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Syracuse's 16-16 tie with Auburn in the Sugar Bowl following the 1987 season would be difficult to top. Although boasting an 11-0 record, Syracuse was ranked No. 4 behind Miami, Oklahoma and Florida State. But a Sugar Bowl victory would at least have given the Orange a claim on a share of the national championship, which Miami won by defeating Oklahoma 20-14 in the Orange Bowl.
The Orange (then the Orangemen) surely wish Hamilton had been coaching No. 6 Auburn instead of Pat Dye, who opted for a game-tying field goal that prevented Syracuse from posting a perfect season.
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Anyone who's been in a tie has experienced that empty feeling," said Don McPherson, who quarterbacked Syracuse in that game. "The empty feeling (this time) came before the kick." Syracuse had taken a 16-13 lead on Tim Vesling's 38-yard field goal with 2:04 to play.
Auburn quarterback Jeff Burger then led the Tigers on a nine-play drive that reached the Syracuse 13, but on fourth down - and with mere seconds remaining -
Dye sent in his kicker, who coincidentally was named Win.
Win Lyle kicked a 30-yard field goal with one second left that ensured Syracuse would finish fourth in the final poll.
"I think there's a highlight tape where the look on Coach Mac's (Syracuse coach Dick MacPherson) face tells it all ? absolute and utter disbelief," McPherson said. "As a competitor, you wonder why they would kick a field goal there. There was no overtime. It doesn't get you anything. Not to mention the fact they were moving the ball. Our defense was tired. It was the last drive of the game. I think it was just disbelief."
Afterward, Dye was often called Pat Tie, and criticized so often it seemed he needed a lawyer. Actually, he had one, and that's a big reason he opted for the tie.
Lawyer Tillman, a tall, stout receiver, had been a major problem for the Orange throughout the game. Tillman had six catches for 125 yards, including a 17-yard touchdown in the first quarter. He also had a catch that put Auburn at the Syracuse 15 in the final drive.
Dye felt the Syracuse defense could not cover Tillman, so it had resorted to blatant holding to prevent him from running pass routes.
"They were holding, tackling, doing anything they could to keep him from getting downfield and the officials wouldn't call it," said Dye, who remains unrepentant almost 20 years later. "They about tore his uniform off him and the officials would not call a penalty on Syracuse.
"I was so mad when it came down to fourth down I said, 'Well, our kids played too hard and too good to get beat. If they ain't going to call a penalty, we're going to kick a field goal.'
"That upset Syracuse fans, but I wasn't concerned about that. I was concerned about our football team. I thought they played well enough to win. If I thought Lawyer Tillman could get off the ball and have a fair chance to make it to the end zone I probably would gone for it. He was a 6-foot-4, 225-pound wide receiver, so if you throw it up to him you've got a 50-50 chance to get a touchdown. They knew that and that's the reason they weren't going to let him get off the line of scrimmage."
McPherson said he doubted Auburn players supported their coach's decision.
"I honestly feel like the Auburn players were a little embarrassed for a couple of reasons. For one, we weren't supposed to be on the field with them," said McPherson, who must have forgotten that Syracuse was the higher-ranked team. "They were Auburn. According to a lot of people, we were a Canadian team. We're in New Orleans, playing against Auburn, and they kicked a field goal to save face, it felt like.
"I've been to Auburn several times since, and I bust their chops about it all the time. That's the sense I got, that they were a little embarrassed to kick a field goal."
Not necessarily, says Lyle ? now a doctor who practices general orthopedics with a special interest in sports medicine.
"Some of our offensive linemen were yelling that they wanted to go for it," Lyle said. "You can understand that in the heat of the battle. We had just driven down the field and they wanted to win the game. But we weren't upset with (the decision to kick the field goal).
"We loved Coach Dye and respected his decision. After the game, when we got back to campus, there was no controversy or negativity about it. All that was coming from the Syracuse side."
Dye doesn't know if his players were embarrassed. He doesn't care, either.
"I make those decisions," he said. "I don't leave those decisions to a player."
In the weeks after the game, a Syracuse radio station ribbed Dye by collecting 2,000 ties and sending them to him.
Dye autographed each one and sold them. He raised about $30,000 ? $1,000 for each yard Lyle's game-tying field goal traveled ? and donated the money to Auburn's general scholarship fund.
"When you look back at fourth and 13 with four seconds left - the odds were so much greater that we'd make the field goal than score a touchdown," Lyle said. "I think our fans and players were good with it. In retrospect, I bet they'd think it was the right decision."
