Goat or hero: Kicker could determine BCS title

Wes Byrum gets the question all the time: What would it be like to give Auburn a BCS title with one kick?

Luckily, he already knows what it's like to be the hero — at least on a smaller stage.

The Tigers' senior kicker has five game-winning field goals on his resume, including two this season, for a decided edge in clutch kicking experience over his Oregon counterpart. Rob Beard hasn't been called upon for such a pressure-packed field goal or extra point during a Ducks season mostly filled with blowouts.

"When I went home for Christmas, all of my friends asked me, 'What if you get to do that?' It's been pretty cool to think about it," Byrum said. "But, hopefully, it won't be needed, that we'll take care of business.

"But if the time calls for it, I guess I'll deal with it then."

Kickers may get the least coaching of any college football players — often practicing off by themselves and correcting their own mistakes — but consider how different Monday night's title game would look if not for some key makes and misses this season.

Byrum provided the decisive points in three of Auburn's games this season — connecting on a 39-yard field goal in overtime against Clemson in Week 3, making a 24-yarder as time expired in a 37-34 win against Kentucky three weeks later, and hitting a fourth-quarter extra point in a 28-27 win over Alabama in the Iron Bowl.

(Just ask Arizona State if those PATs are automatic: The Sun Devils lost to Wisconsin on a blocked extra point in September, then beat rival Arizona with two blocks in the regular-season finale.)

Oregon survived in a 15-13 victory at California when the Bears' Giorgio Tavecchio erased his go-ahead field goal with a penalty and then missed his second attempt. And Boise State could have been in the BCS mix if not for a pair of late misses by Kyle Brotzman in a loss at Nevada.

It's a dream scenario and also a potential nightmare for kickers.

Tennessee's Daniel Lincoln has experienced it both ways. He forced overtime with one field goal then beat South Carolina with another as a freshman and could have snuffed out Alabama's perfect season last year but had a 44-yard attempt blocked. Then, in last week's Music City Bowl, it was his missed extra point that set up a bizarre final sequence that allowed North Carolina to win in overtime.