AUBURN, Ala. – On his way to becoming the 2004 SEC Player of the Year, Jason Campbell completed 188 passes.
Twenty years later, three stand out above the rest, including two on the same drive against defending national champion LSU in the season’s third game. A must-have 14-yard pickup to Courtney Taylor on fourth-and-12, and a 16-yard touchdown pass to Taylor two plays later, the game’s only TD in Auburn’s 10-9 win.
The other occurred nearly two months later in the SEC Championship Game against Tennessee, a tie-breaking 53-yard touchdown to Devin Aromashodu to help Auburn win its first SEC title in 15 years.
“Those are three critical plays that got everything rolling,” Campbell said. “You remember moments more than you do games. We had a lot of great moments that year.”
The 2004 Auburn Tigers will relive those great moments this weekend when they reunite on the Plains to celebrate and reminisce.
Watching video from two decades earlier brings back memories and reinforces Campbell’s appreciation for the 2004 team’s resilience.
“You realize how hard it is to go undefeated,” Campbell said. “The brotherhood and the bond we made.”
A fifth-year senior in 2004, Campbell recalled the pledge he made with fellow members of the 2000 recruiting class such as Ronnie Brown, Junior Rosegreen and Carlos Rogers.
“We made a special pact to commit to Auburn,” Campbell said. “To leave, doing what we said we were going to do, to help Auburn win a championship, makes everything even more surreal when you go back and look at it now.”