Florida State and Auburn put on a show Monday night with a college football championship game that went down to the wire and ended with Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Jameis Winston throwing a touchdown pass with just 13 seconds to go to bring Florida State the crown.
At one point, the Seminoles were behind by 18 points.
The final score: Florida State 34, Auburn 31.
So, the teams didn’t combine for the 100 points or more that some were predicting.
But the game — the last for the Bowl Championship Series system of choosing the NCAA’s Division I champion — was a thriller, as NPR’s Tom Goldman said on Morning Edition.
Just consider what happened in the final 4 1/2 minutes:
-- With Auburn ahead 24-20, Florida State’s Kermit Whitfield returned a kickoff 100 yards to put his team back into the lead, 27-24.
-- Auburn responded with a 75-yard scoring drive, capped by running back Tre Mason’s 37-yard rush for a touchdown. That put the Tigers ahead; 31-27. Auburn was 1 minute, 19 seconds away from winning the championship.
-- But Florida State came back. Beginning with the ball on their own 20-yard line, the Seminoles marched down the field. They won the game on Winston’s 2-yard touchdown pass to receiver Kelvin Benjamin.
This morning’s headlines help tell the story about last night’s game in Pasadena, Calif.:
-- “Grand Finale” (ESPN)
-- “Magical Ending” (Sports Illustrated)
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