CITRUS BOWL: Auburn no match for Northwestern

Scenes from Friday’s Vrbo Citrus Bowl in Orlando as Northwestern defeats Auburn. (Photos by Willie Allen - Orlando Sentinel and Todd Van Emst - Auburn Media Relations)

By TIM GAYLE

Without two of its best offensive stars, the Auburn offense was no match for Northwestern.

Still, the Tigers were hanging tough, trailing by only a point when the Wildcats came up with two key defensive stops and forced a fumble on a third possession, converting all three into touchdowns to pull away to a 35-19 win in the 75th Citrus Bowl at Camping World Stadium on New Year’s Day.

“I think we just asserted our will, asserted our dominance and played Big Ten football and continued to execute,” said Northwestern quarterback Peyton Ramsey, the game’s most valuable player. “So all credit to those guys up front. They asserted their dominance and said it's go-time and nothing is going to stop us from getting in the end zone.”

Auburn (6-5) never looked like it could challenge the Wildcats’ superiority, but the Tigers were able to pull within 14-13 early in the second half, threatening to turn a poor performance into a win.

“We came out in this game and struggled a little bit in the first half offensively,” Auburn interim head coach Kevin Steele said. “Defensively, we were out of sync. We had a pick route that they hit a big play on and had a bad call on me on fourth down and got the ball behind us and converted on that which led to 14 points. From that time on into the third quarter, we played really good run defense.”

Auburn had pulled within 14-13 on a 57-yard pass from Bo Nix to Elijah Canion, momentarily shaking off the fact that the offense was without receiver Anthony Schwartz and tailback Tank Bigsby. But on the next possession, on third and one, J.J. Pegues lined up in Wildcat and was stopped for a two-yard loss by Northwestern linebacker Paddy Fisher. 

The Wildcats methodically marched 87 yards to the end zone, covering the last 30 on a run by Ramsey.

“The 30-yard run was a pressure look that we had seen a couple times earlier in the year (against) Iowa, the guy that tried to flush me out to the left a little bit and there was a spy sitting there waiting for me,” Ramsey said. “But this time they didn't spy me so I was able to get in the open field and get in the end zone and play with that safety a little bit. More than anything, I stepped out of the pocket, saw some green grass and took off running.”

Auburn’s next possession ended when Nix was stopped short by Fisher and fellow linebacker Blake Gallagher on a fourth-and-one sneak.

“It was our short yardage call that we had going into the week for third and fourth down, one or two yards, inches,” Fisher said. “I saw the guard, he was very light on his feet and I just shot the gap. I knew he was going to pull and they were running some sort of read in the backfield so I had a little bit of time to get to the ball, and thankfully I did, and made the play.”

That led to another Northwestern touchdown and a 28-13 lead. Moments later, Auburn tailback Shaun Shivers fumbled the ball and the Wildcats converted that, too, into a touchdown and a 35-13 lead.

“I think we lost our edge after we went for it on fourth down there and missed it a by couple of inches, we didn't go back out with the same edge that we had played with all day,” Steele said. “Then there was a turnover after that and the same thing happened.”

The result was an Auburn team that lost three of its last four games, showed little resiliency on offense and looked average most of the time on defense.

“Guys just gassed out, physically,” said Auburn defensive lineman Big Kat Bryant. “Those little things that we missed, you know, from our two starters that were gone to the guys that were inexperienced and that was the biggest thing, some of the guys that were just inexperienced. This was their first game and it got late in the game, and I mean, guys probably just got lazy and just got gassed out, man.”

Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald said it was the best game of the season for the Wildcats (7-2). 

“I think we played probably as complete of a game as we have all year,” Fitzgerald said. “We were pretty much turnover-free. A couple penalties that were tough. But you know, that's going to happen in bowl games. Fourth down we were really good early and then the huge fourth down stop. You could just feel the air of Auburn's balloon go out and momentum completely come on our sideline.

“I think we wore them down. It was hot and I thought our guys handled it well.”

Northwestern’s seniors improved to 4-0 in bowl games, giving the Wildcats a foundation to build on. Auburn, meanwhile, will look to the future with new coach Bryan Harsin, hired last week to replace Gus Malzahn. The current Auburn staff, including Steele, will wait to see if they are retained by the new Auburn coach. 

“That's not been addressed,” Steele said. “That will be something that Coach Harsin and the administration will have their decisions, and then off of that, we will have our decisions.”