1970 Auburn Tigers football team

1970 Auburn Tigers football
Gator Bowl champion
Gator Bowl, W 35–28 vs. Ole Miss
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 9
AP	No. 10
Record	9–2 (5–2 SEC)
Head coach	Ralph Jordan (20th season)
Captain	Ronnie Ross
Home stadium	Cliff Hare Stadium Legion Field
Seasons ← 1969 1971 →

1970 Southeastern Conference football standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 7 LSU $	5	–	0	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
No. 4 Tennessee	4	–	1	–	0			11	–	1	–	0
No. 10 Auburn	5	–	2	–	0			9	–	2	–	0
No. 20 Ole Miss	4	–	2	–	0			7	–	4	–	0
Florida	3	–	3	–	0			7	–	4	–	0
Georgia	3	–	3	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
Alabama	3	–	4	–	0			6	–	5	–	1
Mississippi State	3	–	4	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
Vanderbilt	1	–	5	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Kentucky	0	–	7	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1970 Auburn Tigers football team represented Auburn University in the 1970 NCAA University Division football season. Under the leadership of head coach Ralph Jordan, Tigers completed the regular season with a record of 8–2. Auburn won the Gator Bowl against Ole Miss by a score of 35–28. They completed the season with a record of 9–2 and were ranked No. 10 in the AP poll and No. 9 in the Coaches Poll.^[1]

The Tigers broke the Southeastern Conference (SEC) record for total yards for the regular season up to that point with 4,850, exceeding the previous record of 4,725 yards set by the 1942 Georgia Bulldogs. They had 1,965 yards rushing and 2,885 yards passing."^[2]

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 19	Southern Miss*		Cliff Hare Stadium Auburn, AL	W 33–14	48,500	[3]
September 26	No. 17 Tennessee		Legion Field Birmingham, AL (rivalry)	W 36–23	65,306	[4]
October 3	at Kentucky	No. 12	McLean Stadium Lexington, KY	W 33–15	37,500	[5]
October 10	at Clemson*	No. 9	Memorial Stadium Clemson, SC (rivalry)	W 44–0	32,806–41,202	[6][7]
October 17	No. 16 Georgia Tech*	No. 8	Cliff Hare Stadium Auburn, AL (rivalry)	W 31–7	62,391	[8]
October 24	No. 14 LSU	No. 6	Cliff Hare Stadium Auburn, AL (rivalry)	L 9–17	62,301–62,392	[9]
October 31	Florida	No. 12	Florida Field Gainesville, FL (rivalry)	W 63–14	62,560	[10]
November 7	Mississippi State	No. 10	Legion Field Birmingham, AL	W 56–0	45,000	[11]
November 14	Georgia	No. 8	Cliff Hare Stadium Auburn, AL (rivalry)	L 17–31	61,791	[12]
November 28	vs. Alabama	No. 11	Legion Field Birmingham, AL (Iron Bowl)	W 33–28	71,774	[13]
January 1	vs. Ole Miss*	No. 10	Gator Bowl Stadium Jacksonville, FL (Gator Bowl, rivalry)	W 35–28	71,136	[14]
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

^[15]

The first big test of the season came against Tennessee in Birmingham, Alabama. Tennessee came in ranked #17 in the country and Auburn was not ranked. Auburn overcame a 10–0 deficit to win 36–23. It was the only loss for Tennessee and cost them the SEC championship.^[16]

In a rivalry known for frequent close games, this one wasn't. It was the worst defeat for either side since 1917, when Auburn won 68–0. Pat Sullivan completed 21 of 27 passes for 366 yards and four touchdowns with three of them caught by Terry Beasley in the 63–14 drubbing.^[17] It was also Florida's homecoming game.^[18] It marked Auburn's fourth victory in a row against the Gators.

Auburn's first loss of the season came against LSU, which made its first visit to Auburn since 1908. LSU won its other conference games vs. Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi State and Ole Miss to win the SEC championship. They did not play Tennessee.

Alabama scored first on an 80-yard touchdown drive 3:17 into the game; then drove 70 yards to add another. After a pair of turnovers, another drive of 71 yards stalled at the 9 and they added a field goal to take the lead 17–0. Auburn finally scored midway through the second half with a touchdown and added a field goal to make it 17–10 at the half. They would then tie the game at 17 midway through the third. Alabama added a field goal at the beginning of the 4th quarter and Auburn answered tying the game again. Auburn then took the lead 27–20 and the Tide answered with a two-point conversion to take the lead by one. With 3:56 left to go in the game, Wallace Clark dove in for a touchdown from the three giving Auburn the lead by 6. Pat Sullivan threw the two-pointer to Terry Beasley, but the play was nullified by illegal motion and the subsequent attempt was intercepted. Alabama was unable to score again and Auburn won 33–28.^[19]

Johnny Musso had over 200 yards rushing for the Tide and Pat Sullivan was 22 of 38 passing with 317 yards for Auburn.^[19]

In an unusual matchup between two teams from the same conference, Auburn met Ole Miss in the Gator Bowl. (The two teams did not meet during the regular season.) It was a matchup between two top quarterbacks, Pat Sullivan for Auburn and Archie Manning for the University of Mississippi. Archie Manning was recovering from a broken arm suffered on November 7, yet played against LSU a month later with his arm.^[2] Auburn won 35–28. Coach Jordan was unable to attend the game (Ole Miss coach Johnny Vaught also did not attend).^[20]

1970 Auburn Tigers football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class QB 7 Pat Sullivan Jr TB 15 Mickey Zofko Sr WR 88 Terry Beasley Jr	Defense Pos. # Name Class DB 28 Larry Willingham Sr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class P 4 David Beverly So	Head coach Ralph Jordan Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster

• SEC Most Valuable Player: Pat Sullivan (QB)^[15]
• SEC Back of the Year–Birmingham QB Club: Pat Sullivan (QB)^[15]
• SEC Back of the Year–Atlanta TD Club: Pat Sullivan (QB)^[15]
• All-Americans: Pat Sullivan (QB), Terry Beasley (SE), Larry Willingham(DB)^[15]
• All-SEC first team: Pat Sullivan (QB), Terry Beasley (SE), Gardner Jett (SP), Larry Willingham (DB), Bobby Strickland (LB)^[15]