I’ll give you one second to guess what the most iconic SEC play of the last decade is…
That’s right, ESPN has released its list of the Top 25 Most Iconic SEC Plays of the last decade, and the Kick Six landed the number one spot.
Of the top 25 plays ESPN listed, 13 of them involve Auburn or Alabama. It’s no secret that the SEC has dominated college football over the past decade. Eight of the past ten national champions have been SEC teams, and Alabama has won half of those. The past ten years have also brought five Heisman Trophies to the SEC, including Cam Newton of Auburn and Mark Ingram and Derrick Henry of Alabama.
ESPN’s team of SEC writers came up with their list of the most iconic plays in the past decade, and Auburn and Alabama are well represented.
Highlights from the list include:
Marcell Dareus has a day against Texas (#21): Dareus was the star of Nick Saban’s first BCS championship. Not only did he knock Texas quarterback Colt McCoy out of the game, but Dareus’s pick six gave the Tide a 24-3 lead before halftime.
Cam Newton’s Heisman moment (#10): Tied against LSU, Cam made an epic 40-yard run around and through the LSU defense to score a touchdown. Cam’s domination of the 2010 season was just beginning.
Magic Mike Dyer (#8): In the Tiger’s championship game against Oregon, Michael Dyer was tackled by the Ducks’ Eddie Pleasant – or so it seemed. Dyer actually rolled over Pleasant and never touched the ground. While everyone else stood around looking confused, Dyer ran 37 yards before he was finally brought down.
Mount Cody (#6): Before he joined the Tide, Lane Kiffin almost beat Nick Saban. In 2009, Tennessee was seconds away from beating Alabama, but a 44-yard field goal was blocked by defensive tackle Terrence Cody, saving the Tide’s season and bringing them one step closer to winning another national championship.
Bulldog Block (#4): In the 2012 SEC Championship, the Georgia Bulldogs almost ruined the Tide’s national championship run. That is until Aaron Murray threw a ball that was deflected by C.J. Mosley. That deflection kept the ball out of the endzone, and as time expired the Crimson Tide was already looking towards its next national championship victory.
The Prayer in Jordan-Hare (#3): The Auburn Tigers were really into dramatic finishes in 2013. Fourth-and-18 with 36 seconds left, Nick Marshall launched a Hail Mary that bounced off a Georgia defender right into the hands of Ricardo Louis who took it into the endzone. And we all thought THAT was the play of the year.
You need a second? (#1): Just two weeks after The Prayer, Auburn did the impossible again. Auburn fans will never stop telling the story, and Alabama fans never want to hear it again. Nick Saban fought to get that one second back, and he got it. The entire stadium watched the 57-yard field goal attempt go right into Chris Davis’s hands. And Davis ran. And ran. And ran. 109 yards to the other end of the field. As someone who was there that night, I’ll never forget that moment as long as I live. Let’s watch it again, for old time’s sake.
