Summary: | "The scare given Auburn by Chattanooga was forgotten the following weekend when the Tigers whipped highly-rated Florida, 13-0, at Hare Stadium. There were offensive standouts this day, but where Auburn really shined was on defense. Such men as end Jimmy "Red" Phillips and guard Chuck Maxime constantly bottled up the feared Florida passing attack and very effectively stopped the Gators' pride and joy, scat back Jackie Simpson. Little halfback Alton Shell, battling for a starting position, saved the Tigers three times with his alert defensive play. He intercepted one pass on the Auburn goal line, recovered a Gator fumble at the same spot later in the game, and set up the second Tiger touchdown with another recovery at the Florida 31. Fob James continued to wow the fans with his stop-and-go running, and Joe Childress, though he was a marked man, kept plugging away at the line, never losing a yard. The first quarter saw both teams make the main painful mistakes which are expected in early-season battle, but the Tigers finally began to roll at the beginning of the second stanza to score their first touchdown. Led by soph quarter-back Cook, Auburn traveled 68 yards in 12 plays to hit paydirt. James went over from the one, Childress converted, and it was 7-0. Both Florida and Auburn threatened numerous times after that and into the third quarter ,but neither was able to reach the end zone until near the end of the third period, when "minute man" Shell pounced on a Florida fumble at the Gator 31. Five plays later, Burbank sent halfback Jimmy Powell in from the two. Burbank ate up 19 of the 31 yards by himself on a keeper through the middle. A combination of fine defensive work on the part of Auburn and clutch punting by Florida made the remainder of the game a standoff, but the Tigers were satisfied—they had won chapter one in their plan for revenge on the Big Three. Now for Kentucky and Georgia Tech!" (Description from the 1956 Glomerata)
|