Tiger's tale: 13-0

NEW ORLEANS — Auburn made an improbable bid to share the national title by hanging on in the Sugar Bowl. Now, all the No. 3 Tigers can do is wait to see if it somehow works out.

Jason Campbell threw a touchdown pass, John Vaughn kicked three short field goals and Auburn completed a perfect season with a 16-13 victory over ninth-ranked Virginia Tech on Monday night.

But was it enough to claim a share of the national title?

The Tigers (13-0) had a couple of second-half turnovers that prevented them from blowing the game open. And they gave up an 80-yard touchdown pass with two minutes left, hurting their chances of swaying the voters to split No. 1 again.

Virginia Tech (10-3) could have made things easier on the Bowl Championship Series by upsetting Auburn, but the Hokies made a couple of major blunders, dropping a pass in the end zone and missing a chip-shot field goal.

When Bryan Randall threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Josh Morgan with 6:58 left in the game, ruining the shutout, one could almost sense that No. 1 Southern Cal, No. 2 Oklahoma and — especially — the BCS were breathing a little easier.

Randall dealt another blow to the Tigers when he threw the long touchdown pass to Morgan, perhaps costing a few more votes.

Auburn recovered the onside kick and kneeled down to run out the clock, deciding to preserve the victory rather than try to win more impressively.

The Auburn band even launched into a Bon Jovi song that summed things up for the Southeastern Conference champions: "Living on a Prayer."

Campbell was named MVP after completing 11-of-16 for 189 yards with one interception. Randall threw for 299 yards but was picked off twice.

The odd team out in a troika of 12-0 teams, Auburn settled for a spot in the Sugar Bowl against the Hokies, while USC and Oklahoma were tapped for the Tuesday night's Orange Bowl — the BCS title game.

Nothing ever seems to work out smoothly in Division I-A football, the only college sport that insists on using a mix of polls and bowls to determine its champion rather than settling things with a playoff.

Auburn's hopes were based on this convoluted scenario: The Tigers defeated Virginia Tech convincingly, Oklahoma knocked off USC in an ugly Orange Bowl and enough voters in The Associated Press media poll picked Auburn as the No. 1 team, creating another split champion.