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Auburn stuns Florida with field goal in closing seconds

Sep 30, 2007 - 5:02 AM GAINESVILLE, Florida (Ticker) -- Florida won the national championship last season with one loss - a setback to Auburn. If the Gators are to repeat, they'll have to overcome another defeat to the Tigers.

Wes Byrum kicked a 43-yard field goal as time expired to lift Auburn to a 20-17 victory over No. 4 Florida in a Southeastern Conference matchup on Saturday night at "The Swamp."

Byrum made his game-winning kick twice. Florida coach Urban Meyer called a timeout as the Tigers were about to snap the ball and Byrum went ahead and made the kick easily.

After Meyer tried to ice him, Byrum snuck his second attempt just inside the right upright.

"He absolutely has ice water running through his veins," Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville said of Byrum. "I couldn't even breathe and much less kick a ball in that situation, and not only one of them but two of them.

"The first one, he caught it just perfect. From the sideline, you just can't tell. You look for the fans reaction. The second one he didn't hit it quite as good, but it went inside the right upright. I'm waiting for those fans to start jumping up and down and it just kind of hit me, 'Man we won the ball game on a field goal.'"

Led by star quarterback Tim Tebow, the Gators mounted a comeback in the fourth quarter after falling behind, 17-3.

Auburn (3-2, 1-1 SEC West) led, 14-0, at the half and regained the 14-point edge on a 30-yard field goal by Byrum in the third quarter that made it 17-3.

It looked like the Gators were going to avenge their lone defeat from last season when they scored the first 14 points of the fourth quarter.

Tebow threw a 6-yard TD pass to Cornelius Ingram on the first play of the fourth. On their next possession, the Gators marched 88 yards and tied the game on a 2-yard TD run by Tebow.

Florida (4-1, 2-1 East) had the momentum and the ball at their 42 with 4:49 to play. But the Auburn defense stiffened, forcing a three-and-out, and the Auburn offense took over.

"It didn't look good right there at the end. We started running out of gas," Tuberville said. "We got a lot of people hurt and banged up. I bet we had a lot of backups out there on defense on that last drive. That was a true Auburn football game. That is how I like to coach a game, smash mouth, get you a lead and not sit on it, but let your defense and kicking game win it for you."

Brandon Cox and Ben Tate accounted for all the yards as the Tigers drove from their 39 to the Gators 26 to set up Byrum's winning kick.

Cox completed 17-of-26 passes for 227 yards and Tate, who ran for a 3-yard TD in the second quarter, finished with 65 yards on 20 carries.

Tebow was 20-of-27 for 201 yards and added 75 yards rushing on 19 carries.

""It's heartbreaking," Tebow said. "We had so many opportunities to win that game, but you have to give Auburn credit."