FORT WORTH, Texas — In one corner, there was defending national gymnastics champion Michigan. In the other corner, there was 2022 national title favorite Florida.

No room left over for those seventh-seeded Auburn Tigers?

Not if they had anything to say about it. 

Coach Jeff Graba insisted before the season that the final four was a realistic goal for his team, ranked No. 14 at the time.

Now it's reality: Underdog Auburn is headed to the finals at the NCAA Championships after knocking out Michigan and Missouri with a 197.8375 semifinal score Thursday night at Dickies Arena. Graba's Tigers, as he put it, are "finally accomplishing what they set out to accomplish months and months ago." They needed their third-highest team score in program history to eliminate a Michigan team that defeated them in March.

Auburn will join Oklahoma, Utah and Florida (which finished ahead of Auburn on Thursday) in the finals Saturday (noon CT, ABC).

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Auburn's blessing and its curse was starting on beam, the team's best event but also the scariest to tackle mentally.

The Tigers managed to rise to the occasion. No falls. Three 9.9s from underclassmen to end the rotation. Graba knew Auburn had a chance to advance even before that.

"It hit me after the second beam routine," he said. "I felt like if we hit our first two beam routines, this team, once they get started, once they get on a roll..."

They keep rolling. Freshman Sophia Groth took a big breath then put on her usual big smile. Then she hit the routine for a 9.925. Sophomore Gabby McLaughlin followed with another stuck landing for a 9.9. By then, the pressure was off (some) for Olympic gold medalist Suni Lee.

Her individual championship-winning routine (9.9625) was practically an encore. 

"Watching everyone go up there and hit confidently definitely helped me kind of calm myself," she said. "Because I did have to wait a little bit before my beam routine, so I was kind of panicking. But just to know we have all those good scores before I had to go, it helped me."

The Tigers' 49.475 placed them in second place early, ahead of Florida and barely trailing Michigan.

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Home teams close on floor. Senior Derrian Gobourne was Auburn's closer all season. 

The Tigers needed the closer more than ever Thursday — in a non-closing setting.

Floor was their second rotation, and they dug a hole when fifth-year senior Drew Watson went out of bounds in the team's second routine.

The Tigers desperately needed to avoid more mistakes in order to drop Watson's 9.65. Her teammates had her covered.

"That was something that I was thinking about on floor," Gobourne said. "I kind of had to pick her up. Because in my warmup, I went out of bounds every turn on my double-pike. So I was like, 'I can't let that happen.'"

Groth and Cassie Stevens delivered consecutive 9.9s. Then Lee stepped up with a 9.95. Last was Gobourne, ensuring Watson's blip was moot. Gobourne scored a 9.9625, finishing second place in individual competition behind Trinity Thomas' 10. 

All of a sudden, Auburn had its third-highest score on floor this season (49.575) and had jumped into first place entering its worst event, vault.

The Tigers' 49.35 on vault was enough to hold the lead. More importantly, it was a redemption opportunity for Watson. The team leader stuck her landing and finished with the session's second-highest vault score, a 9.925.

The Tigers' 49.35 on vault was enough to hold the lead. Just as importantly, it was redemption for Watson. The team leader stuck her landing and finished with the session's second-highest vault score, a 9.925.

Freshman Sara Hubbard also stepped up on vault, her only event (9.9). Everyone from single-event to all-around competitors was clutch: Aria Brusch scored 9.8875 on bars to help Auburn clinch. Lee closed out the session with a 9.9125, finishing second in the all-around. Groth contributed 39.4625 all-around. McLaughlin's 9.9 on beam helped the fast start.

"We definitely just build off each other," Lee said.