Friday at noon CT, No. 14 Northwestern (6-2 Big Ten) will end its season by doing battle with Auburn (6-4 SEC) for the second time in program history. As we creep ever closer to kickoff of the 2021 Citrus Bowl, it’s only natural to think back to that first such meeting between the two teams. And oh, what a clash it was.
The 38-35 overtime loss the Wildcats suffered to the Tigers in the 2010 Outback Bowl was one of the wildest college football postseason contests of the century. Despite a matchup of unranked squads, the game had everything a neutral watcher could ask for (and enough for partisan watchers to tear their hair out multiple times over): turnovers, tempo, big plays, questionable decision-making, comebacks, false finishes, and enough shenanigans for a full season of Northwestern football.