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A spirit that is not afraid

Tigers pull out 22-19 National Championship victory

Snap, place, hold, kick.

It's a simple sequence practiced thousands of times between a longsnapper, place holder and kicker.

The whole process only takes about three seconds and that's all the time Auburn needed to cement its perfect season and win a BCS National Championship.

In his final kick as an Auburn Tiger, senior kicker Wes Byrum lined up for a 19-yard field goal. It may not have been as long as some of the kicks he has had in his career, but it was certainly the most important.

"We know without question when the game comes down to the end, wherever we put that ball within reason, he is going to make it," said Auburn head coach Gene Chizik. "There was no question in our mind today and all we had to do was, again, put the ball in the right spot."

Freshman running back Michael Dyer rushed for 143 yards on 22 carries and received Offensive MVP honors following the game.

"I know my role on our offense, and I'm always pleased with it," Dyer said. "Me going in and just trying to make things happen and trying to be a part of the team as we know was my goal tonight."

Auburn's 22 points extended the school's single season record to 577 points.

Nick Fairley had 3 tackles for loss including a quarterback sack, extending his school single-season record for tackles for loss to 24, and his sack gave him 11.5 this season, which is also a school record.

"Man, we have been doing this, like I said, for 14 weeks," Fairley said. "We just went unnoticed throughout the year. Now that we got noticed out here on the big stage, we just showed what we can do."


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