Cam Newton’s season ends with smile as Auburn beats Oregon

Newton flashed a grin in the postgame interview room, answered a couple of questions about the Tigers’ stirring 22-19 triumph over Oregon in the BCS National Championship Game, and excused himself to receive some treatment for a sore back.


There was nothing left for him to say, but one of his teammates wanted to defend the player who had held up dealing with the strains of epic season glory and NCAA dark clouds.

“You know all the things they said about him, he came back and played 10 times harder, ran the ball 10 times harder, threw the ball 10 times more accurate,” said linebacker Josh Bynes. “He was just so resilient. He’s like a perfection description of how we played this year.”

Auburn, pushed to the limit Monday, survived without Newton as a singular force and became the fifth straight national champion from the SEC. Tackle Nick Fairley anchored a rock-solid defense. Running back Michael Dyer became the central figure in the game’s wildest play that set up kicker Wes Byrum, who walked into Auburn lore with his 19-yard field goal as time expired for the winning points.

But as always this season, Newton was the game’s focal point, before, during and after. Would he fall victim to the Heisman curse? Six of the previous eight winners had lost on the stage. Or would he deliver one of his other-worldly performances that made him the runaway Heisman Trophy winner and the primary reason the Tigers, who finished 3-5 last year in Southeastern Conference play, are 14-0 for the first time in school history?

By Newton standards, the performance rates solid but not spectacular by competing 20 of 34 passes for 265 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. He rushed for 64 yards and coughed up a critical fumble.