would be over when Win Lyle nailed an insurance field goal in the second half.  I still remember the score shirts and bumper stickers after the game... 

"SHUT DOWN, SHUT OUT, SHUT UP!"

Most seasons that would be enough to get the top spot but not this year.  The Saturday I remember most from this season is the Florida game in Auburn.  Like the Iron Bowl in 1986, Auburn came into the Florida game in 1987 on a three game losing streak.  Florida's fielded powerhouse teams that beat Auburn in 1984 and 1985 but were later completely discredited due to major NCAA violations.  As detailed in my previous post, Auburn lost an absolute hearbreaker at Florida in 1986 after leading 17-0 at one point.  Florida quarterback Kerwin Bell led the Gators back and won the game barely getting in on a two-point conversion.  Soul crushing might describe that game better.  Please read my post on that game before reading the rest of this one.  You have to really understand how bad the 1986 game hurt to understand how awesome the 1987 game was.

Everyone who was at this game remembers it.  First, there was, like I described above, the losing steak to Florida and especially the loss the year before.  Second, a big-time Saturday night game in Auburn is always big but this Saturday also fell on Halloween.  It was the first game I ever remember that was played on Halloween night.  It was crazy that night.  Everywhere you looked in the student section there was another Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers walking around.  All of that combined to make it an absolutely electric night.  There was just something in the air, you could just feel it.  My family and I still talk about it.  I wonder if the Florida Gators, who were ranked tenth in the country, knew what they were walking into. 

Well if they did not then they found out real soon they were walking into a buzzsaw that night.  Offense, defense, special teams...  Auburn had everything clicking on all cylinders.  They shredded the gators like it was a horror movie 29-6.  It was payback time that night and this win would start Auburn off on a their own three game winning streak against the Gators.

Personally I remember one more thing about this game.  For just about all of my college career I would meet up with my friends and we would be part of the group that got to the stadium hours early to get the best student seats.  This game was about the only big game where I did not do that and me and a couple of buddies ended up in the top row of the end zone.  Fortunately the game and the atmosphere was so good I did not even mind, although I was never late for a game again...

A Saturday to Forget...
Like 1983 there was only one this season although there were two awful ties as well.  The first I mentioned above was in Knoxville against Tennessee.  The second tie was in the Sugar Bowl against undefeated Syracuse.  Auburn was better than Syracuse but just could not get it going on offense outside a few big plays.  This was the game where Coach Dye elected to kick a field goal to tie in the final seconds instead of going for the win on 4th down from the 13 yard line.  I never was one to pile on Dye for that.  The chances of hitting that play were low and why just give Syracuse the win?  Syracuse head coach Dick McPherson whined and whined and Syracuse fans even sent Coach Dye a bunch of ties.  Dye famously autographed the ties and sold them for charity.

However while a tie is never good, it is still not a loss.  Auburn only had one of those this year and it also involved a team breaking a three game losing streak like Auburn had done against Florida.  It was in fact Florida State.  The Seminoles had lost heartbreakers to Auburn in 1983 and 1984 and then was manhandled in 1985.  The teams did not play in 1986.  Florida State was back in Jordan Hare though in 1987 and it was a matchup of top ten teams.  Only Florida State played like one though as the Seminoles walloped Auburn 34-6.  I believe Auburn also lost Tracy Rocker for the rest of the season with a knee injury as well.  I remember walking home from the stadium in a daze.  We were undefeated and flying high till Florida State brought us down to earth.

In the aftermath though a letdown was easier to see.  Auburn played Florida State the week after the huge game against Florida.  Auburn was sky high for the Gators and it is to get up like that the week after and of course hard to play top ten caliber teams back-to-back.  Also the Seminoles were for real.  This season marked the beginning of Bobby Bowden's unbelievable streak of 14 consecutive seasons with 10 or more wins and a top five finish.  Included in that streak would be a three game winning streak against Auburn during Auburn's best three year stretch in it's history.  I have accused a lot of teams and programs of being overrated by I can never say that about Bobby Bowden and Florida State.  They beat three SEC Champion Auburn teams in a row.

However I have to give the 1987 Auburn Tigers a lot of credit for getting up off the mat and going to Athens the next week and beating a top ten Georgia team.  The 1987 Auburn Tigers got knocked down but they got back up again and won an outright SEC Championship.  The first of three in a row.

The Players
Award Winners...
We had six players make All-SEC this season. They were: Aundray Bruce OLB, Jeff Burger QB, Kurt Crain ILB, Win Lyle PK, Kevin Porter CB, Walter Reeves TE, Tracy Rocker DT, Stacy Searels OT, Brian Shulman P and Lawyer Tillman WR. 

Aundray Bruce, Kurt Crain, Stacy Searels and Tracy Rocker were also All-Americans.  Finally Aundray Bruce would be come the first player selected in the 1988 NFL Draft.

Departures...
Scott Bolton WR, Alvin Briggs CB, Aundray Bruce OLB, Jeff Burger QB, Kurt Crain  ILB, Robert Goff DT, Nate Hill DT, Harry Mose RB, Edward Phillips ILB, Kevin Porter CB, Stacy Searels OT and Reggie Ware FB.

One of the better senior classes in Auburn history I would think.  First there was two of the best leaders on the field that I have seen in Jeff Burger and Kurt Crain.  Kevin Porter and Stacy Searels were both some of the best ever at Auburn at their positions and both would go on to coach after their playing careers ended.

Scott Bolton and Reggie Ware were both four year lettermen.  This would be Harry Mose's first and last year at Auburn due to a neck injury but his lasting contribution would be running for the game's only touchdown int the Iron Bowl this year. 

Alvin Briggs, Robert Goff and Nate Hill and Edward Phillips were rock solid on defense.  Aundray Bruce was one of the most dynamic playmakers I have seen at his position.  While his NFL career was a disappointment his legacy at Auburn was intact.

Arrivals...
Dominko Anderson S, Eltin Billingslea LB, Stacy Danley RB, Fernando Horn DT, Win Lyle K, ERIC RAMSEY CB, David Rocker DT, Lamar Rogers LB, Rob Selby OT, Greg Taylor WR, Dennis Wallace S and John Wiley CB/S.