It was a dominating unit finishing first in rushing defense, total defense, scoring defense (seven points a game!), etc... The offense was not bad either with Reggie Slack stepping in for Jeff Burger still throwing to senior Lawyer Tillman, steady Freddy Weygand and speedster Alexander "Ace" Wright plus war horses Stacy Danley and James Joseph running the ball behind All-SEC linemen Rodney Garner at guard (who would become probably the best all-time recruiter in SEC history) and Jim Thompson at tackle plus Rob Selby, Ed King and John Hudson at center. Also as with most all-time champion units this team had outstanding specials teams play with two All-SEC kickers in Win Lyle and punter Brian Shulman.
This was a great team from top-to-bottom. Again, I feel extremely fortunate to have been a student down at Auburn during this time. This would be my sophomore season on the plains. Students would line up hours before the big games for the good seats. Auburn would not lose or really even come close to losing a home game this year. Those are always extra special years. They make it easy to find...
A Saturday to Remember...
Auburn started strong destroying Tennessee at Jordan Hare 38-6 after warming up against Kentucky and Kansas to open the season. It was another one of those days when Auburn was clicking on all cylinders and it included one of the greatest hits in Auburn history where Auburn safety Carlo Cheatum laid out Tennessee running back Reggie Cobb (I was so happy to find the linked video to see that play again). Everyone who saw it remembers it and the fact you heard it all over the stadium. The hit set the tone and epitomized the entire game. The Tennessee game was always the third game of the year and always signaled whether Auburn was a contender or pretender. They established in this game that they were definitely a contender. Auburn would give up their highest point total of the season the next week while blowing out North Carolina 47-21. If my memory is correct this was because Auburn had the benches cleared early in the second half as they jumped all over the Tar Heels.
Auburn would then travel to Baton Rouge and endure what I consider the worst loss in Auburn history and is covered below. I gave the 1987 team a lot of credit for getting off the mat after a tough loss but I have to give the 1988 team even more credit. They did not just get off the mat, the somehow some way got better after the loss and absolutely destroyed their next four opponents (Akron, Mississippi State, Florida and Southern Miss). They did not just beat the first three but SHUT THEM OUT. Three shutouts in a row. The most impressive was the last one where Auburn went to Gainesville and shut the Gators out at home in a dominating defensive performance. It was just Pat Dye football at it's finest.
Auburn would continue playing great defense in the Iron Bowl and win again against Bama 15-10. Bama scored a late meaningless touchdown to make it look close. Auburn dominated the day. However it would be Ron Stallworth stealing the show from his more famous teammate on the defensive line this day. Stallworth would sack Bama quarterback David Smith four times including a safety.
For the second year, in a strange tragic coincidence, the only touchdown of the game was scored by a first year Auburn running back that would have to give up football after the season due to a neck injury. The year before it had been Harry Mose and this year it would be Henry Love. It would also be a long completion to Lawyer Tillman toward the end of the first half for the second year in a row that would get the touchdown drive started.
However the best Saturday of the year for me though was the second part of the old "Amen Corner" triangle, the Georgia game. "The Deep South's Oldest Rivalry" is always a big game but a few things turned this one into an even bigger one. First, this would be the final game Vince Dooley would coach against his alma mater. Vince Dooley was one of the people that made this rivalry one of the best there is. Pat Dye was another one of those people. Both men coaching against their alma maters in one of college football's biggest rivalries. The games they played from 1981 through 1988 were incredible. An SEC title was on the line for one or both of the schools just about every time they played. Two Heisman trophies were clinched in this game by, in my opinion, the two greatest running backs to ever play college football in Herschel Walker and Bo Jackson. There were so many other great players on both sides as well during this time.
I remember the weather being perfect as well. It was just one of those perfect days for a great football game. For me personally, the Georgia game has always been my favorite. This one was extra special because a large group of friends I had graduated high school with had also come down for the weekend. I believe we got most of them in for the game and then we had a large cookout after. It was just one of those great college memories. It certainly made it better that Auburn played another magnificent game and won 20-10 over the Bulldogs. The play I remember most was Auburn linebacker Smokey Hodge laying out Georgia running back Tim Worley in a hit similar to Cheatum's hit in the Tennessee game. This defense was just downright nasty. The Bulldog running game was held to just 70 yards, 238 yards in total offense and only 10 points. All-American Tim Worley, who averaged over 6 yards per carry, was held to 63 yards on 15 carries against Auburn. It was definitely a Saturday to remember and a fitting end to the Dye vs. Dooley rivalry.
A Saturday to Forget...
This is a hard one to write. This is the worst one for me and for Auburn in my opinion. First to set it up, as I have titled my two intro posts for this decade, Coach Dye had laid a foundation of winning and was in the middle of building a dynasty. Auburn now expected to win and win big. On top of that, we knew this was a very special team. This senior class at that time was the winningest in Auburn history. We knew this team was as good or better than anybody else in the country and that this defense was something very special.
This game was played on October 8, 1988. Auburn was 4-0 coming into the game while LSU had lost two tough ones on the road at Ohio State and Florida. The loss to Florida would be their only one in conference this season. The two teams had not played since Dye's first season in 1981. It was of course a Saturday night game in Baton Rouge as it always seems to be when we go to LSU.
I had come home from Auburn that weekend and had planned to watch the game with my family. Unfortunately my dad had to go out of town on a business trip and my mom and I started out watching the game. She cleared out shortly after halftime if I remember correctly. By the third quarter I was pacing and fuming like well.. an agitated tiger in his cage. Auburn controlled the game but just could not get points on the board. As it got later and later, I got more and more worried. Auburn kicked a field goal in the second quarter and then in the fourth quarter. I remember having a very bad feeling in the fourth quarter when we did not punch it in but just got another field goal. We just needed one touchdown.
It was excruciating to watch. There was just so much on the line for Auburn and they were so close to escaping with the win. Everyone knows how it turned out though, LSU drove the ball down the field in the last two minutes. Auburn got it to fourth down around the 13 yard line and then LSU quarterback Tommy Hodson completed the touchdown pass to running back Eddie Fuller and LSU would win 7-6. No I will not be providing the link for that play...
The legend of the game would grow in coming years as it was claimed that the eruption in the stadium after Fuller caught the pass actually registered as seismic activity. Thus the nickname "The Earthquake Game" was born. It certainly was a real earthquake for Auburn as they would have definitely played Notre Dame (and Lou Holtz) in the Sugar Bowl for the national championship with a win. Auburn would have won that game because the Irish was a running team and nobody ran the ball on this Auburn team. But... since Auburn lost to LSU Notre Dame would get their national title against West Virginia. West Virginia, a team who would probably have been lucky to be in the top 15 in the country but was given their shot by doing it the "Miami Way", i.e. going undefeated with a few big wins but a much easier schedule than everyone else like say Auburn.
Auburn would go to the Sugar Bowl and lost a close one, 13-7, to a good Florida State team who had only one loss as well but lost big to Miami early in the season. I remember it being an uninspired performance as I believe this is when the LSU loss finally hit home for the players. It was certainly still with all of the fans. I think the team peaked and played their best game in the Georgia game and that is why it is my favorite of the season.
Auburn would finish 10-2 but were really one play, just one play, from being 12-0 and national champions. Even with the two losses, the 1988 Auburn Tigers are in my top five Auburn teams ever. You can guarantee there is not one team in Auburn's history that this team could not beat. This defense would keep this team in any game against anybody. "Defense Auburn DEFENSE!!!"
The Players
Award Winners...
We had a DOZEN players make All-SEC this season. They were: Carlo Cheattom S, Stacy Danley TB, Rodney Garner OG, Walter Reeves TE, Quentin Riggins LB, Tracy Rocker DT, Benji Roland NG, Brian Shulman P, Reggie Slack QB, Greg Staples S; Ron Stallworth DT, Jim Thompson OT
Tracy Rocker, Walter Reeves and Benji Roland were also All-Americans. The Rock as I stated above also became one of the few players in the history of college football to win both the Lombardi and Outland tropies.
Departures...
Carlo Cheattom S, Duke Donaldson WR, Rodney Garner OG, Vincent Harris FB, Smokey Hodge LB, Henry Love RB, Alvin Mitchell LB, Shan Morris S, Walter Reeves TE, Tracy Rocker DT, Benji Roland NG, Brian Shulman P, Brian Smith LB, Ron Stallworth DT, Greg Staples S, Jim Thompson OT, Lawyer Tillman WR and Freddy Weygand WR,.
Wow, where do I start? I think I have hit most of these guys already but there are a few I need to say a little bit more about it. Duke Donaldson was a solid steady backup at wide receiver for his entire career. Rodney Garner as I stated above would go from good player to great coach and recruiter. First at Auburn, then at Tennessee and now at Georgia. I believe Garner is the one of the biggest reasons Georgia coach Mark Richt has stayed at Georgia for so long and one of the biggest reasons Auburn's recruiting take from the state of Georgia has gone down since the days of Pat Dye. Vincent Harris would go on to infamy as he slandered Auburn with Eric Ramsey. Walter Reeves would go on to play eight seasons in the NFL. Freddy Weygand was a huge contributor at wide receiver for four seasons.
That brings me to... Lawyer Tillman. "Vintage Lawyer", one of the greatest Auburn posters ever and one I owned for a long time before losing it in a move...
Outside of Terry Beasley, Lawyer Tillman was probably the most exciting wide receiver to ever play at Auburn. He was a "tweener", i.e. he could have been a tight end or a receiver. He would be a receiver at Auburn and a tight end in the NFL. He was a big tall rangy guy. He was never the fastest and never had the most receptions but he definitely made the most big plays including the unbelievable one handed catch he made that is captured in the poster above. There are so many others... The game winning catch at Tech in 1986, "The Reverse" against Bama and huge catches in the next two Iron Bowls plus many more. Lawyer Tillman will always be one of my all-time favorite Auburn players.
Finally, one more ode to "The Rock". It is only fitting that after such a great career but coming one play short of a national championship that Tracy Rocker would come back to Auburn and help lead Auburn to the promised land as a coach in 2010. Tracy Rocker would definitely join Pat Sullivan, Bo Jackson and Cam Newton on the "Mount Rushmore" of Auburn players.
Arrivals...
Corey Barlow CB, Reggie Barlow DT, Teapot Brown FB, Darrel Crawford LB, Anthony Judge LB, Ed King OG, Frank McIntosh QB, Bob Meeks C, Dale Overton WR, Richard Shea DT, Frankie Stankunas S, Alex Strong FB and Shayne Wasden WR.
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