The Auburn Tigers shocked the Georgia Bulldogs this past Saturday as they went into Sanford Stadium and took down the No. 1 team in the country, handing Georgia head coach Kirby Smart his sixth-ever loss at home as the head coach of the Dawgs.
Of course, plenty of scoring went into the 27-24 final score, but Alex McPherson, the Tigers’ kicker, was absolutely instrumental to the win. After all, it was his kick that sailed through the uprights to give the Tigers a three-point walk-off win as time expired.
McPherson made a total of two field goals throughout the game, one from 49 yards in the second quarter to give the Tigers a 17-14 lead into halftime, and, of course, his walk-off 34-yarder that sealed the win for the Tigers.
After the win, McPherson shared his thoughts on his performance with the media.
“I was just glad to do that for them, for this team. They played so dang hard, and I’m so proud of them,” he said. “Such a great win for the program… Honestly, [when the kick went through] I was like, ‘did that really just happen?’ It’s the moment you dream of since you were a little kid.”
Notably, when McPherson went out to attempt the game-winning kick, he was iced by the Bulldogs, which gave him quite a bit of extra time for the reality of his situation to kick in. However, McPherson wasn’t rattled by the pressure of a packed-out Sanford Stadium.
“I actually stayed away from everybody; I stayed in the middle of the field,” McPherson said. “I kinda went through the same process that I had originally going up to the ball, and to be honest, I didn’t have too many nerves up there. I knew my guys were gonna do their job for me, and all I gotta do is execute my job. They made it really easy.”
Even McPherson’s quarterback, Byrum Brown, who got him into field goal range, had no doubts in his kicker.
“38, baby,” Brown said. “I knew that was going through the uprights.”
McPherson’s story is one of incredible perseverance, as he was sidelined for a big part of the 2024 season as he battled ulcerative colitis, so this moment means a little something extra to him.
“It’s hard to believe,” he said. “Two years ago, I was here, I was sick, and I wasn’t playing. You tell me, two years from now, on the same night, you’re gonna hit the game-winner, I wouldn’t believe you. Just so blessed and grateful.”
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