Dec. 30, 2016
By Jack Smith
The whole college football world knew the hype around the 1971 Auburn Tigers rested on the arm of Pat Sullivan.
But only those lucky enough to stand in the huddle with the legend knew where his real strength was.
It was in his steely eyes. And his steady voice.
Auburn was ranked No. 7 in the nation when it went into battle in a hostile Neyland Stadium against the Tennessee Volunteers, a team motivated by the most dangerous of human emotions. Revenge.
The Sullivan to Beasley Express had steamrolled the Volunteers the year before and derailed Tennessee's national title hopes. Tennessee had reeled off 10 straight wins after Sullivan torched them for 36 points in 1970, hooking up with Terry Beasley on long pass after long pass.
Tennessee's young coach, Bill Battle, tipped his hand to Sports Illustrated in an epic piece about the looming 1971 rematch, which captured the nation's attention as the two Top 10 teams prepared to go to war.
"I've been thinking about Auburn all year," Battle said.
Battle and the Vol defense had a simple game plan in 1971. They would not allow Beasley to run free or Sullivan to have time to drop back and launch bombs over the secondary.
Their strategy to double cover Beasley and hit him hard worked, for a while. Early in the game, All-American Vol safety Bobby Majors leveled Beasley when he came over the middle, flipping him over on a violent play. Beasley went down. It didn't look like he'd come back.
'We'll get the points we need'
Auburn's offense struggled to get traction, and the Tigers trailed 6-0 at the half. That's when Sullivan stood up at halftime and spoke his mind.
"I just want to tell the defense," Sullivan said, "if they will hold them, we'll get the points we need."
As the clock ticked down late in the fourth quarter, it didn't look like Auburn would have a chance. The Vols were driving deep into Auburn territory with a 9-3 lead. A score would have likely sealed Auburn's fate and dashed its dreams of a perfect season.
But the Tennessee quarterback was hit hard on a keeper, and the ball popped into the air and bounced onto the turf. Linebacker Bill Luka pounced on the loose ball at the 14-yard-line.
Sullivan trotted onto the field pumping his fist and gathered the offense. They would have to march 86 yards to mount one of the great game-winning drives in Auburn lore.
Terry Henley remembers exactly what his good friend Sullivan said in the huddle.
"The biggest thing I remember about that whole day was Pat stepping into the huddle and saying, 'This is our chance. We're going to go down the field and we're going to score.'"
Amazingly, Beasley returned to the game. But the Vols were not content to leave him open. Sullivan instead hit Dick Schmalz on several key curl routes as the clock wound down and Auburn edged closer to the end zone.
"They were double-teaming Terry, but Pat found a way to maneuver us all the way down the field," Henley said.
The cool quarterback from John Carroll High School, where the field was named in his honor this fall, hit Beasley on a short crossing route to set up the game-winner.
Fullback Harry Unger ripped off a five-yard run like a man on fire, shredding the Tennessee defense.
"Once we got down toward that goal line, I don't think 20 people could have stopped Harry Unger," Henley said.
A celebration erupted. Auburn's hopes of a perfect season were alive. The Tigers raced out to a 9-0 record, and a showdown against an outstanding Georgia team loomed in Athens. Sullivan enjoyed a career day in a big win against the Bulldogs.
'There was great celebration'
"Pat probably won the Heisman that day," former Sports Information Director and unofficial Auburn historian David Housel said. "That was on a Thursday night, and there was great celebration all over Auburn."
The team gathered for an emotional reunion in the locker room. Sullivan told his teammates it was their award as much as it was his.
Even though Auburn went on to play in the school's first Sugar Bowl after a disappointing loss to Alabama the following week, Henley and Housel agree the Heisman Trophy, the prize of all prizes in college football, was the highlight of the season.
"I think the greatest thing about that team was the fact of Pat winning that Heisman Trophy," Henley said. "All of that team says that was a team effort. Pat still says that today, and what a gracious man he is."
Housel said the Heisman was a key moment in Auburn football history.
"I think winning the Heisman in retrospect was more important than beating Alabama in proving players can come to Auburn and win the big award," Housel said. "It was a big thing nationally in terms of perception and where Auburn was as a football program."
Courtesy of NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
At long last, the taste of Sugar
The 1971 Tigers gave the Auburn football program another of its biggest moments by earning the chance to play in the Sugar Bowl on January 1, 1972.
Auburn had been to the Gator Bowl several times, but never tasted Sugar. In those days, the Sugar Bowl wasn't married to the champion of the Southeastern Conference. The bowl got to pick the team it felt would best represent the SEC.
"Playing in the Sugar Bowl for the first time solidified Auburn's standing as one of the main teams in the South," Housel said. "It was a goal Auburn had for years, since Coach Jordan came in 1951. The program realized that goal by making it to New Orleans."
The Auburn faithful turned out in huge numbers and enjoyed every minute in New Orleans, as did five or six players Coach Jordan sent home on a Greyhound bus.
But Henley, as honest as he is colorful in reminiscing about the game against a powerful Oklahoma team, said the party pretty much ended at kickoff. That was the first time during the day he underestimated the Sooners.
The Oklahoma kicker placed the ball on the tee sideways, so Henley was expecting a squib kick of some sort.
"We had a good kickoff return team with James Owens and me back there," Henley said. "I told James to move on up and I walked up to about the 10-yard line, and this boy kicks the ball about seven rows deep in the stands. James turned around and said, 'Terry, I think we better move back next time.'"
They got plenty of practice getting used to Sooner kickoffs as Oklahoma unleashed a wicked wishbone attack, the engine that drove the most potent offense in college football history, which rolled up more than 560 yards a game.
'Doggone good football team'
"I can't tell you what a football team this was," Henley said. "If I remember right, they kicked off to us and held us. We don't even make a first down. They went down the field and scored in three plays. It was a doggone football team. "We couldn't stop them."
Throughout a miserable first half, Henley had nowhere to run. Auburn, which had been one of the most potent offenses in the country for most of two years, was shut out at the half.
"I couldn't get out of the backfield. I think I had 12 or 13 carries for maybe 7 yards."
Matters got worse early in the game when fullback Tommy Lowry tore up his ankle.
"One time in the huddle," Henley recalled," I told Harry Unger, 'you got to block that guy. He said, 'Which one.?' There was so many of them in the backfield."
Auburn managed to put some points on the board in the second half to finally give the Tiger faithful something to cheer about, but it was too little, too late.
Courtesy of NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
Oklahoma won 40-22. The sting of disappointment lingered long after the season. But over time, the importance of what the 1971 team accomplished was fully realized.
While Housel concedes the highly anticipated season did not end like Auburn hoped it would, the invitation to play a storied Oklahoma program in the 1972 Sugar Bowl finally put Auburn in the pantheon of great college football teams from the South.
"It didn't turn out like we wanted it to, but Auburn had taken a step, a big step we needed to take. Auburn football had joined the big time. I don't think you can be a major football team in the South and not have ever gone to the Sugar Bowl," Housel said.
Perhaps it's fitting that 45 years later, Auburn will get the chance to measure itself against Oklahoma once again in New Orleans when the Tigers and Sooners square off in the Superdome on Monday evening.
Team reunion party set
And you can bet the stories from 1971 that can't all be told here will be told again and again when all five of Auburn's Sugar Bowl teams gather for a special Reunion Party hosted by Auburn Athletics and Director of Athletics Jay Jacobs on New Year's Day at Jax Brewery.
Jacobs might even ask the boys from 1971 to tell one more tale of Beasley to Sullivan, the legends whose heroic journey he grew up listening to on the radio as a little boy.
While Auburn's history is important to Jacobs and all the former lettermen who built Auburn into the national brand it is today, it's not nearly as important as family.
That's why Jacobs wanted to invite the players from the Sugar Bowl teams of 1971, 1983, 1987, 1988 and 2004.
"This will be a great time to fellowship and share stories about what makes Auburn such a special place," Jacobs said. "I wanted to invite all of the players from our past Sugar Bowl teams because they are part of our heritage, but more importantly they are all family.
Jacobs said he's excited to get the chance to see his teammates from the 1983 team, which won the Sugar Bowl for the first time in Auburn history.
"I can't wait to see my own teammates from 1983 team," Jacobs said. "It's going to be a family reunion like only Auburn has."
Henley said he wouldn't miss the chance to see his brothers, and he also is eager to attend the reunion party.
"Any time you can get together with a bunch of Auburn Tigers, it's a wonderful thing," Henley said. "I commend the athletics department and Jay for reaching out to all the people who have played in past Sugar Bowls. It's part of who we are."