in glendale, arizona, highsman trophy winner cam newton leading auburn against number two oregon. picked up the title game in the second. auburn down 3-0. not for long. newton finds a receiver and he finds the end zone. 7-3, auburn tigers. the ducks quack back. darren thomas gets the defense going one way and then he throws the other. james walks in for the score. oregon goes up 11-7. auburn makes it 11-9 with a safety. newton goes back to work. blake open for the touchdown. tigers back on top, 16-11. that was the story at halftime. late fourth quarter, 19-11, auburn. oregon had trouble getting in the end zone all night. in the closing minutes, thomas threw to james, touchdown, ducks. they need a two point conversion to tie it. a tough snap. throws across his body and the national title game is tied with 2:30 to play. auburn driving for the win. here s the play that will define this game.
michael dire on the run. everyone thinks he s down. then dire stops running. the coaches tell him to move. so he moves. he rips off 37 yards to get auburn into field goal range. here it is again. check his knee. never touches the ground. the officials say he was never down. so auburn s got a chip shot for the win. 19 yards away. never a doubt. the auburn tigers win a thrilling national championship 22-19. it s auburn s second national title, first in 54 years. auburn did something great. tonight, we did something great. we re bringing it back to auburn. we said we wanted to go from good to great. i can sit here you to night and tell you that the auburn tigers are the best football team in the united states. that s your first look at sports. i m mario solis. and now for another quick look at the weather, here is bill karins with the weather channel forecast. i just realize it s 1/11/11. so happy 11111. you should e-mail me at 1:11