Taylor has yet another great game

DALLAS - There are some that won't be sad to see Courtney Taylor go. The Auburn wide receiver talks a lot, is a tad cocky and never met a microphone or video camera he didn't want to spend the next few hours with.

Still, he's entertaining and critical to Auburn's success.

He was both in Monday's Cotton Bowl Classic. After closing his career with six catches for 70 yards, setting a new school receptions record in the process, Taylor held onto the record-setting ball as he went through the post-game news conference. He kept looking at it, tucking it under his arm in case someone tried to take it from him.

It was his and he earned it.

Taylor was the only offensive player making things happen for the Tigers on Monday. He made diving catches, he showed a bit of speed and agility and he found ways to get open when most everyone in the stadium knew that he was quarterback Brandon Cox's only real target.

He finished with 153 catches, a number that seemed well beyond his reach several years ago when he arrived on campus as a good basketball player and a pretty good football player.

Taylor has been able to talk a good game all his life, but he couldn't necessarily back it up right away. After redshirting in 2002, Taylor had a respectable 34 catches his first year. As a sophomore he led the team with 43 receptions, 34 of them for first downs. Injuries slowed Taylor last season and he had just 22 catches, but in his final year he went out with a career-best 54 catches for 704 yards.

For a moment Monday, however, it looked like Taylor might not survive the first half. He went up for a high pass inside the Nebraska 10 and cornerback Cortney Grixby undercut hit, sending Taylor sprawling on the turf. He was down for several minutes before slowly jogging off the field.

"I fell on my head, really hard," Taylor said later, laughing about the play. "I was stunned for a little while and Coach (Tommy Tuberville) told me to get up and run off the field. I tried and I nearly fell down."

Taylor quickly returned to the game and he wasn't done being the center of attention.

Early in the third quarter, on first down from the Auburn 20, Taylor drew a pass interference penalty on Grixby. The flag meant 15 yards for the Auburn offense, but what Taylor didn't expect was for the official to throw the flag right into his helmet, through the facemask.

When asked about it, a smiling Taylor discussed the throw like it was one of Cox's.

"That was my best catch of the day, I think," he joked. "He did a great job of throwing it, too."

Twice Taylor avoided serious injury on dangerous plays, so there he was on second-and-10 from the Auburn 1. The Tigers needed some yardage and Cox needed a target. Enter Taylor, who ran a quick route and catch the ball for 9 yards, setting the new record for receptions.

On the next play, third-and-1, Cox avoided pressure long enough to hit Cox for 8 yards and a first down.

It was that kind of game for Taylor, and that kind of career. When the all-time great receivers in SEC history are mentioned, Taylor's name won't come up often -- possession receivers seldom are.

But he won't be forgotten. He was to good and too entertaining, as Monday's game proved.

Besides, he'd never let us.