1986 Auburn Tigers football team

1986 Auburn Tigers football
Florida Citrus Bowl champion
Florida Citrus Bowl, W 16–7 vs. USC
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 8
AP	No. 6
Record	10–2 (4–2 SEC)
Head coach	Pat Dye (6th season)
Offensive coordinator	Larry Blakeney / Pat Sullivan
Offensive scheme	I formation
Defensive coordinator	Wayne Hall
Home stadium	Jordan–Hare Stadium

1986 Southeastern Conference football standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 10 LSU $	5	–	1	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
No. 6 Auburn	4	–	2	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
No. 9 Alabama	4	–	2	–	0			10	–	3	–	0
Georgia	4	–	2	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Ole Miss	4	–	2	–	0			8	–	3	–	1
Tennessee	3	–	3	–	0			7	–	5	–	0
Mississippi State	2	–	4	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
Kentucky	2	–	4	–	0			5	–	5	–	1
Florida	2	–	4	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
Vanderbilt	0	–	6	–	0			1	–	10	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1986 Auburn Tigers football team represented Auburn University in the 1986 NCAA Division I-A football season. Coached by Pat Dye, the team finished the season with a 10–2 record. Auburn snapped a two-game winning streak by Alabama in the Iron Bowl. Auburn went on to defeat USC in the Florida Citrus Bowl, 16–7.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 6	Chattanooga*	No. 14	Jordan–Hare Stadium Auburn, AL		W 42–14	58,000
September 20	East Carolina*	No. 6	Jordan–Hare Stadium Auburn, AL		W 45–0	62,000
September 27	Tennessee	No. 8	Jordan–Hare Stadium Auburn, AL (rivalry)	ABC	W 34–8	72,500
October 4	Western Carolina*	No. 7	Jordan–Hare Stadium Auburn, AL		W 55–6	63,000
October 11	at Vanderbilt	No. 7	Vanderbilt Stadium Nashville, TS	TBS	W 31–9	40,378
October 18	Georgia Tech*	No. 7	Jordan–Hare Stadium Auburn, AL (rivalry)		W 31–10	72,500
October 25	at No. 13 Mississippi State	No. 7	Scott Field Starkville, MS	ESPN	W 35–6	42,700
November 1	at Florida	No. 5	Florida Field Gainesville, FL (rivalry)		L 17–18	74,521
November 8	Cincinnati*	No. 9	Jordan–Hare Stadium Auburn, AL		W 52–7	63,500
November 15	No. 17 Georgia	No. 9	Jordan–Hare Stadium Auburn, AL (Deep South's Oldest Rivalry)	ESPN	L 16–20	73,000
November 29	vs. No. 7 Alabama	No. 14	Legion Field Birmingham, AL (Iron Bowl)	ABC	W 21–17	75,808
January 1	vs. USC*	No. 10	Florida Citrus Bowl Orlando, FL (Florida Citrus Bowl)	ABC	W 16–7	51,113
*Non-conference game Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Personnel

1986 Auburn Tigers football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class RB Tommie Agee WR Scott Bolton QB Jeff Burger RB Collis Campbell OL Yann Cowart WR Duke Donaldson WR Robert Elia RB Brent Fullwood WR Trey Gainous RB Vincent Harris OL John Hudson RB Tim Jessie OL Vincent Jones RB James Joseph RB Pound Lamb TE Walter Reeves TE Mark Rose OL Stacy Searels QB Reggie Slack OL Ben Tamburello TE Frank Thomas OL Jim Thompson WR Lawyer Tillman RB Reggie Ware WR Alexander Wright	Defense Pos. # Name Class LB Aundray Bruce LB Kurt Crain DL Nate Hill DB Arthur Johnson DB 39 Charles Kelly LB Gary Kelley DB Shan Morris LB Edward Phillips DB Kevin Porter DB Chip Powell DB Tommy Powell DL Tracy Rocker DL Benji Roland LB Brian Smith DL Ron Stallworth	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K Chris Knapp P Brian Shulman	Head coach Pat Dye Coordinators/assistant coaches Steve Patterson Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Rankings

Further information: 1986 NCAA Division I-A football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Final
AP	14	9	10	8	7	7	7	7	5	9	8	15	14	10	6
Coaches	13	11	11	8	7	7	7	7	5	10	8	14	14	9	8

Game summaries

At No. 13 Mississippi State

See also: 1986 Mississippi State Bulldogs football team

At Florida

Auburn at Florida

1 2 3 4 Total No. 5 Tigers 7 7 3 0 17 • Gators 0 0 0 18 18 Date: November 1 Location: Florida Field, Gainesville, FL Game attendance: 74,521

Scoring summary 1 5:50 AUB Ware 1-yard run (Knapp kick) AUB 7-0 2 14:53 AUB Fullwood 11-yard run (Knapp kick) AUB 14-0 3 :14 AUB Knapp 31-yard field goal AUB 17-0 4 12:09 FLA Bell 1-yard run (Dawson kick) AUB 17-7 7:10 FLA McGinty 51-yard field goal AUB 17-10 0:36 FLA Nattiel 5-yard pass from Bell (Bell run) FLA 18-17

See also: 1986 Florida Gators football team

For most of the game, Auburn dominated coach Galen Hall's unranked Florida Gators at Florida Field. The Tigers defense was stifling, and forced Gators substitute quarterback Rodney Brewer to commit four turnovers in the first two quarters. Hall replaced Brewer with starting quarterback Kerwin Bell, who had missed two games with a knee injury. Tigers tailback Brent Fullwood gained 166 yards on the ground, including a second-quarter touchdown, to give Auburn a 17–0 lead early in the fourth quarter. Bell then led the Gators on two scoring drives, with Gators placekicker Robert McGinty—a transfer from Auburn—booting a 51-yard field goal to close the Tigers' advantage to 17−10 with 1:45 to play. With thirty-six seconds remaining in the game, Bell directed one final 79-yard drive in ten plays that was capped by a five-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Ricky Nattiel, who was playing with a separated shoulder. The limping Bell then surprised the Tigers defense by running in the two-point conversion and completing the comeback, with the Gators winning 18–17.

Vs. USC (Florida Citrus Bowl)

Auburn vs. USC

1 2 3 4 Total • No. 10 Tigers 0 14 0 2 16 Trojans 7 0 0 0 7 Date: January 1, 1987 Location: Florida Citrus Bowl Orlando, Florida Game attendance: 51,113 TV announcers (ABC Sports): Frank Gifford (play-by-play), Lynn Swann (analyst)

Main article: 1987 Florida Citrus Bowl

See also: 1986 USC Trojans football team