Inside the play: The blocked punt that 'changed the game'

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Nov. 4, 2017

By Greg Ostendorf
AuburnTigers.com

COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- The past two weeks, Auburn's special teams unit had put an emphasis on blocking punts. The Tigers came close to getting one last year, but head coach Gus Malzahn knew they were going to get one this year. It was just a matter of when.

"We've been practicing it all week," Auburn safety Tray Matthews said. "And Coach [Malzahn] said, `We're going to stop talking about it. We're going to do it.'"

So on Saturday, with Texas A&M punting from deep in their own territory and Auburn clinging to a 14-13 lead late in the first half, Malzahn dialed up the punt block.

Senior defensive back Nick Ruffin, who nearly blocked a punt earlier in the game, broke through the line and batted the ball backwards off the punter's helmet. The ball continued the other way into the end zone where a swarm of Auburn players were there to recover it for a touchdown. Malik Miller was the one credited with the recovery, but it was Ruffin who got it started.

"Coach talks every day about just doing your job, doing what's asked of you and not trying to be a super hero," Ruffin said. "So that's really all I did.

"I told Coach Malzahn after the first one that I think I can get there, and I told him, `Let me go get it again. I promise you I'll get there.' He put enough confidence in me and said, `All right, I'm going to give you a chance.' Thankfully, I got it."

For Auburn, it was the first blocked punt since the 2013 Iron Bowl, and it was the first blocked punt that was recovered for a touchdown since 2006 when Jerraud Powers blocked a punt and Tre Smith picked it up and ran it in for a touchdown against Florida.

"We just felt like that was a great opportunity to do that, and Nick Ruffin made a big-time play," Malzahn said after the game. "We talk about seniors stepping up in big games and making big-time plays, and that was a huge play in the game. It just kind of changed the whole momentum of the game going into halftime."

Two minutes prior to the blocked punt, it was all Texas A&M. The Aggies kicked a field goal to go up 13-7, and the late-arriving crowd at Kyle Field had finally come to life. It looked as if the home team was going to take the lead and the momentum into the locker room with them at halftime while the Auburn fans who made the trip had grown nervously quiet.

But in the blink of an eye, the game turned on its head.

First, quarterback Jarrett Stidham connected with Darius Slayton on a 53-yard touchdown pass to give Auburn the lead back with 1:36 remaining. Then, a minute later, it was the blocked punt for a touchdown. All of a sudden, the Tigers -- who were in danger of trailing at halftime -- were up 21-13 with all of the momentum and the ball to start the second half.

Two touchdowns in two minutes. It was a sequence that ignited this Auburn team. It provided a boost that would carry over to the second half and ultimately help the Tigers prevail.

"That blocked punt, that was the play of the game," running back Kerryon Johnson said. "When we came into halftime afterwards, everybody was on a different level. We had a tough first quarter. Everybody was a little mellow. But once that happened at the end of the first half, I knew the second half was going to be a big half for us."

"The last two weeks and almost again this week, we had given up a touchdown on special teams. This week, Coach [Tim] Horton preached, `We're going to score a touchdown this week. We have to be the aggressor.' We heard that all week relentlessly, and it was nice to see it show up."

Auburn scored a total of six touchdowns in Saturday's 42-27 win over Texas A&M, but none proved more pivotal than Ruffin's blocked punt and the ensuing recovery in the end zone.

It was the perfect call at the perfect time.

Greg Ostendorf is a Senior Writer for AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @greg_ostendorf