Jacksonville State vs. Auburn: Score, Highlights, Reaction for Near-Upset

That heavy wind you are feeling is coming from fans in Jordan-Hare Stadium after watching the sixth-ranked Auburn Tigers steal a 27-20 overtime win over Jacksonville State. 

Even in victory, Sports Illustrated's Pete Thamel noted how bad this looks for the once-mighty SEC West:

However, while doing it in a tongue-in-cheek fashion, Clay Travis of Fox Sports 1 was not so quick to dismiss this win for Auburn:

If miracles do exist, Auburn certainly benefited from one Saturday, because Jacksonville State had this game won. The Gamecocks led 20-13 and had the ball deep in their own territory with less than three minutes to play.

After Jacksonville State running back Troymaine Pope could muster only seven yards on three carries, punter Hamish MacInnes gave Auburn hope with a 17-yard kick that put the ball at the Gamecocks' 31-yard line. 

Even though Jacksonville State's defense was unable to hold Auburn on its next two drives—one in regulation, one in overtime—that one punt will be the defining moment of this game. 

ESPN's Anish Shroff tweeted out what everyone was feeling for MacInnes in the moments after his punt:

Auburn tied the game on a 10-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jeremy Johnson to Melvin Ray and took the lead for good in overtime on Peyton Barber's four-yard run.  

On Jacksonville State's ensuing drive in overtime, the team got the ball down to Auburn's 5-yard line before Eli Jenkins was sacked and the day was saved, via ESPN:

To understand the magnitude of what would have happened if Auburn lost to Jacksonville State, let's turn to ESPN Stats & Info's football power index:

The last upset of this kind was Appalachian State going into Ann Arbor and knocking off a fifth-ranked Michigan team in 2007. 

Similar to that game from eight years ago, Jacksonville State fully earned the near-win. It was not handed to the Gamecocks by Auburn, though there were certainly mistakes made by the Tigers that will haunt them looking back on this season. 

To further illustrate the historical perspective of this near-upset, R.J. Bell of Pregame.com noted Jacksonville State was getting nearly five times the odds Buster Douglas got against Mike Tyson in 1990:

One hallmark of games involving schools from Power Five conferences and schools from smaller conferences or FCS schools is how much money is paid for the smaller school to essentially play the sacrificial lamb role. 

According to ESPN.com's Darren Rovell, Auburn gave Jacksonville State $525,000 to nearly end its chances at competing for a national championship. 

Some voters in the Top 25 polls, like Fox Sports' Joel Klatt, think Auburn has a lot of work to do if it wants to be back in the title picture after Saturday's performance:

Klatt's stance is not a knee-jerk reaction to the Tigers' game this week. They struggled last week in a 31-24 win over unranked Louisville, and LSU is on the schedule next week. 

Per ESPN's Brett McMurphy, Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn said after Saturday's win his team has to fix things in a hurry:

While the story will be about Auburn nearly losing, give Jacksonville State credit for going into a game no one expected it to win and fighting as hard as it could. The Gamecocks just played perfectly for 58 minutes and needed two more to pull off the win. 

If nothing else, Auburn's near-loss continues to show the ridiculous nature of preseason polls. The Tigers may end the season as a Top 10 team, but nothing in their performance thus far warrants being among the elite teams in the country. 

With LSU and Mississippi State waiting in the wings, this season looks like it will fall apart before October for Malzahn's team.