Alissa Czisny knew what people thought of her.
Fragile. Inconsistent. Can't handle the pressure. A disappointment.
Now there's only one word to describe her: champion.
"This one definitely means more to me," Czisny said. "The first one is always the first one. But to win with two good performances made this one a lot sweeter. Also, to be able to come back after everything that happened last year, to start fresh as a skater, just confirmed I made the right choices."
Her final score of 191.24 points was almost eight better than Flatt, astonishing considering the three previous champions began the night separated by only a point, the equivalent of one shaky landing.
Flatt, the defending champ, scored 183.38 while Nagasu was a distant -- and disappointing -- third at 177.26.
Earlier Saturday, Caitlin Yankowskas and John Coughlin won their first pairs title with what could be the most powerful performance of the entire competition. Their angelic "Ave Maria" is a tribute to Coughlin's mother, Stacy, who got him started in skating and passed away last February.
"I told myself no matter what we did today, to get out there on the ice and perform that program was going to be a happy moment for me," said Coughlin, who buried his face in Yankowskas' hands when they finished.
Also, Olympic silver medalists Meryl Davis and Charlie White easily won their third straight dance title to lead a 1-2-3 sweep by their rink in Canton, Mich. Davis and White's only losses over the last two seasons are to Olympic champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, but their steamy tango served notice they intend to end the American oh-fer atop the world dance podium.
No one has ever questioned Czisny's athleticism, beauty or elegance. Her head, however, was a different matter.
After winning the title in 2009, she flopped at worlds, helping cost the Americans a third spot at the Vancouver Olympics. She was out of the running for Vancouver after a dismal performance in the short program, an experience she called a "heartbreak" earlier this week.
But she's gone through intense introspection since then, coming out of it a much stronger person and skater. She also switched coaches, training now with 1994 world champion Yuka Sato and her husband Jason Dungjen, and she has blossomed with their support.
This was the signature performance of her career thus far, showing all of her trademark elegance and more than a little guts. She had to fight hard to save the landing on a triple loop, and all of the rest of her jumps -- six triples, three of which were in combination -- were flawless. Skating to George Winston's "Winter into Spring," she looked both delicate and powerful.
Her edge quality is so first-class, her tracings could be sold as artwork. Her spirals were exquisite, prompting the oohs and aahs Michelle Kwan and Sasha Cohen used to hear.
When her scores were posted, Czisny's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open.
Though Czisny would never say it out aloud, she may as well have looked at her younger two challengers and said, "Go ahead, top this. I dare you."
Neither could.
Flatt's performance was, well, flat. Looking as if she was trying to play it safe instead of attacking as she usually does, the landing of her double axel-triple toe combo was shaky and she then watered down a planned triple lutz into a double. She didn't have anywhere close to her usual speed, either.
"It certainly wasn't my best," Flatt said. "I accomplished what I needed to here to make sure I could move on to the rest of my season."
Nagasu is supremely talented, and has the potential to be the kind of breakout star U.S. figure skating has craved since Kwan and Cohen hung it up. But the 17-year-old doesn't have quite the confidence in herself others do, and those doubts tend to come out at the most inopportune times.
Like Saturday.
Her blades were wiggling as she went into her first jump, a triple lutz-double toe combination, and her program was almost one dimensional she displayed so little of her usual personality.
"The thing I'm most disappointed about is I wasn't able to get the audience on their feet. I just let my nerves get the best of me," Nagasu said. "As a skater I learned a lot. Sometimes it's not always your day. But it's not like my career is over. I'm just going to take the bronze medal and run away."
Nagasu lost the title when she stepped out of the landing of her Ina Bauer into a double axel, and lost her spot on the world team when she two-footed the landing of her death drop and pretty much stopped spinning.
The U.S. women have only two spots for a third straight year.
Nagasu looked downcast as she waited for her marks, and appeared to be fighting back tears when she heard the chasm that stood between her and Czisny.
"I'm actually really disappointed I don't get to go to worlds. It's in Japan and that's where the rest of my family is," said Nagasu, whose parents are Japanese immigrants. "Sometimes things aren't meant to be."
Showing posts with label Title. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Title. Show all posts
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
Miss Nebraska Takes Miss America Title
Tiaras, princess-cut dresses, and cutthroat competition--it’s all in a day’s work for the Miss America contestants.
And in the end, Miss Nebraska took the crown.
Teresa Scanlan, 17, of Gering, Nebraska, was awarded the Miss America title last night in Las Vegas, The Associated Press reported. The win comes with a $50,000 scholarship.
Her victory also marks the first time ever that Nebraska had a Miss America winner, said the AP.
During the competition, Scanlan wore a black bikini and white evening gown, performed a musical piece on piano, and offered her opinion on WikiLeaks.
A recent graduate from high school, Scanlan, whose interest is politics, plans to attend Patrick Henry College in Virginia when her stint as Miss America is completed. A pageant press release said that Scanlan's goal is to go to law school.
Alyse Eady--Miss Arkansas--was the first runner-up followed by Jalee Fuselier--Miss Hawaii--as the second runner-up.
In addition to the three top finalists, the competition's other semi-finalists included: Emoly West (Miss Oklahoma); Ashley Melnick (Miss Texas); Deborah Saint-Vil (Miss Rhode Island); Christina Lowe (Miss Utah); Jacquie Brown (Miss Washington); Kathryn Bulkley (Miss Arizona); Caitlin Uze (Miss Virginia); Arianna Afsar (Miss California); Claire Buffie (Miss New York); Kayla Martell (Miss Delaware); Djuan Trent (Miss Kentucky); and Stephanie Steers (Miss Oregon).
Entertainment Weekly’s Tanner Stransky argues that there was hardly any promotion for the broadcast, which aired on ABC. “Where are the billboards? The magazine advertisements? The hosts and last year’s winner Miss Virginia parading through the morning-show circuit?” Stransky writes.
The pageant did feel like it was thrown together at the last minute, from the lackluster beginning choreography, to the hiccups between the hosts. During the eveningwear segment of the show, the girls kept saying how the “real me” is someone who stays home in pajamas and frumpy shoes. But it seems like a lot of the “inner beauty”
“I love Lady Gaga’s meat gown, I kind of wish I had one,” said Miss Kentucky Djuan Trent.
Alyse Eady--Miss Arkansas--certainly had an interesting talent. While performing the yodeling/cowboy hit “I Want To Be A Cowboy,” she had two frightening looking dummies that she made yodel.
And in the end, Miss Nebraska took the crown.
Teresa Scanlan, 17, of Gering, Nebraska, was awarded the Miss America title last night in Las Vegas, The Associated Press reported. The win comes with a $50,000 scholarship.
Her victory also marks the first time ever that Nebraska had a Miss America winner, said the AP.
During the competition, Scanlan wore a black bikini and white evening gown, performed a musical piece on piano, and offered her opinion on WikiLeaks.
A recent graduate from high school, Scanlan, whose interest is politics, plans to attend Patrick Henry College in Virginia when her stint as Miss America is completed. A pageant press release said that Scanlan's goal is to go to law school.
Alyse Eady--Miss Arkansas--was the first runner-up followed by Jalee Fuselier--Miss Hawaii--as the second runner-up.
In addition to the three top finalists, the competition's other semi-finalists included: Emoly West (Miss Oklahoma); Ashley Melnick (Miss Texas); Deborah Saint-Vil (Miss Rhode Island); Christina Lowe (Miss Utah); Jacquie Brown (Miss Washington); Kathryn Bulkley (Miss Arizona); Caitlin Uze (Miss Virginia); Arianna Afsar (Miss California); Claire Buffie (Miss New York); Kayla Martell (Miss Delaware); Djuan Trent (Miss Kentucky); and Stephanie Steers (Miss Oregon).
Entertainment Weekly’s Tanner Stransky argues that there was hardly any promotion for the broadcast, which aired on ABC. “Where are the billboards? The magazine advertisements? The hosts and last year’s winner Miss Virginia parading through the morning-show circuit?” Stransky writes.
The pageant did feel like it was thrown together at the last minute, from the lackluster beginning choreography, to the hiccups between the hosts. During the eveningwear segment of the show, the girls kept saying how the “real me” is someone who stays home in pajamas and frumpy shoes. But it seems like a lot of the “inner beauty”
“I love Lady Gaga’s meat gown, I kind of wish I had one,” said Miss Kentucky Djuan Trent.
Alyse Eady--Miss Arkansas--certainly had an interesting talent. While performing the yodeling/cowboy hit “I Want To Be A Cowboy,” she had two frightening looking dummies that she made yodel.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
BCS Championship 2011: Why TCU Deserves a Split National Title With Auburn By
At this point the Sears Trophy has already been awarded to Auburn via the Tigers' 22-19 win over Oregon in the BCS national title game Monday night in Arizona. But as we all know, there is still another unbeaten out there, and this year it is TCU.
TCU finished its 13-0 football season with a two-point win over Wisconsin in the "Granddaddy of Them All," the Rose Bowl, nearly 10 days ago.
The Horned Frogs joined a growing list of non-BCS teams to go unbeaten and not even get a chance to win or lose the title on an actual field.
Boise State did it last year.
The year prior it was Utah.
Neither team got its chance to prove its worth, though Utah did send Alabama smarting home after the stomping the Utes handed the Tide in that year's Sugar Bowl.
So is this year's unbeaten non-BCS squad any different than either 2009 Boise or 2008 Utah?
No, not really. But after seeing how the supposed top two teams in the nation looked Monday night, there should be a fight to give TCU a share of the title in the final AP poll.
Oregon looked shaky on both sides of the ball. Offensively the Ducks couldn't run the ball, and Darron Thomas was wildly inaccurate at times. On defense they did not stop the run, allowing well over 200 yards on the ground.
Auburn was equally unimpressive. Cam Newton often threw high, and the Tigers offense scuffled several times inside the red zone.
Opinions will vary, but in mine, neither looked like the odds-on best team in the nation.
If the voters in the press are smart, they will look back to the 2003 season for the right thing to do.
Just to refresh you on that season, Oklahoma had been shocked in the Big 12 title game but still got the bid to the BCS championship against LSU and lost. USC was No. 1 in both polls when the season ended; however, the Trojans were left out of the title game and settled for a Rose Bowl win.
While contractually obligated to give the USA Today coaches' poll and the Sears Trophy to LSU, who had won the "BCS" title game, the AP saw it different. They gave a split national title by selecting USC as the nation's top team.
So why not give the Horned Frogs some love?
Auburn got their Sears Trophy, so what would it hurt to reward a team that may actually be just as good as Auburn on a neutral field?
The bottom line with the college bowl system and the BCS is that there will almost always be someone who plays the role of the teenage girl who doesn't get asked to prom, even though she is as pretty as other girls who do.
The system is in the business of money making with getting the big power schools who draw big-time revenue. The "David's" of the world now have no chance these days. I guess it kind of sounds true to life of what is going on in our country nowadays.
TCU is no little sister of the poor. It has proven it for years now. Fortunately for the Frogs, they are headed to the Big East, which will at least get them an automatic bid for winning their conference.
Unfortunately, the BCS bias for the Big Ten, Big 12, SEC and Pac-10 will still reign supreme.
It is also unfortunate that many of the members of the press that vote will not care about anything that TCU has done and will give the nod to Auburn as the Frogs end up No. 2.
But when it is all said and done, considering the NCAA investigation into Cam Newton's eligibility earlier this season, maybe Auburn will pull a "USC" and just be renting the trophy for now.
I'm not saying anything illegal did happen with the "Scam Newton" allegations, but the NCAA will protect what is good for the bottom dollar, and Newton and Auburn was that in 2010.
TCU deserves a split, and that is all there is to say about that...unless you want to talk about playoffs?
TCU finished its 13-0 football season with a two-point win over Wisconsin in the "Granddaddy of Them All," the Rose Bowl, nearly 10 days ago.
The Horned Frogs joined a growing list of non-BCS teams to go unbeaten and not even get a chance to win or lose the title on an actual field.
Boise State did it last year.
The year prior it was Utah.
Neither team got its chance to prove its worth, though Utah did send Alabama smarting home after the stomping the Utes handed the Tide in that year's Sugar Bowl.
So is this year's unbeaten non-BCS squad any different than either 2009 Boise or 2008 Utah?
No, not really. But after seeing how the supposed top two teams in the nation looked Monday night, there should be a fight to give TCU a share of the title in the final AP poll.
Oregon looked shaky on both sides of the ball. Offensively the Ducks couldn't run the ball, and Darron Thomas was wildly inaccurate at times. On defense they did not stop the run, allowing well over 200 yards on the ground.
Auburn was equally unimpressive. Cam Newton often threw high, and the Tigers offense scuffled several times inside the red zone.
Opinions will vary, but in mine, neither looked like the odds-on best team in the nation.
If the voters in the press are smart, they will look back to the 2003 season for the right thing to do.
Just to refresh you on that season, Oklahoma had been shocked in the Big 12 title game but still got the bid to the BCS championship against LSU and lost. USC was No. 1 in both polls when the season ended; however, the Trojans were left out of the title game and settled for a Rose Bowl win.
While contractually obligated to give the USA Today coaches' poll and the Sears Trophy to LSU, who had won the "BCS" title game, the AP saw it different. They gave a split national title by selecting USC as the nation's top team.
So why not give the Horned Frogs some love?
Auburn got their Sears Trophy, so what would it hurt to reward a team that may actually be just as good as Auburn on a neutral field?
The bottom line with the college bowl system and the BCS is that there will almost always be someone who plays the role of the teenage girl who doesn't get asked to prom, even though she is as pretty as other girls who do.
The system is in the business of money making with getting the big power schools who draw big-time revenue. The "David's" of the world now have no chance these days. I guess it kind of sounds true to life of what is going on in our country nowadays.
TCU is no little sister of the poor. It has proven it for years now. Fortunately for the Frogs, they are headed to the Big East, which will at least get them an automatic bid for winning their conference.
Unfortunately, the BCS bias for the Big Ten, Big 12, SEC and Pac-10 will still reign supreme.
It is also unfortunate that many of the members of the press that vote will not care about anything that TCU has done and will give the nod to Auburn as the Frogs end up No. 2.
But when it is all said and done, considering the NCAA investigation into Cam Newton's eligibility earlier this season, maybe Auburn will pull a "USC" and just be renting the trophy for now.
I'm not saying anything illegal did happen with the "Scam Newton" allegations, but the NCAA will protect what is good for the bottom dollar, and Newton and Auburn was that in 2010.
TCU deserves a split, and that is all there is to say about that...unless you want to talk about playoffs?
Cam Do! Auburn Wins BCS Title 22-19 Over Oregon
Auburn running back Michael Dyer never heard any whistle, so he just kept running - past the tackler who thought he had him down and deep into Oregon territory.
Dyer broke stride, then took off on a once-in-a-lifetime run in the final minutes, setting up a short field goal on the last play that led No. 1 Auburn over the No. 2 Ducks 22-19 in the BCS championship game Monday night.
The freshman running back upstaged Auburn's Heisman-winning quarterback Cam Newton with a 37-yard run, in which he appeared down but wasn't - his knee never hit the ground - as he rolled over defender Eddie Pleasant to put the Tigers in scoring position.
Three plays later, Dyer ran 16 yards to push the ball to the 1 and set up Wes Byrum's 19-yard field goal with no time left. It was his sixth career game-winning field goal - the one that capped off a perfect, 14-0 season, brought the title back to Auburn for the first time since 1957 and left the Southeastern Conference on top for the fifth straight year.
"Fifty-three years, baby!" coach Gene Chizik said to the cheering crowd. "This is for you. War Eagle!"
Dyer was the star of a classic sequence that closed out a wild finish - five crazy minutes of football that made up for the first 55, which were more of a bruising battle than the offensive masterpiece everyone had predicted.
The craziness began when Casey Matthews, son of the 1980s NFL linebacker Clay, knocked the ball from Newton's hands while he was trying to ice a 19-11 lead.
Oregon's offense, shut down by Nick Fairley & Co. for most of the night, moved 45 yards over the next 2:17 and Darron Thomas threw a shovel pass to LaMichael James for a touchdown. Thomas hit Jeff Maehl for the tying 2-point conversion with 2:33 left and the game was down to the last possession.
And that possession will be remembered for one incredible play.
Dyer, who chose jersey No. 5 because that's how old his brother was when their father died in a car accident, took the handoff from Newton and ran off right tackle for what looked like a 6- or 7-yard gain. Nothing routine about this one, though. He never heard a whistle, wasn't sure his knee hit the ground, so, urged by his coaches on the sideline, he popped up and kept going. Almost everyone on the field had stopped playing, but the referee never blew the play dead. Dyer made it to the Oregon 23. An official's review ensued and the replay showed that, indeed, his knee had never touched the turf.
"I was going out there, trying to make a play. I just kept my feet moving," he said.
In a statement released after the game, Big Ten referee Bill LeMonnier said he was confident of the call: "The ruling on the field was there was nothing other than the foot that touched the ground," he explained.
The freshman finished with 143 yards and was chosen Offensive Player of the Game - no small feat considering he had Newton playing well on the same offense.
Newton threw for 265 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 64 yards, most in short, punishing bites. He wrenched his back and had to go to the trainer after the game. All in a night's work: "I'm OK. It was worth it," he said.
It was a good performance, but not spectacular - par for the course in a game that was projected as a possible 60-55 shootout by South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier and a 74-point touchdown-fest by the oddsmakers who set the over-under.
Wearing white jerseys with gray numbers, green pants and DayGlo shoes and socks, the Ducks got only 49 yards rushing from James. An offense that had been held under 37 points only once all year managed just the two touchdowns. The last one came on a simple shovel pass from Thomas, who finished with 363 yards passing - 81 of which came on a long pass to Maehl that set up the first touchdown.
Oregon didn't come close to its nation-leading 49-point average and the fast-paced offense that turned most opponents into mush in the second half couldn't wear down Auburn.
"When it comes down to a field goal at the last second, you can always point to play here, a play there, but it really doesn't do much for you," Oregon coach Chip Kelly said. "We're a forward-thinking operation, and we'll learn from this thing and move forward."
Fairley, Auburn's 298-pound defensive tackle, had the Ducks moving backward much of the night. He lived up to his reputation as a game-changer for better, with three tackles for loss, including a sack - and for worse, when he got a 15-yard penalty for shoving James' face into the turf after the whistle.
Newton was a game-changer, as always, keeping Auburn ahead through most of this tight game, the final outing in a season shadowed by an NCAA investigation into his failed recruitment by Mississippi State. The governing body cleared him to play before the SEC championship but said his father, Cecil, solicited money from the Bulldogs.
Cecil, not in the stands Monday night, missed a heck of a finish.
And the end of a memorable season for Auburn, the school that has loads of tradition - the Tiger Walk, the War Eagle yell and a case full of Heisman and other big-time individual trophies - but not nearly as many titles to go with it. Bad luck in the polls doomed their one-loss season in 1983, probation kept them from capitalizing on a perfect record in 1993 and the vagaries of the BCS left them on the outside in 2004, maybe the most painful of all the snubs.
So, really, this one is for all the Bos and Beasleys and Terrys and Tracys in the Auburn family who came close but couldn't close the deal. And it fashions a nice symmetry with that team up the road - Alabama - which took home the Heisman and the same crystal championship trophy one short year ago.
Tide fans, of course, will remind you that it still has five more AP titles than the Tigers. But this celebration is going on at Toomer's Corner in Auburn, where the traditional toilet-papering of the drugstore and the rest of the street was going on in full force in the bitter cold as Monday night turned into Tuesday morning.
"Winning a championship for the Auburn family, I can't really describe it right now," Chizik said. "To try would probably cheapen it."
At Auburn, the words "War Eagle" would almost surely suffice.
Dyer broke stride, then took off on a once-in-a-lifetime run in the final minutes, setting up a short field goal on the last play that led No. 1 Auburn over the No. 2 Ducks 22-19 in the BCS championship game Monday night.
The freshman running back upstaged Auburn's Heisman-winning quarterback Cam Newton with a 37-yard run, in which he appeared down but wasn't - his knee never hit the ground - as he rolled over defender Eddie Pleasant to put the Tigers in scoring position.
Three plays later, Dyer ran 16 yards to push the ball to the 1 and set up Wes Byrum's 19-yard field goal with no time left. It was his sixth career game-winning field goal - the one that capped off a perfect, 14-0 season, brought the title back to Auburn for the first time since 1957 and left the Southeastern Conference on top for the fifth straight year.
"Fifty-three years, baby!" coach Gene Chizik said to the cheering crowd. "This is for you. War Eagle!"
Dyer was the star of a classic sequence that closed out a wild finish - five crazy minutes of football that made up for the first 55, which were more of a bruising battle than the offensive masterpiece everyone had predicted.
The craziness began when Casey Matthews, son of the 1980s NFL linebacker Clay, knocked the ball from Newton's hands while he was trying to ice a 19-11 lead.
Oregon's offense, shut down by Nick Fairley & Co. for most of the night, moved 45 yards over the next 2:17 and Darron Thomas threw a shovel pass to LaMichael James for a touchdown. Thomas hit Jeff Maehl for the tying 2-point conversion with 2:33 left and the game was down to the last possession.
And that possession will be remembered for one incredible play.
Dyer, who chose jersey No. 5 because that's how old his brother was when their father died in a car accident, took the handoff from Newton and ran off right tackle for what looked like a 6- or 7-yard gain. Nothing routine about this one, though. He never heard a whistle, wasn't sure his knee hit the ground, so, urged by his coaches on the sideline, he popped up and kept going. Almost everyone on the field had stopped playing, but the referee never blew the play dead. Dyer made it to the Oregon 23. An official's review ensued and the replay showed that, indeed, his knee had never touched the turf.
"I was going out there, trying to make a play. I just kept my feet moving," he said.
In a statement released after the game, Big Ten referee Bill LeMonnier said he was confident of the call: "The ruling on the field was there was nothing other than the foot that touched the ground," he explained.
The freshman finished with 143 yards and was chosen Offensive Player of the Game - no small feat considering he had Newton playing well on the same offense.
Newton threw for 265 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 64 yards, most in short, punishing bites. He wrenched his back and had to go to the trainer after the game. All in a night's work: "I'm OK. It was worth it," he said.
It was a good performance, but not spectacular - par for the course in a game that was projected as a possible 60-55 shootout by South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier and a 74-point touchdown-fest by the oddsmakers who set the over-under.
Wearing white jerseys with gray numbers, green pants and DayGlo shoes and socks, the Ducks got only 49 yards rushing from James. An offense that had been held under 37 points only once all year managed just the two touchdowns. The last one came on a simple shovel pass from Thomas, who finished with 363 yards passing - 81 of which came on a long pass to Maehl that set up the first touchdown.
Oregon didn't come close to its nation-leading 49-point average and the fast-paced offense that turned most opponents into mush in the second half couldn't wear down Auburn.
"When it comes down to a field goal at the last second, you can always point to play here, a play there, but it really doesn't do much for you," Oregon coach Chip Kelly said. "We're a forward-thinking operation, and we'll learn from this thing and move forward."
Fairley, Auburn's 298-pound defensive tackle, had the Ducks moving backward much of the night. He lived up to his reputation as a game-changer for better, with three tackles for loss, including a sack - and for worse, when he got a 15-yard penalty for shoving James' face into the turf after the whistle.
Newton was a game-changer, as always, keeping Auburn ahead through most of this tight game, the final outing in a season shadowed by an NCAA investigation into his failed recruitment by Mississippi State. The governing body cleared him to play before the SEC championship but said his father, Cecil, solicited money from the Bulldogs.
Cecil, not in the stands Monday night, missed a heck of a finish.
And the end of a memorable season for Auburn, the school that has loads of tradition - the Tiger Walk, the War Eagle yell and a case full of Heisman and other big-time individual trophies - but not nearly as many titles to go with it. Bad luck in the polls doomed their one-loss season in 1983, probation kept them from capitalizing on a perfect record in 1993 and the vagaries of the BCS left them on the outside in 2004, maybe the most painful of all the snubs.
So, really, this one is for all the Bos and Beasleys and Terrys and Tracys in the Auburn family who came close but couldn't close the deal. And it fashions a nice symmetry with that team up the road - Alabama - which took home the Heisman and the same crystal championship trophy one short year ago.
Tide fans, of course, will remind you that it still has five more AP titles than the Tigers. But this celebration is going on at Toomer's Corner in Auburn, where the traditional toilet-papering of the drugstore and the rest of the street was going on in full force in the bitter cold as Monday night turned into Tuesday morning.
"Winning a championship for the Auburn family, I can't really describe it right now," Chizik said. "To try would probably cheapen it."
At Auburn, the words "War Eagle" would almost surely suffice.
Auburn’s Title Finishes Off Dreams for Teams Past
Auburn coach Gene Chizik said it best the day before his team would win the school's first national championship in football since 1957.
"I've told my guys that it's not about them," he said. "In 20 years it will be about them. But this game is about all of the Auburn people who never got the opportunity to be where we are."
Wes Byrum's 19-yard field goal on the last play of the game gave No. 1 Auburn a 22-19 win over No. 2 Oregon to deliver the Southeastern Conference its fifth consecutive national championship from its fourth different school. But this one was really not about conference pride, which was still considerable as the confetti rained down inside University of Phoenix Stadium.
This one was for guys like Al Del Greco. Del Greco kicked three field goals, the last one coming with 27 seconds left, to lead No. 3 Auburn to a 9-7 win over No. 8 Michigan in the 1984 Sugar Bowl. That night an 11-1 Auburn team thought it was going to be voted national champions after watching No. 1 Nebraska lose to Miami in the Orange Bowl and No. 2 Texas lose to Georgia in the Cotton Bowl.
"We were back at the hotel watching the Orange Bowl and we weren't sure if we should be pulling for Nebraska to lose or to tie," said Del Greco, who went on have a long career as an NFL kicker. "After Nebraska lost (31-30) we thought that they had to vote us No. 1."
Del Greco still remembers the phone call he got the next day from David Housel, the Auburn sports information director. The voters in both polls had elevated Miami from No. 5 to national champions.
"It was one of the most difficult phone calls I've ever received," said Del Greco, who was here with his son watching the game. "In many ways, you never really get over that."
This one was also for Pat Dye, who won four SEC championships as Auburn's head coach but never won the national title.
"I wanted to win this one so bad it was a sin," Dye said on the field after the game. "This was their dream and it was my dream. I don't have the words to tell you how great this is. This is bigger than that whole desert out there."
This national championship was for the guys on the 1993 team, which went 11-0 but could not play for the SEC championship or the national championship because of NCAA probation. Terry Bowden, the first-year head coach of that Auburn team, watched the game Monday night at the home of his brother, Jeff, in Florence, Ala. Terry is now the head coach of Division II power North Alabama and Jeff is his assistant.
"What I will always remember about that team is that it was a bunch of scrawny little guys who would not lose," said Bowden, who started 20-0 at Auburn in 1993-94. "The Auburn people thought all was lost when they went on probation. That team gave them hope that things were going to get better. I wish they could have been rewarded for what they did. Tonight is their reward."
This Auburn national championship was for the 2004 team that went 13-0, won the SEC championship, beat three top 10 teams but did not get a chance to play for the BCS title. That team had four first-round draft choices, a school record. Running backs Ronnie Brown and Carnell Williams were taken in the first five picks.
But USC and Oklahoma finished 1-2 in the BCS standings and played for the championship in the Orange Bowl. Coach Tommy Tuberville flew to Miami and put on a brave face while he watched USC destroy Oklahoma.
"All I remember about being down there is that at halftime USC was kicking Oklahoma pretty good (38-10)," Tuberville said. "We could have played with USC. I guarantee that. That was a great football team." Tuberville, now the head coach at Texas Tech, went out to eat Monday night in Lubbock and didn't watch the game. He was too nervous. There were 24 seniors on that Auburn team that he recruited. But you could tell in his voice that he desperately wanted it for them.
One of those seniors was Byrum.
The defensive coordinator on that Auburn team was Chizik.
"That team should have gotten a chance to play for the championship," he said.
This Auburn championship was for the late Jim Fyffe, the radio voice of the Tigers for 22 years who coined the signature phrase "Touchdown Auburn!" Fyffe died suddenly in 2003 at the age of 57.
"Jim would have loved to be a part of this. I really wish he had been here," said Mike Hubbard, the president of the Auburn Network. "He, as much as anybody, understood how much this moment means to the Auburn people."
This night was for Housel, the former sports information director and athletics director and the quintessential Auburn man. No single man in my experience has loved a university more than Housel has loved Auburn. He was not in a luxury box Monday night. He was sitting with the Auburn people, where he has always been.
This night was for Buddy Davidson, a long time Auburn employee who has seen every game played by the Tigers since 1957, the last time they won a national championship. When the snowstorm hit Alabama on Sunday and Monday, Davidson got out on one of the last charters to leave the state and made it just in time for the kickoff.
Tens of thousands of Auburn fans traveled here and just as many wanted to be here. Some couldn't get here because of the weather. You can bet that they slogged their way through the snow to continue the tradition of rolling Toomer's Corner in Auburn.
Some took out second mortgages to buy tickets. Thousands of others came here without tickets and were in the parking lot. They just wanted to be here.
Why? I asked Robert Gibbs, the White House Press Secretary, who grew up in Auburn, Ala. Gibbs' boss gave him the night off to come to Glendale in search of some history and to (hopefully) check another item off his Bucket List.
"It's really simple. I know a lot of people who have been waiting their entire lives on a game like this," Gibbs told me last week. "I'm one of them."
"I've told my guys that it's not about them," he said. "In 20 years it will be about them. But this game is about all of the Auburn people who never got the opportunity to be where we are."
Wes Byrum's 19-yard field goal on the last play of the game gave No. 1 Auburn a 22-19 win over No. 2 Oregon to deliver the Southeastern Conference its fifth consecutive national championship from its fourth different school. But this one was really not about conference pride, which was still considerable as the confetti rained down inside University of Phoenix Stadium.
This one was for guys like Al Del Greco. Del Greco kicked three field goals, the last one coming with 27 seconds left, to lead No. 3 Auburn to a 9-7 win over No. 8 Michigan in the 1984 Sugar Bowl. That night an 11-1 Auburn team thought it was going to be voted national champions after watching No. 1 Nebraska lose to Miami in the Orange Bowl and No. 2 Texas lose to Georgia in the Cotton Bowl.
"We were back at the hotel watching the Orange Bowl and we weren't sure if we should be pulling for Nebraska to lose or to tie," said Del Greco, who went on have a long career as an NFL kicker. "After Nebraska lost (31-30) we thought that they had to vote us No. 1."
Del Greco still remembers the phone call he got the next day from David Housel, the Auburn sports information director. The voters in both polls had elevated Miami from No. 5 to national champions.
"It was one of the most difficult phone calls I've ever received," said Del Greco, who was here with his son watching the game. "In many ways, you never really get over that."
This one was also for Pat Dye, who won four SEC championships as Auburn's head coach but never won the national title.
"I wanted to win this one so bad it was a sin," Dye said on the field after the game. "This was their dream and it was my dream. I don't have the words to tell you how great this is. This is bigger than that whole desert out there."
This national championship was for the guys on the 1993 team, which went 11-0 but could not play for the SEC championship or the national championship because of NCAA probation. Terry Bowden, the first-year head coach of that Auburn team, watched the game Monday night at the home of his brother, Jeff, in Florence, Ala. Terry is now the head coach of Division II power North Alabama and Jeff is his assistant.
"What I will always remember about that team is that it was a bunch of scrawny little guys who would not lose," said Bowden, who started 20-0 at Auburn in 1993-94. "The Auburn people thought all was lost when they went on probation. That team gave them hope that things were going to get better. I wish they could have been rewarded for what they did. Tonight is their reward."
This Auburn national championship was for the 2004 team that went 13-0, won the SEC championship, beat three top 10 teams but did not get a chance to play for the BCS title. That team had four first-round draft choices, a school record. Running backs Ronnie Brown and Carnell Williams were taken in the first five picks.
But USC and Oklahoma finished 1-2 in the BCS standings and played for the championship in the Orange Bowl. Coach Tommy Tuberville flew to Miami and put on a brave face while he watched USC destroy Oklahoma.
"All I remember about being down there is that at halftime USC was kicking Oklahoma pretty good (38-10)," Tuberville said. "We could have played with USC. I guarantee that. That was a great football team." Tuberville, now the head coach at Texas Tech, went out to eat Monday night in Lubbock and didn't watch the game. He was too nervous. There were 24 seniors on that Auburn team that he recruited. But you could tell in his voice that he desperately wanted it for them.
One of those seniors was Byrum.
The defensive coordinator on that Auburn team was Chizik.
"That team should have gotten a chance to play for the championship," he said.
This Auburn championship was for the late Jim Fyffe, the radio voice of the Tigers for 22 years who coined the signature phrase "Touchdown Auburn!" Fyffe died suddenly in 2003 at the age of 57.
"Jim would have loved to be a part of this. I really wish he had been here," said Mike Hubbard, the president of the Auburn Network. "He, as much as anybody, understood how much this moment means to the Auburn people."
This night was for Housel, the former sports information director and athletics director and the quintessential Auburn man. No single man in my experience has loved a university more than Housel has loved Auburn. He was not in a luxury box Monday night. He was sitting with the Auburn people, where he has always been.
This night was for Buddy Davidson, a long time Auburn employee who has seen every game played by the Tigers since 1957, the last time they won a national championship. When the snowstorm hit Alabama on Sunday and Monday, Davidson got out on one of the last charters to leave the state and made it just in time for the kickoff.
Tens of thousands of Auburn fans traveled here and just as many wanted to be here. Some couldn't get here because of the weather. You can bet that they slogged their way through the snow to continue the tradition of rolling Toomer's Corner in Auburn.
Some took out second mortgages to buy tickets. Thousands of others came here without tickets and were in the parking lot. They just wanted to be here.
Why? I asked Robert Gibbs, the White House Press Secretary, who grew up in Auburn, Ala. Gibbs' boss gave him the night off to come to Glendale in search of some history and to (hopefully) check another item off his Bucket List.
"It's really simple. I know a lot of people who have been waiting their entire lives on a game like this," Gibbs told me last week. "I'm one of them."
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