SEC Network’s ‘Miracles on the Plains’ highlights emotional 2013 Auburn season
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It takes 130 years for a mighty oak to grow to the size of the wooden denizens that once stood guard in Auburn’s Toomer’s Corner. But it only takes one magical season of destiny to regrow the faith of a shaken fan base — especially one whose roots were never truly destroyed.
The SEC Network is airing its latest installment of “SEC Storied” with an emotional documentary that takes a look at the fabled 2013 Auburn Tigers’ season. “Miracles on the Plains” follows Auburn — and the family of late Tigers’ football assistant and superfan Chris Rushing — from the tragic poisoning of the city’s iconic trees and bottoming out of the program on the field, to its miraculous resurgence thanks, in part, to two of the most memorable plays in college football history.
Auburn was on top of the world in 2010, courtesy of the Tigers’ first undisputed national championship. But tragedy struck the Lee County city of 60,000 residents when a deranged Alabama fan poisoned Auburn’s beloved oak trees across from Toomer’s Drugs.
The trees are the embodiment of the school’s spirit and the meeting, celebrating and mourning place after every big game. As the tebuthiuron ate away at the trees from the inside, the Auburn program deteriorated to 3-9 on the season, failing to win a game in SEC play. The Tigers entered the 2013 campaign with a 10-game losing streak in the conference and 1000-1 odds to win the national title.
Chris Rushing was about as Auburn as they come. Rushing lived his dream as a member of Auburn’s Sports Information Department and never missed a game with his father Kirk.
“He was Auburn for life,” Kirk Rushing said in the documentary describing his affable, larger-than-life son.
Chris passed away, sadly, on Christmas Day in 2012 of cardiac arrest, 31 days after the Tigers’ season ended with a 49-0 loss to Alabama in the Iron Bowl. After Chris’ passing, his family vowed to attend every game during the 2013 season in his honor.
It didn’t take long for the Rushing family and Auburn Nation to realize something special was happening. The Rushings were on hand as Auburn posted two impressive comebacks against Mississippi State and LSU, followed by upsets of No. 24 Ole Miss and the Johnny Manziel-led No. 7 Texas A&M Aggies. When Auburn pulls off back-to-back miracles over Georgia and Alabama in what are arguably two of the greatest plays in college football history (Kick Six), you get a sense that Chris is there in spirit guiding the Tigers to what was thought to be virtually impossible before the season began.
The story of the Rushings provides the perfect thread and balance to the film and does so with a classy, personal touch that incorporates interviews with the family, home movies and photos. The documentary also does a nice job of humanizing the pressures and mental statuses of the Auburn players. It also provides some great depth with interviews of head coaches such as Gus Malzahn, Gene Chizik, Mark Richt and Gary Pinkel, as well as with assistant coaches such as Auburn’s Rhett Lashlee as they paint a picture of the intensity of the games and strategy that went behind the play calling.
We’re there with the players and the Rushings when the Tigers claim the SEC Championship. We feel their pain when Auburn falls just short of winning the national title over Florida State. And we’re there at the end when Auburn’s two newest residents arrive at their new permanent home at the corner of Magnolia Avenue and College Street.
“After it was all said and done, I just sat down and cried,” Kirk Rushing said in the film. “I can hear Chris saying, ‘this is where it’s supposed to be. This is awesome.’”
Extra Points
- The journey is an emotional one. We recommend cutting an onion while watching it, in case someone enters the room. That way you can blame them on your misty eyes.
- Admirably, the documentary also doesn’t give any credence to the psychopath who couldn’t separate football from reality and has since vowed that he’d do it again. There’s no need to glorify him for his heinous act.
- Dennis Quaid provides a classy — at times passionate — touch as narrator of “Miracles on the Plains.” The actor starred in football movies “Any Given Sunday,” The Express” and “Everybody’s All-American.”
Chris Wuensch is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers South Carolina and Tennessee.
