It’s an ugly win for Auburn

Even though only Auburn managed to beat two teams playing in the Bowl Championship Series, Tommy Tuberville never thought he had a great team this season.

Imagine how good the No. 10 Tigers might be if they can find some consistent playmakers.

Auburn took advantage of Nebraska mistakes, got two short touchdowns from Carl Stewart on his only touches of the game and beat the No. 22 Cornhuskers, 17-14, in the Cotton Bowl on Monday despite only 178 total yards.

“That was typical Auburn, win and win ugly,” Tuberville said. “That’s how this team has done it all year. They scrap and claw.”

Even without any superstar players, Auburn (11-2) made it to a bowl game for a seventh straight year -- and third in a row in January. Its 33-5 record the last three seasons is bettered only by USC and Texas, the last two national champions.

“These guys have overcome a lot of things. It’s hard to imagine what we’ve done,” said Tuberville, 71-29 after coaching his 100th Auburn game.

The Tigers can even wonder what might have been had they not lost to Georgia and Arkansas, the latter of which instead won the Southeastern Conference West Division. Auburn beat Louisiana State and No. 2 Florida, which plays Ohio State next week in the BCS title game. The Gators’ only loss was at Auburn in mid-October.

“We’re grungy. Whatever it takes to win, that’s what we do,” defensive end Quentin Groves said. “The main thing people are going to say is they’re a grungy bunch, but they still have 11 wins.”

John Vaughn’s 42-yard field goal midway through the third quarter accounted for the only points after halftime. And it was enough to make Auburn the fourth straight SEC team to win the Cotton Bowl.

Nebraska (9-5), trying to return to national prominence under Coach Bill Callahan, opened with a dominating 15-play, 80-yard drive capped by Zac Taylor’s 13-yard touchdown pass to Nate Swift. But the Cornhuskers couldn’t do much else right.