The Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ football team completed its perfect season with a 34-27 win over Auburn in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on New Year’s Day.

“I’m so happy for these guys,” Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ head coach Scott Frost said. “I told them in the locker room, this was an 0-12 group when I got there, and they looked like they weren’t having any fun and didn’t care about each other. We had a long way to go, and to think that they are sitting here Peach Bowl champions and 13-0 in two years, I couldn’t be happier for them.”

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ finished the 2017 campaign with a 13-0 record, the only team to go undefeated in the 2017 campaign.

After both teams posted three-and-outs to open the game, Auburn (10-4) was the first to put points on the board. The Tigers hit a field goal in the first quarter to take a 3-0 lead.

After a 33-yard field goal from Matthew Wright evened the score in the second quarter, the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ defense swung the momentum in favor of the Knights. A.J. Wooten stripped the ball from Jarrett Stidham at the 49-yard line. Tre Neal scooped the ball up, returning it 36 yards to set up the offense on the Auburn 21-yard line.

Two plays later, quarterback McKenzie Milton ran the ball in from 18 yards out to give Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ a 10-3 edge.

Each team added a field goal in the second quarter to give the Knights a 13-6 advantage going into the locker rooms.

Auburn made it 13-all just 43 seconds in to the third quarter, and took a 20-13 lead with 7:46 left in the third frame.

The Knights, who were forced to punt on back-to-back possessions to open the third quarter, locked in offensively. Milton completed 26-, 19- and 12-yard passes to Jordan Akins, Tre’Quan Smith and Otis Anderson, respectively. Anderson collected his pass in the end zone, and Matthew Wright converted the kick to send the teams into the fourth quarter tied at 20-20.

“We kind of came out sleepwalking, throwing the ball in the air,” Milton said. “I don’t know if it was the big lights or the big Jumbotron. I think we kind of started hitting our stride later in the second quarter and then in the third and fourth quarter we started rolling.”

Milton, who recorded the first 100-yard rushing game of his collegiate career, ran a trio of times before finding Dredrick Snelson for his second passing touchdown of the game.

Leading 27-20 with just under seven minutes left in the game, the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ defense showed its fierceness once again. Chequan Burkett collected his first career interception, returning it 45 yards to add six points to the board for the Knights. Wright again converted the extra point to give Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ a 34-20 advantage with 5:56 remaining.

After the Tigers responded with a touchdown to make it 34-27, Auburn regained possession of the ball with just over two minutes left on the clock. Marching down the field, the Tigers moved the chains all the way down to the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ 21-yard line. Antwan Collier ended the Auburn drive, pulling in his first collegiate interception to preserve Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½’s perfect season.

If there are two words that describe the 2017 Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ football team, those two words come to the forefront all the time. Defensive coordinator Erik Chinander mentioned it in Saturday’s press conference leading up to the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl game at 12:30 p.m. Monday against Auburn, stating that credit for the team’s turnaround from 0-12 in 2015 to 12-0 in 2017 was largely about relationships.

“(The team) needed a little love from the coaches to the players, from the players to the players, from the players to the coaches,” Chinander said. “And it didn’t take long.”

Chinander needn’t look any further than the middle of his defense for the proof of that familial love. Senior inside linebacker Chequan Burkett has felt that family bond — that love — in a couple different ways over the last year.

After graduating and with a young family back home, Burkett made what head coach Scott Frost called a “grown man decision.” Burkett was injured after the 2016 season. He had a young family at home. So, he decided to retire from football, begin a career and work to support and raise his family.

But he missed his other family – his team. He missed his other love – football.

“During my time away from football, me and my wife had a discussion that you have this skill, you have this talent,” Burkett said. “Just make the best of it. I had one more year, one more season of eligibility. We had a long talk. It was hard for her to see my go away for another six months. It’s hard for any long-distance relationship, plus having kids involved made it even tougher.

“That drove me for this entire season to play my hardest each and every game,” Burkett added. “I definitely had a reason, a why I was playing football. My family was my why.”

Once he got back to Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½, re-enrolled and rejoined his football family, it wasn’t long before his actual family needed him. During preseason camp, Burkett’s wife Megan was pregnant with their second child. In mid-August, Burkett he found out his son Khyro was on his way into the world.

Burkett already knew it was unlikely he’d make it back to Alabama for the birth. Burkett saw Khyro’s birth through FaceTime, but his coaches and teammates made sure he knew he wouldn’t be missed for a few days during camp. It was his football family that encouraged him to go be with his now-growing family.

“I really didn’t have it in my mind that I would make it home to be able to see my son born or the days after,” Burkett said. “But the coaches came to me and offered … well, they didn’t offer … they told me to go home. ‘You need to be there.’ They got me on a flight home right away. I surprised (Megan). I didn’t tell her I was coming. Once she saw my face, she almost lost her mind. It was a wonderful day.”

Burkett said that example of the coaches and his teammates caring so much about him is a feeling he’ll never forget.

“To see the coaches and players all behind me, pushing me to go home … It just shows the family this program was built on and how much players and coaches care about each other outside of football,” Burkett said. “We have the regular meetings and practice … but outside of football, everybody wants to know your problem and find a way that they can help steer you in the right direction. The coaches behind me … the players telling me go get your plane ticket home … really shows they really care for me, not just for the skills or what I bring to the team on the football field, but outside of football. They know I have a family and they really cared about that.”

A limited number of tickets remains for the game, and can be purchased through the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl website. Additional events for fans are scheduled in Atlanta before kickoff, including a watch party Dec. 31 for the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Men’s Basketball game at East Carolina, and the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Parade and the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ ChargeOn Tailgate the morning of Jan. 1.

For those unable to cheer on the Knights in Atlanta, there are numerous watch parties planned by Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Alumni chapters across the country. In Orlando, the watch party begins at noon at Hooch, 25 Wall St., Suite A in Wall Street Plaza.

The Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Knights are undefeated with a 12-0 record, and are this year’s American Athletic Conference champions.

Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ (12-0), the nation’s only undefeated team, will take on Auburn (10-3) at 12:30 p.m. in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

This year’s team achieved something no other team in program history has done: It was undefeated while winning its third American Athletic Conference Championship.

To play the Auburn Tigers, Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ already dispatched another team of Tigers on Saturday, edging the Memphis Tigers 62-55 in double overtime for the AAC title.

“Anytime you can play in the Peach Bowl, or the type of bowl that it is, it’s awesome,” said interim head coach Troy Walters. “The guys earned it and to play a team like Auburn on a national stage the guys are excited, and we can’t wait to get back on the field and practice to finish this season 13-0.”

The Knights lead the nation in scoring and are ranked 10th in both the Coaches Poll and the Associated Press Top 25 Poll. The ranking matches the team’s highest showing in the AP Poll following the 2013 season and a win over Baylor in the Fiesta Bowl. Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ was ranked 12th in the final College Football Playoff Rankings announced Sunday.

This will be the Knights’ first trip to the Peach Bowl. Auburn is 4-1 in the bowl game.

Benefits of ordering through Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½

The number of tickets Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ sells for a bowl game can help the athletic department present the best possible bowl scenario for the Knights. It is critical that Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ fans purchase bowl game tickets from Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½Knights.com, as institutional ticket purchases can impact future bowl opportunities.   Here are a few reasons to order through Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½:

For more information, call the Â鶹ӳ»­´«Ã½ Ticket Office at 407-823-1000.

The game will be televised on ESPN.