2014 Auburn Tigers football team

The 2013 Auburn Tigers football team had a big turnaround in Gus Malzahn's inaugural year as head coach, finishing 12–2 after 3–9 campaign in 2012. The season included last-minute victories against Mississippi State and Texas A&M and particularly stunning games against rival Georgia, in the game dubbed the Prayer at Jordan–Hare, as well as against in-state rival Alabama, in the game dubbed The Kick Six. The win over Alabama earned Auburn a spot in the SEC Championship Game.

The Tigers became Southeastern Conference champions after defeating Missouri in the SEC Championship Game and earned a bid to the BCS National Championship Game against Florida State. There Auburn lost to Florida State, 34–31, after a late lead-changing touchdown pass by the Seminoles with 13 seconds left in the game. The Tigers finished the season ranked #2 in both the AP and Coaches polls.

Shortly after the season, Heisman Trophy finalist junior running back Tre Mason—who broke Bo Jackson's school record for rushing yards in a single season—as well as redshirt sophomore left tackle Greg Robinson declared their intentions to forgo their remaining eligibility and enter the NFL Draft.

The Tigers notched their fifth consecutive recruiting class ranked within the top 10 nationally. Five signees enrolled prior to spring practice, while the rest enrolled in the summer.

US college sports recruiting information for 2014 recruits
Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	40‡	Commit date
Kalvaraz Bessent CB	St. Marys, Georgia	Camden County High School	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	188 lb (85 kg)	–	Dec 9, 2013
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Markell Boston S	Sharpsburg, Georgia	East Coweta High School	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	–	Oct 29, 2013
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Myron Burton WR	Lawrenceville, Georgia	Peachtree Ridge High School	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	202 lb (92 kg)	–	Oct 12, 2013
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Xavier Dampeer C	Mendenhall, Mississippi	Copiah-Lincoln Community College	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	300 lb (140 kg)	–	Oct 6, 2013
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
DeShaun Davis LB	Prichard, Alabama	Vigor High School	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	224 lb (102 kg)	–	Apr 17, 2013
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Rashaad Kennion DE	Jacksonville, Florida	First Coast High School	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	–	Jul 17, 2013
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
DaVonte Lambert DE	Keysville, Georgia	Georgia Military College	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	275 lb (125 kg)	–	Dec 18, 2013
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Devaroe Lawrence DT	Greenville, South Carolina	Georgia Military College	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	275 lb (125 kg)	–	Nov 23, 2013
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Chris Laye TE	Cumming, Georgia	Lambert High School	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	–	Apr 17, 2013
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Jakell Mitchell TE	Opelika, Alabama	Opelika High School	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	–	May 25, 2013
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Derrick Moncrief S	Prattville, Alabama	Gulf Coast Community College	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	226 lb (103 kg)	–	May 10, 2013
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Kamryn Pettway RB	Prattville, Alabama	Prattville High School	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	230 lb (100 kg)	–	Mar 30, 2013
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Stephen Roberts S	Opelika, Alabama	Opelika High School	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	179 lb (81 kg)	–	Nov 20, 2013
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Nicholas Ruffin CB	Duluth, Georgia	St. Pius X Catholic High School	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	172 lb (78 kg)	–	May 25, 2013
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Dontavius Russell DT	Carrollton, Georgia	Carrollton High School	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	298 lb (135 kg)	–	Dec 12, 2013
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Braden Smith OL	Olathe, Kansas	Olathe South High School	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	275 lb (125 kg)	–	Feb 5, 2014
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Racean Thomas RB	Anniston, Alabama	Oxford High School	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)	198 lb (90 kg)	–	Aug 2, 2013
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Justin Thornton DE	Prichard, Alabama	Vigor High School	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	–	May 12, 2013
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Stanton Truitt WR	Monroe, Georgia	Monroe Area High School	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)	177 lb (80 kg)	–	Dec 18, 2013
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Joseph Turner CB	Sacramento, California	College of San Mateo	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	–	Feb 12, 2014
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Sean White QB	Boca Raton, Florida	University School of Nova South	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	204 lb (93 kg)	–	Jul 17, 2013
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Andrew Williams DE	McDonough, Georgia	Eagle's Landing Christian Academy	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	245 lb (111 kg)	–	Feb 5, 2014
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
D’haquille Williams WR	Laplace, Louisiana	Gulf Coast Community College	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	–	Jul 21, 2013
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Tre Williams LB	Mobile, Alabama	St. Paul's Episcopal School	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	–	May 8, 2013
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN:
Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: 8   Rivals: 9  247Sports: 6  ESPN: 8
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "Auburn Signee List 2014". Rivals.com. Retrieved April 5, 2014. "Scout.com Football Recruiting: Aubun". Scout.com. Retrieved April 5, 2014. "2014 Player Signees – Auburn". ESPN.com. Retrieved April 5, 2014. "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout.com. Retrieved April 5, 2014. "2014 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved April 5, 2014.

The Tigers spring game 'A-Day' was held on Saturday April 19. The Blue team defeated the White team 58-3 with quarterback Nick Marshall and linebacker Kenny Flowers earning offensive and defensive MVP honors respectively. 70,645 fans attended the game, the second most in school history after the previous year's A-Day, which had 83,401 in attendance.

As of November 4th, 2014

Injured/Suspended

• DE Carl Lawson (ACL: Season)
• OG Alex Kozan (Back: Season)
• OG Jordan Diamond (Shoulder: Season)
• WR Stanton Truitt (Shoulder: Season)

Jeremy Johnson started in place of Nick Marshall, and played until halftime. The defense was steamrolled at the beginning of the game, allowing 21 points in the first half, and the offense in the first half scored 21 points. Nick Marshall, who was suspended for the entire first half for a drug related citation, led Auburn's offense to 24 second half points. Auburn's defense improved greatly in the second half allowing 0 points in that period, forcing several dropped passes to wide open receivers. Auburn won its season debut.

A nearby thunderstorm caused a delay of one hour and 28 minutes in the 4th quarter at 9 minutes, 55 seconds remaining. Auburn now leads the all-time series 13–10–1.

The second game of the season was against the San Jose State Spartans. The Tigers and Spartans had previously never met on the gridiron before. The Tigers now lead the series 1–0–0.

Auburn struggled on defense early, giving up some big plays, most notably a 75-yard touchdown pass from Blake Jurich to Tyler Ervin. On Auburn's first possession Nick Marshall ran 39 yards but lost the ball in the end zone resulting in a touchback. Auburn only gave up one touchdown and two field goals against the Spartans. Quan Bray had Auburn's first punt return for a touchdown since Chris Davis against Tennessee in 2013. Jermaine Whitehead also became the first Auburn player to record interceptions in back-to-back games since 2007. Roc Thomas got his first carries as an Auburn Tiger late in the game, and his first carry was a touchdown. This was also Cameron Artis-Payne's first multi-touchdown game. Auburn is now 2-0 and 1-0 in SEC play. The 2004 undefeated team was honored during the pregame ceremony.

In a rare Thursday night game, Auburn traveled to Kansas State. Auburn struck first with a field goal after a fumble by Kansas State was recovered by Auburn. Kansas State scored a touchdown in the second quarter. Auburn, however, struck back with a touchdown pass from Nick Marshall to Ricardo Louis. Auburn then scored the next 10 points, all during the fourth quarter. Kansas State then scored a touchdown with less than 5 minutes to go. Then, Auburn's last drive ended up in a 3rd and 9, and Nick Marshall threw the ball to Duke Williams who made an impressive reception to seal the win for Auburn. After this game, the Tigers lead the all-time series 4-0-0.

The fourth game of the season was against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs. Auburn was up 24–0 late in the second quarter before Louisiana Tech scored a field goal to end the half. There was a time when it was somewhat close early in the third quarter as Auburn only led 24–10. Auburn's offense then started scoring more points, especially Quan Bray who had two touchdowns in the second half and three touchdowns overall including two touchdown receptions and one punt return for a touchdown. Auburn ended up with a great homecoming victory 45-17. Auburn now leads the all-time series 12-0-1.

Auburn struck first with a 46-yard field goal by Daniel Carlson which was his longest so far this season. The offense then lit up scoring 17 points in the first quarter. The defense only allowed one LSU touchdown, taking advantage of Les Miles's decision to have true freshman QB Brandon Harris have his 1st career start on the road at night in JHS. In the second quarter, Auburn scored 14 more points and the defense held LSU scoreless in that period. At halftime, the score was Auburn 31, LSU 7. Daniel Carlson got a 42-yard field goal in the third quarter. LSU did not convert a single third down, they were 0–13. Auburn stopped LSU on fourth down three times. It was a big conference win for Auburn. The win improved Auburn's all-time record against LSU to 21–27–1.

College GameDay was in town for a road test against the Mississippi State Bulldogs. In their weekly "Saturday Selections" segment, David Pollack, Desmond Howard, Lee Corso, and special guest picker Jonathan Papelbon all picked Mississippi State. Kirk Herbstreit picked Auburn and moderator Chris Fowler did not pick. Two turnovers on the first 2 offensive plays of the game for AU were costly for Auburn as Mississippi State scored 14 points off the turnovers. Mississippi State had four turnovers in the game which led to 13 points for Auburn. The game-changing play was when Ricardo Louis fumbled on a kickoff return leading to a Mississippi State touchdown. The Tigers now lead the all-time series 61–25–2.

In a game that proved to be a harder challenge than many expected, South Carolina took Auburn down to the wire before the Tiger defense stepped up at the end. An offensive battle took place as neither defense could stop the opposing offense. Each team only punted once during the game and when South Carolina punted Quan Bray fumbled on the return and the ball was recovered by South Carolina. That was the Tigers' only turnover of the game. South Carolina turned the ball over three times (all interceptions) including one inside the twenty yard line, and two in the end zone, which included one on the hail mary attempt as time expired. Cassanova McKinzy had one interception and Jonathan Jones had two interceptions. The Tigers had won a shootout 42-35. An interesting note is that Steve Spurrier "went for it" on 4th down several times, converting all of them except 1. The win was the sixth win of the season for Auburn, which meant they were bowl eligible. With the victory, Auburn's all-time record against South Carolina moved to 10-1-1.

Auburn struck first after an incomplete pass (the official said Duke Williams bobbled it as he was going out of bounds) was reviewed and overturned. As a result of the review, the ball was placed at the 3-yard line. Nick Marshall then ran into the end zone for the touchdown. Ole Miss started with a punt on offense. Ole Miss struck next after a big run by Bo Wallace. Penalties cost Auburn greatly and they had a season high number of penalties. Nick Marshall also had a turnover in the red zone that also cost the Tigers greatly. Ole Miss was threatening to score with six and a half minutes to go, but Kris Frost knocked the ball out of Bo Wallace's hands resulting in a turnover for Auburn. Later, Auburn recovered a fumble in the end zone after it was ruled a touchdown, but review gave Auburn the ball. At the very end, Auburn came up with one last stop as time expired giving Auburn a 35-31 win. With the win, Auburn is now 29-10 all-time against Ole Miss.

Auburn allowed a Texas A&M touchdown early putting the Tigers down 7-0. On the Tigers' first offensive possession, Cameron Artis-Payne fumbled the ball and it was recovered by Texas A&M leading to another Aggies score. Cameron Artis-Payne scored twice in the first quarter making the score 14-14 at the end of the first quarter. Auburn could only muster up a field goal in the second quarter while the defense allowed two A&M touchdowns. On the final play of the second quarter, a Daniel Carlson field goal attempt was blocked and returned for a touchdown making the halftime score Texas A&M 35, Auburn 17. Auburn started to come back in the third quarter, holding A&M to a field goal and scoring a touchdown. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Auburn scored again making the score 38-31 Texas A&M with plenty of time to play. Auburn allowed an A&M field goal, but scored quickly reducing the deficit to three points. With Auburn near the goal line and with less than two minutes remaining, Auburn's Nick Marshall fumbled the ball, and Texas A&M recovered. Auburn's defense then forced a three-and-out with only a little over a minute to play. A field goal would have tied it and a touchdown would have given the Tigers the lead, but a botched snap was recovered by Texas A&M. The Aggies then ran out the clock to upset Auburn 41-38. A&M now leads the series 4-1 all-time.

The Tigers struck first on the very first possession of the game, but were shut out for the rest of the game. Penalties, turnovers, man defense in the secondary, an all-in quarterback spy, and the inability to stop Georgia's offense contributed to a 34-7 loss. The series is now tied 55-55-8. This game marked the end of Todd Gurley's suspension.

After a scoreless first quarter, Samford scored first in the second quarter. However, Auburn scored 31 unanswered en route to an easy 31-7 win on Senior Night. Samford coach Pat Sullivan played at Auburn, and was the Tigers' first Heisman Trophy winner. Auburn now leads the series 27-0-1. Auburn kept star receivers Duke Williams and Ricardo Louis out of the game so they could nurse injuries before the Iron Bowl rivalry game against Alabama.

In the twelfth and final game of the regular season, Auburn traveled to Tuscaloosa to face their arch-rival Alabama. Alabama now leads the overall series 43–35–1. College GameDay was in Tuscaloosa for this game, making it the second time the traveling show was live from the location of an Auburn game this season (October 11 vs. Mississippi State). Every analyst picked Alabama to win. On the first play from scrimmage, Auburn turned the ball over on a failed lateral from Nick Marshall to Roc Thomas and Alabama scored on the drive after the fumble. Alabama scored again after Auburn got to the three yard line, but had to settle for a field goal. Auburn then scored ten unanswered points before the defense allowed a late Alabama drive for a touchdown on 4th and goal. Auburn then scored ten more unanswered points after the touchdown and after a Blake Sims interception. The halftime score was Auburn 26 and Alabama 20.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Alabama scored a touchdown and completed a two-point conversion to take the lead at 42-36. Auburn regained possession of the ball, but Nick Marshall was unable to make a 3rd-down conversion and the ball was punted back to Alabama. The Auburn defense was unable to prevent Alabama from rapidly progressing downfield and scoring with a touchdown pass to DeAndrew White. This made the score 48-36 Alabama. Saban opted to attempt another 2-point conversion to widen the gap, but this failed when Blake Sims was pushed out of bounds.

Upon repossession of the ball, Auburn successfully completed passes downfield but was unable to make a first down. Alabama regained the ball.

On December 7, it was announced that #19 Auburn and #18 Wisconsin would meet in the Outback Bowl. Auburn fired defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson prior to this game and it was announced that Charlie Harbison would be the interim defensive coordinator for this game. Wisconsin's coach Gary Andersen left for Oregon State so the Badgers' athletic director Barry Alvarez will coach the Badgers in this game. The all-time series is tied 1-1-1 and Wisconsin won the last meeting 28–14 in the 2006 Capital One Bowl. With the win, Wisconsin takes the series lead 2-1-1.