Looking back at Auburn’s 2011 game at Syracuse, 11 days after 9/11

JMA Wireless Dome is among the unique venues in college football. The 42,784-seat venue — known as the Carrier Dome until 2022 — is one of few fully indoor stadiums in college football. It can be both loud and intimidating when the Syracuse Orange are playing well.On this day, the atmosphere was different. It was later September, meaning it was still warm outside in upstate New York and even warmer inside the packed dome.The energy within the crowd was unifying, but patriotic. Somber, but passionate. Syracuse was getting ready to face Auburn in what was the first college football game in the state of New York after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.New York governor George Pataki spoke to the energetic crowd amidst a unique pregame presentation. It was unifying moment for not just Syracuse fans, but the entire country after an unthinkable tragedy occurred just 11 days prior.“They have been able to break our hearts, but haven’t been able to break out spirit,” Pataki said in his speech. “This will continue to be the land of the free and the home of the brave.”New York Gov. George Pataki speaks during a ceremony honoring the victims of the recent terrorist attacks against the United States, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2001, prior to the Syracuse-Auburn game in Syracuse, N.Y. (AP Photo/Kevin Rivoli)ASSOCIATED PRESSThose words were part of a pregame ceremony that might have been more memorable than the game itself. The Syracuse band performed “New York, New York,” “God Bless America” and the national anthem as the more than 40,000 fans in attendance waved mini-American flags.“People were just really happy to be able to get together again,” said Tommy Hicks, who covered the game for the Mobile Press-Register. “I remember the national anthem took on much more meaning than it would before any other game.”The game had a different feel to it in a number of ways. Less than two weeks after the deadliest terrorist attack in American history, local and federal authorities remained on high alert.Even for the Alabama team itself, getting to the road venue was different. Security around air travel was ramping up at that time, which was felt on the Tigers’ team plane.“Our flight was one of the first commercial flights allowed into New York airspace after the 9/11 tragedy,” then Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville told AL.com in a statement through his office. “We had F-16 military planes on each wing, and I knew our country’s air travel had changed forever.”Tuberville, now a United States Senator representing Alabama, was in charge of keeping the team focused. Despite the staff doing its best to keep players shielded from the outside forces surrounding the game, it was hard to completely ignore the circumstances.Jeris McIntyre, who was a wide receiver on Auburn’s 2001 team, remembers being nervous about the trip in the wake of 9/11.“It was a lot of anxiety for a lot of guys,” McIntyre told AL.com. “Some already didn’t like to fly anyway, but kind of knowing the circumstances, there was some anxiety from not everybody, but a lot of guys.” McIntyre still remembers where he was on the morning of 9/11. He was leaving class and headed to the Auburn football facility to get taped up before practice when he saw the news.The TVs in the training room were on and all the players and staff members in the room were trying to make sense of what happened. At the time, Auburn was coming off a 27-21 home win over Ole Miss and was preparing to face Nick Saban’s LSU team.That game was postponed in the wake of 9/11 as even the college football world came to a pause. It also meant that Auburn’s first game after 9/11 would be in the very state where the largest attacks happened.“The conversations we had during practice that week were about more than X’s and O’s. We were playing to bring morale back to our country,” Tuberville said. “That’s a lot of weight to put on college kids, but our team carried it with a maturity beyond their years.”Led by star defensive end Dwight Freeney, Syracuse had a talented team in 2001. The Orange had enough talent to beat Auburn under normal circumstances, but it was clear from the opening ceremony that the game meant a little extra to them.Freeney was the star of the day, tallying two sacks and two forced fumbles as Syracuse won the game 31-14. The Orange’s passion could be felt throughout the day and it ultimately culminated on the field.“That Carrier Dome was always rocking, but it was just something different that day,” McIntyre said. “They had a good team, but it just seemed like a lot of things from the outside were pointing towards the Orangemen having a good day.” Syracuse running back James Mungro (23) tries to move past Auburn's Roshard Gilyard (3) during the second quarter in Syracuse, N.Y., Saturday, Sept. 22, 2001. (AP Photo/Kevin Rivoli)APMany who were in the Carrier Dome on Sept. 22, 2001, would tell you that the game between Auburn and Syracuse was bigger than football. Syracuse won the game, but the bigger celebration was over sports’ ability to bring together people in the wake of a tragedy. Similar to many of the professional sporting events in and around New York City at that time, the game between Auburn and Syracuse had little to do with competition.Twenty-five years later, McIntyre says it still stands alone in terms of atmosphere and circumstances he has experienced for a game. Now serving as Auburn football’s director of high school and alumni relations, he still thinks about the game every time the anniversary of 9/11 comes around. The same sentiment rings true for many who attended and covered the game.“The national anthem at Syracuse,” Hicks said, “it’s going to be hard to top that one as far as just a sense of togetherness and camaraderie and kinship as a patriot, as a citizen of this country.”Auburn didn’t win the game, but the final score hardly mattered given the broader context of the environment at the time. Twenty-five years removed from the most devastating terrorist attack in American history, that game still serves as a positive reminder of what sports can bring to society.“Though we didn’t end up winning that game, I will always look back on that historic matchup as a small moment that helped bring smiles back to people’s faces during such a dark time,” Tuberville said. “Twenty-five years later, I’m extremely proud of the way our 2001 Auburn football team and staff showed up not only for themselves, but for the whole country on September 22, 2001, in Syracuse, New York.”