PASADENA, Calif. — Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston and Florida State faced down adversity for the first time this season and showed they could take a punch if that’s what it took to win a national championship.
Winston, a redshirt freshman, threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to Kelvin Benjamin with 13 seconds left and No. 1 Florida State beat No. 2 Auburn 34-31 to win the BCS Championship Game on Monday night.
“There’s a lot of heart and guts down in Tallahassee, too,” Florida State Coach Jimbo Fisher said.
The Bowl Championship Series went out with one of the best championship games in its 16-year history. And the SEC’s seven-year winning streak in college football’s biggest game was snapped. Winston struggled much of the night but was on target when the Seminoles (14-0) needed it most, going 6 for 7 for 77 yards on the game-winning 80-yard drive. A pass-interference penalty on Auburn’s Chris Davis gave Florida State a first-and-goal at the 2 and on the next play Winston hit his big receiver, Benjamin, for the touchdown with Davis covering.
There was no miracle finish this time for the turnaround Tigers. They tossed the ball around on one final play, but it ended with Florida State jumping on a fumble, and the Seminoles sprinting onto the field under a blast of garnet and gold confetti.
Tre Mason gave Auburn (12-2) a 31-27 lead with a 37-yard touchdown run with 1:19 left after Kermit Whitfield put Florida State in the lead for the first time since the first quarter with a 100-yard kickoff return to make it 27-24 with 4:31 left. Mason ran for 195 yards and Nick Marshall threw two touchdown passes for the Tigers.
“I told them in the locker room, we put together the biggest turnaround in the history of college football. We were on the brink of making it one of those magical seasons,” Auburn Coach Gus Malzahn said.
Winston was 20 for 35 for 237 yards and two fourth-quarter touchdown passes. And Florida State, which won its first 13 games by an average of 42 points, needed the last points this time. Winston, who turned 20 Monday, told his teammates: “I said ‘Guys, we didn’t come here for no reason.’ I said ‘Y’all, this is ours, man.’ ”
The Seminoles were down 21-3 in the first half, and wobbling, but never fell apart.
And now Florida State is national champion for the first time since 1999, the first team to win it after being down at halftime.
Winston was jumpy against a strong Auburn pass rush, led by Dee Ford. He was sacked four times.
The Seminoles cut it to 21-10 with a late touchdown in the second quarter and chipped into Auburn’s lead with a 41-yard field goal by Roberto Aguayo with 6:05 left in the third.
Florida State had some answers to Auburn’s Spread offense. A holding penalty that wiped out a long pass also helped keep the Tigers scoreless in the third quarter, and the Seminoles began the fourth with P.J. Williams intercepting Marshall’s pass and setting up Florida State at its 38. It was 21-19 Auburn when Winston tossed in the flats to Chad Abram, who hurdled over a tackler on the way to an 11-yard touchdown. Florida State was considering going for two to tie, but Devonta Freeman was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct and that pushed the extra point back 15 yards and forced the Seminoles to kick and make it 21-20.
Auburn responded with its best drive since the second quarter, mixing runs by Mason and Marshall with one big pass to Ricardo Louis. But the drive stalled at the 6 and Cody Parkey added a 22-yard field goal to make it 24-20 with 4:42 left.
Whitfield broke through a seam around the 30 and hit the sideline at full speed. Fisher ran down the other sideline yelling “Go! Go!” with Winston chasing behind pumping his arms and slapping his coach on the back. Florida State was on top, but Auburn was not done.
Mason and Marshall went to work, driving Auburn into Florida State territory, and Auburn’s Heisman finalist, Mason, finished it off by bowling over Florida State safety Jalen Ramsey on the way to the end zone.
Auburn, which came into the game as a 10-point underdog, didn’t look like it would need one of its frenetic finishes as it built a 21-3 lead.
Marshall flipped into the flats for Mason, who followed a few blocks and zipped into the end zone for a 12-yard score with 3:07 left in the first quarter. Florida State trailed for the first time since Sept. 28 against Boston College. The hole got deeper.
With Florida State’s linebackers and safeties peeking into the backfield again, Auburn broke another receiver free down the middle. Marshall connected with Melvin Ray, who went 50 yards for his first career touchdown and a 14-3 lead.
Winston, who was 3 of 4 early, then went 1 for 7, including a simple short throw that sailed high and missed its target by at least 10 yards. Fisher could be seen yelling to his coaches that they needed to calm down Winston.
Auburn’s defense certainly didn’t look as if it ranked 89th in yards allowed per game. Ford was getting pressure on Winston, Chris Davis defended three passes and the Tigers’ defense was playing like so many other SEC defenses that have controlled so many other BCS championship games during the conference’s reign over college football.
Ben Bradley and Angelo Blackson sandwiched Winston as he tried to tuck and run and the ball came loose. Auburn recovered at Florida State’s 27 and soon after Marshall swept in from 4 yards out for a 21-3 lead with 5:01 left in the first half.
Florida State finally came alive with the help of some trickery. Facing fourth-and-4 in their own territory, the Seminoles faked the punt and ran a reverse to Karlos Williams that went for 7 yards. Winston asserted himself in not the typical way for the most efficient passer in the country. On third-and-7, he broke free of the pocket, stiffarmed past one Auburn tackler and went for 21 yards to the 3. Freeman plunged into the end zone on the next play to make it 21-10 with 1:28 left in the half. Blown leads
Auburn was the third team in a BCS bowl this season to lead at halftime and lose. The Tigers were also the first team to lose the BCS Championship Game when leading after two quarters. Before Monday, the halftime leaders in BCS Championship Games were 13-0 with one tie. In 2009, Florida and Oklahoma were tied 7-7 at halftime, but the Gators went on to win 24-14.
GAME DATE HALFTIME RESULT
Rose Jan. 1 Stanford 17-14 Michigan State 24-20
Orange Jan. 3 Ohio State 22-20 Clemson 40-35
BCS Monday Auburn 21-10 Florida State 34-31
Sports, Pages 17 on 01/07/2014