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1989 Auburn Tigers football team

1989 Auburn Tigers football
Auburn Tigers logo.svg
SEC co-champion
Hall of Fame Bowl champion
Hall of Fame Bowl, W 31–14 vs. Ohio State
Conference Southeastern Conference
Ranking
Coaches No. 6
AP No. 6
1989 record 10–2–0 (6–1–0 SEC)
Head coach Pat Dye
Offensive coordinator Larry Blakeney / Pat Sullivan
Defensive coordinator Wayne Hall
Home stadium Jordan–Hare Stadium
Seasons
← 1988
1990 →
1989 SEC football standings
Conf     Overall
Team W   L   T     W   L   T
#5 Tennessee + 6 1 0     11 1 0
#9 Alabama + 6 1 0     10 2 0
#6 Auburn + 6 1 0     10 2 0
Florida 4 3 0     7 5 0
Ole Miss 4 3 0     8 4 0
Georgia 4 3 0     6 6 0
Kentucky 2 5 0     6 5 0
LSU 2 5 0     4 7 0
Mississippi State 1 6 0     5 6 0
Vanderbilt 0 7 0     1 10 0
  • + – Conference co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1989 Auburn Tigers football team represented Auburn University in the 1989 NCAA Division I-A football season. Coached by Pat Dye, the team finished the season with a 10–2 record and won their third straight SEC title. On December 2, Alabama visited Auburn on their home campus for the first time in the history of the Iron Bowl. Auburn won, 30–20, went on to beat Ohio State in the Hall of Fame Bowl, and finished the season ranked #6 in both major polls.

The season opener proved to be one of the most lopsided affairs Auburn had seen in years. On the first play from scrimmage, wide receiver Alexander Wright scored on a 78-yard screen play and the Tigers never looked back. They scored on 5 of their first 7 drives and held a 35–0 lead at halftime intermission. The defense held Pacific to 92 yards of total offense and 4 first downs. Alexander Wright caught 5 passes for 263 yards and 4 scores. His performance earned him National Offensive Player of the Week honors.

Auburn ditched the air attack that worked to perfection against Pacific and relied on a more traditional downhill running game to wear down the Eagles. Implementing a two-back game plan, tailback James Joseph ran for 149 yards on 24 carries and counterpart Stacy Danley picked up 102 on 21 touches. The defense held Southern and their Heisman hopeful quarterback Brett Favre to 174 yards in a 24-3 victory. Lamar Rogers was named National Defensive Player of the Week for an effort that included 3 sacks, 3 tackles for loss, and a forced fumble.

Pat Dye's defense surrendered over 350 yards on the ground, the most an Auburn defense had allowed in 13 years. 225 came from the legs of Volunteer running back Reggie Cobb, making him the first player to eclipse the 100-yard mark against the Tigers in three seasons. Despite the performance of the defensive front, Auburn still had a chance to tie late but Reggie Slack's fourth-down pass to Alexander Wright fell incomplete with 1:19 left.

Quarterback Reggie Slack threw for 161 yards in the first half and tossed two 1st quarter touchdowns, a 24-yard strike to Greg Taylor and a 34-yard bomb to Pedro Cherry, to give Auburn a 14-0 lead. The scrappy Wildcats continued to put up a fight in the second half, narrowing the margin to 14-6 in the 3rd quarter and 21-12 in the 4th, but a late 40-yard field goal from the leg of Win Lyle was the clincher.


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