Florida Stays Ahead of Auburn in a 44-39 Shootout
Seven sacks, 245 rushing yards and a lead it never lost. Florida needed all of it, because Byrum Brown nearly took the game away with 271 passing yards, 65 rushing yards and four touchdowns.
The Gators scored first, a 2-yard Jadan Baugh run, and the only time Auburn caught them was at 17-17 late in the second quarter on a 4-yard pass from Brown to Keshaun Singleton. Florida got a Patrick Durkin 28-yard field goal with nine seconds left in the half for 20-17 and nobody led them again. Baugh broke off a 33-yard run to open the third quarter, Aaron Philo hit Dallas Wilson from 20 yards for 34-17, and Baugh added a 53-yarder early in the fourth to make it 41-24.
Auburn kept coming. DeShawn Spencer caught a 10-yard touchdown at 1:24 of the third to make it 34-24, and Brown ran in from 21 yards, then threw the two-point conversion to Arlis Boardingham, to get within 41-32. A Durkin 40-yard field goal with 2:53 left pushed it back to 44-32. Brown found Chas Nimrod for 35 yards with 24 seconds left, and that was the final, 44-39.
The stat sheet was lopsided in the places that count. Florida had 497 yards to Auburn's 376, ran for 245 against 105, and each team threw one interception with neither losing a fumble. Florida also sacked Brown seven times, which is how a quarterback with 336 total yards can still lose by five. Florida is 3-0 and Auburn is 2-1.
Fantasy owners got both sides. Brown's 41.3 was the biggest number of the day and Baugh's 35.8 was close behind.