AUBURN | Shaun Shivers wasn’t even supposed to be in the game. Xavier McKinney, and his helmet, wishes he wasn’t.

It was McKinney that Shivers bulled into, sending his helmet flying, on his game-winning touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter.

"He do that stuff all the time,” offensive lineman Marquel Harrell said. “You go back and watch his film, he’s running people over. He looks for contact. I’m proud of Worm. I’m telling you, I wouldn’t want to tackle him.”

Shivers is generously listed as 5-foot-7 and 179 pounds on Auburn’s roster. McKinney is a 6-foot-1 and 200-pound defensive back. But it was McKinney who took the brunt of their collision.

On 3rd and 5 at the Alabama 11-yard line, Auburn lined up in Wildcat with JaTarvious Whitlow at quarterback. Whitlow took the snap and handed it to Shivers coming from left to right on the buck sweep. Shivers cut upfield at the 15-yard line, where he nearly slips, then slams into McKinney at the 5-yard line, sending him and his helmet flying backwards and keeps motoring into the end zone.

“You know, that was just pound-and-ground football. That’s all I knew growing up,” Shivers said. “I don’t fear nobody. He puts on pads just like I put on pads, so I just had to make it happen. I knew if I scored that could seal the game because I know our defense was going to hold on.”

If it wasn’t for a couple of injuries to Auburn’s top two speed sweep players, Shivers wouldn’t have been in the game at the time. Wide receiver Anthony Schwartz was injured on Auburn’s first offensive series while Eli Stove was in and out of the lineup for most of the night battling an injury.

“Shivers had been doing that earlier in the year, so we just plugged him in,” Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. “He ran the guy over and knocked his helmet off and got in the end zone. That was a huge play. I think it was third down and 5, and that was a big play in the game.”

Shivers’ only carry of the game gave Auburn a 46-45 lead, and Bo Nix connected with Shedrick Jackson for the 2-point conversion to put the Tigers up 48-45, a lead they would hold onto for the final eight minutes of the game.

“I’m not going to lie, that game was crazy. That’s the craziest game I’ve ever played in,” Shivers said. “We just beat them. We outplayed them and we were more physical tonight, and we played with a chip on our shoulder."

No. 15 Auburn finishes the regular season 9-3.