No. 16 Auburn 27, Clemson 24: Illegal Snap Penalty Erases Game-Tying Clemson Field Goal In Overtime

After a brutal series in overtime, at the end of a bruising game that saw several players leave dazed or on stretchers, Clemson appeared to have bought itself another few moments to fight with a game-tying field goal. Then the flags came out.

Initially, it seemed like Auburn had jumped offsides, giving Clemson a new set of downs within the 10. Then, officials correctly ruled Clemson had committed an illegal snap on the made field goal: the Tigers’ center picked the ball up off the ground before resetting and snapping it. The penalty nullified the result of the play.

SB Nation’s Track ‘Em Tigers mulls rumors of new blue Auburn uniform pants and helmets for Saturday’s game against Clemson:

Make of it what you will. What we do know is that school officials want all Auburn fans attending the Clemson contest to wear blue in the stadium. This is to off-set the orange worn by Clemson and to force close to 80,000 people to shop the local stores looking for blue Auburn shirts.

It’s pure marketing genius on Auburn’s part and will ensure that the children of J&M Bookstore and Tiger Rags have good Christmases.

SB Nation’s Shakin’ The Southland wonders how Clemson might manage to curb Auburn’s spread tendencies:

One of the primary reasons we have had issues with stopping the spread running game is simply the numbers problem: we put only 6 in the box with a Nickel and sometimes only 5 with a Dime. Within a primarily man/man (Cover 1/0 Robber) defense, the 7th man with responsibilties in the run may be on a receiver, making it very hard for a defense to stop a running QB or even a well-executed spread option system. This makes it doubly important for a defensive line to control their gaps and cause issues up front.

(Sports Network) An intriguing non-conference matchup is on the docket this weekend in Auburn, as the 16th-ranked Tigers play host to ACC foe Clemson at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Gene Chizik is in his second season at the helm at Auburn and already has the Tigers poised for a run at the SEC West title. The Tigers began the season with a great deal of optimism and have done little to change that with a pair of wins, including opening SEC play last week with a hard-fought 17-14 victory over a good Mississippi State program.