No. 24 Auburn holds on for 17-6 win over Florida

The Auburn Tigers made use of two things that can redeem a struggling offense: big special teams plays and a backup quarterback. Onterio McCalebb opened the fourth quarter with a 14-yard touchdown run, Ikeem Means recovered a muffed punt late and No. 24 Auburn beat Florida 17-6 in a defensive game that saw seven players take snaps at quarterback. The Tigers also owned the special teams play.

“The kicking game was off the charts,” Tigers coach Gene Chizik said. “I really feel it was the difference in the ball game.”

The Tigers (5-2, 3-1 Southeastern Conference) got a spark from No. 2 quarterback Clint Moseley but also received plenty of help from Florida (4-3, 2-3), which committed three turnovers with two on muffed punts.

The Gators would have had the ball near midfield with about 3 minutes left but Robert Clark had the ball squirt through his arms after calling a fair catch. Cody Parkey then put the game away with a 42-yard field goal with 35 seconds left. Parkey, who had two earlier misses, nailed the final attempt after getting pushed back 5 yards by a false start penalty. The last five meetings between the teams have gone down to the final minute, with Auburn winning four of them. Auburn outgained Florida 278-194 in total yards. Mike Dyer ran 23 times for a workmanlike 73 yards and Wildcat QB Kiehl Frazier gained 43. The Tigers finally stretched the lead to 14-6 with McCalebb’s touchdown run on the opening play of the fourth quarter on a zone read by Frazier. Moseley got Auburn into that position with passes of 15 and 23 yards to tight end Philip Lutzenkirchen. Then Driskel took Florida to Auburn’s 16 with help from two 15-yard personal foul calls. Muschamp opted to go for it on fourth-and-4 but Driskel overthrew Deonte Thompson. Muschamp said kicker Caleb Sturgis, who had made two field goals, had hurt his leg and was unavailable for a third. After the Tigers went three-and-out, Florida lined up to go for another fourth down near midfield but had to punt after a false start. David Lerner buried the Tigers at the 3 with 5:31 left. All they could do was burn a couple of minutes off the clock with three straight runs up the gut by Mike Dyer, but the Clark’s miscue on the ensuing punt, another high, arching boot by Steven Clark—gave Auburn’s offense a chance to put it away.

“Those things were in the clouds,” Chizik said.