Alex McPherson Sinks No. 1 Georgia Two Years After Losing His Large Intestine

The ball left Alex McPherson’s foot from 34 yards with no time on the clock at Sanford Stadium. Auburn had beaten No. 1 Georgia, 27-24, and his teammates were carrying him off the field.

The short version is that two years ago, in the same building, he was not playing because his gut had failed him. This page sets out the night itself, his own account of the illness, what losing the large intestine changes in the body, and why a disease like his so often shows up in someone his age.

The night: A walk-off kick ended Georgia’s nine-game run over Auburn

Auburn, unranked, beat top-ranked Georgia 27-24 on October 17, 2026 when McPherson made a 34-yard field goal as time expired, according to the Associated Press. The AP noted that the loss ended Georgia’s nine-game winning streak over Auburn and its 53 straight wins over unranked teams, and that it was the first time since October 1990 that a No. 1 team had lost in consecutive weeks, citing Sportradar.

McPherson was 2-for-2 on field goals on the night, with a 49-yarder that put Auburn up 17-14 late in the first half, and he is 106-for-106 on extra points in his career, according to Auburn Athletics’ game story. “When they turned it over, I knew my guys were going to get me into range,” he told the school’s writers.

He drew the line himself. “If you told me two years from now, on the same night, you’re going to have the game-winner,” McPherson said after the game, “I don’t think I would have believed you,” according to the Montgomery Advertiser’s postgame report.

In his words: It started like a stomach bug and ended in surgery

McPherson has told the story the same way each time. He began to feel sick in December 2023, according to Auburn Athletics. “I thought I just had the flu or a stomach bug or something going on,” he said in ESPN’s College GameDay feature, as reported by 1819 News in September 2025. “I would run to the bathroom 15-20 times a day.”

A colonoscopy in April 2024 showed ulcerative colitis, Auburn Athletics says. By the end of July he was in hospital. “I was 110 pounds when I got admitted into the hospital,” he told GameDay, having lost 55 pounds. He kicked in one game that season. In December 2024 he had surgery, a six-hour operation that removed his large intestine and left him with an ileostomy, according to the GameDay account as reported by 1819 News.

It did not end there. A setback before the 2025 season revealed Crohn’s disease and cost him another 30 pounds, Auburn Athletics says, before his doctors and the school’s training staff built a new treatment plan. “Sometimes I thought I was back up and I was going to be fine and then it crashed right back down,” he told WAFF in July 2026.

He played the 2025 season anyway, going 20-of-23 on field goals and 35-for-35 on extra points, according to ABC 33/40, and won the Football Writers Association of America’s Courage Award. “It’s been a long road, but it was definitely worth it in the end,” he said then. By SEC Media Days in July 2026 he was back up to 165 pounds, 1819 News reported: 55 pounds above the low he described, by our arithmetic. “I’m actually heavier than I was before I got sick,” he told WAFF.

The mechanism: What the large intestine does, and what changes without it

The large intestine, or colon, is the last stretch of the gut. Most digestion and nutrient absorption is finished by the time food reaches it; its main job is to pull water and salt back out of what is left, which is why its absence changes how much fluid a person loses. Ulcerative colitis inflames the lining of the colon itself, which is why removing it can be a treatment. Crohn’s disease can affect any part of the gut, which is why a setback can still happen after the colon is gone.

After an ileostomy, the end of the small intestine is brought out through the abdomen, and its output is looser and saltier because the colon is no longer there to reclaim water. A 2026 review in Digestive Diseases and Sciences by surgeons at the University of Michigan, which screened 129 articles, found high output in 16% of patients after an ileostomy was created, with dehydration readmission rates from 9% to 39%, and listed an oral rehydration solution among the standard fixes (PubMed 42742826). For an athlete who sweats for a living, that is the fluid side of the story; McPherson has not described his own routine, and we do not guess at it.

Why his age: New cases of bowel disease peak in the twenties

McPherson was 20 when he got sick, by our arithmetic (1819 News reported that Auburn opened its 2025 season on his 22nd birthday). That fits the pattern. A 2023 study in Gastroenterology led by James Lewis at the University of Pennsylvania, using four national insurance datasets, estimated that inflammatory bowel disease, the family that includes ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s, is diagnosed in more than 0.7% of Americans, or 721 per 100,000, about 2.39 million people, and that new diagnoses peak in the third decade of life (PubMed 37481117).

The everyday version is in McPherson’s first quote. He thought it was a stomach bug. A stomach bug passes in days; diarrhea many times a day that goes on for weeks, blood in the stool, or weight coming off without trying are reasons to see a doctor, and a colonoscopy is how McPherson’s was found. Most people with these diseases never need surgery; for those who do, his Saturday is one picture of what afterwards can look like.

How we checked this: Sources and method

The game facts come from the Associated Press report of October 17, 2026 and Auburn Athletics’ game story the same night. McPherson’s postgame quotes are from the Montgomery Advertiser’s report by Adam Cole, read in its Yahoo Sports syndication. His illness timeline is from Auburn Athletics’ December 4, 2025 announcement of his FWAA Courage Award; his quotes about the onset are from ESPN’s College GameDay feature as reported by 1819 News on September 20, 2025; later quotes are from 1819 News and ABC 33/40 (July 21, 2026) and WAFF (July 24, 2026). The research is PubMed 37481117 and PubMed 42742826, each matched to its title. The 55-pound regain is our arithmetic. We have not described his current treatment because he has not. This article is educational, describes what the cited sources say, and is not medical advice.