1970 Auburn Tigers football team The 1970 Auburn Tigers football team under the leadership of coach Ralph " Shug " Jordan completed the regular season with a record of 9 – 2 and won the Gator Bowl against Ole Miss by a score of 35 – 28 . They completed the season with a record of 10 – 2 and were ranked # 20 in the AP poll and # 15 in the UPI . The Tigers broke the SEC record for total yards for the regular season up to that point with 4 , 850 , exceeding the previous record of 4 , 725 yards set by the 1942 Georgia Bulldogs . They had 1 , 965 yards rushing and 2 , 885 yards passing . " Game summaries . Tennessee . The first big test of the season came against Tennessee in Birmingham , AL . Tennessee came in ranked # 17 in the country and Auburn was not ranked . Auburn overcame a 10 – 0 deficit to win 36 – 23 . It was the only loss for Tennessee and cost them the SEC championship . Florida . In a rivalry known for frequent close games , this one wasn ' t . It was the worst defeat for either side since 1917 , when Auburn won 68 – 0 . Pat Sullivan completed 21 of 27 passes for 366 yards and four touchdowns with three of them caught by Terry Beasley in the 63 – 14 drubbing . It was also Florida ' s homecoming game . It marked Auburn ' s fourth victory in a row against the Gators . Tiger Bowl ( LSU ) . Auburn ' s first loss of the season came against LSU . LSU did not lose to any SEC team that year and won the SEC Championship . They did not have to play Tennessee . Iron Bowl ( Alabama ) . Alabama scored first on an 80 yard touchdown drive 3 : 17 into the game ; then drove 70 yards to add another . After a pair of turnovers , another drive of 71 yards stalled at the 9 and they added a field goal to take the lead 17 – 0 . Auburn finally scored midway through the second half with a touchdown and added a field goal to make it 17 – 10 at the half . They would then tie the game at 17 midway through the third . Alabama added a field goal at the beginning of the 4th quarter and Auburn answered tying the game again . Auburn then took the lead 27 – 20 and the Tide answered with a two - point conversion to take the lead by one . With 3 : 56 left to go in the game , Wallace Clark dove in for a touchdown from the three giving Auburn the lead by 6 . Pat Sullivan threw the two - pointer to Terry Beasley , but the play was nullified by illegal motion and the subsequent attempt was intercepted . Alabama was unable to score again and Auburn won 33 – 28 . Johnny Musso had over 200 yards rushing for the Tide and Pat Sullivan was 22 of 38 passing with 317 yards for Auburn . Gator Bowl . In an unusual matchup between two teams from the same conference , Auburn met Ole Miss in the Gator Bowl . ( The two teams did not meet during the regular season . ) It was a matchup between two top quarterbacks , Pat Sullivan for Auburn and Archie Manning for the University of Mississippi . Archie Manning was recovering from a broken arm suffered on November 7 , yet played against LSU a month later with his arm . Auburn won 35 – 28 . Coach Jordan was unable to attend the game . Awards and honors . SEC Most Valuable Player : Pat Sullivan ( QB ) SEC Back of the Year – Birmingham QB Club : Pat Sullivan ( QB ) SEC Back of the Year – Atlanta TD Club : Pat Sullivan ( QB ) All - Americans : Pat Sullivan ( QB ) , Terry Beasley ( SE ) , Larry Willingham ( DB ) All - SEC first team : Pat Sullivan ( QB ) , Terry Beasley ( SE ) , Gardner Jett ( SP ) , Larry Willingham ( DB ) , Bobby Strickland ( LB )