Tide handles pressure, Auburn in 27-20 Iron Bowl Victory
Alabama wins their sixth-straight Iron Bowl over their archrival.
By: Dave in Tuscaloosa
Coming into Saturday’s 90th Iron Bowl, 10th-ranked Alabama had the weight of the world on their shoulders. Win the game and move on to the SEC Championship game, and move a big step closer to earning a playoff berth. Lose, and basically all would be lost…no conference title game, no playoff berth, and a familiar uptick of scrutiny for coach Kaylen DeBoer and a program emerging from the shadows of an era that featured the greatest college football coach of all time.
In the span of the final eleven minutes of the contest, the weight was released from Bama Nation’s shoulders as Alabama topped a feisty Auburn squad 27-20 at Jordan-Hare Stadium on the Plains. The win not only secured the Tide’s spot back in the SEC Title game, a place Bama fans expect to be every year, but it also was Alabama’s sixth straight against its fiercest rival. The winning streak is Bama’s longest over Auburn since Bear Bryant’s Crimson Tide rattled off nine straight over the Tigers from 1972-1981. Moreover, crazy things are the norm at Jordan-Hare Stadium, and it remains one of the hardest places to play for visitors. Nick Saban went so far as to declare the stadium “haunted.” Yet, Saturday’s victory was the Tide’s third straight victory at Auburn, and there were no ghost sightings reported in this Iron Bowl.
As expected, the win did not come easily. At times, it was a sloppy, ugly game marred by penalties and dropped passes by both sides. Alabama’s Ty Simpson, who finished the night connecting on 19 of 25 passes for a season low 122 yards, struggled throwing the ball downfield, and the Tide’s passing game was relegated to short completions underneath Auburn’s coverage. Behind tailback Jam Miller, who gained 83 yards on the ground before leaving in the third quarter due to an injury, the Bama running game did show signs of life, picking up 158 yards on 38 carries.
Despite that stat, the staunch Tiger defense had a fine evening, limiting the usually explosive Tide offense to just 280 total yards. On the other side of the ball, Auburn gained a total of 411 yards, and quarterback Ashton Daniels went 18 of 39 for 259 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Daniels was also the Tigers leading rusher, picking up 108 yards on 23 carries. Auburn receiver Malcolm Simmons caught just three passes, yet he totaled 143 total yards that included a 64-yard catch and run for a score as well as a 66-yard completion that set up another Auburn touchdown. Both teams struggled on third down, with Auburn converting on 8/19 attempts while Bama only converted on 4/17.
Numerous key plays were made throughout the game, yet four plays made by Alabama turned out to be the difference in the contest. Simpson threw three touchdown passes to Isaiah Horton, and all three were among Simpson’s best tosses of the season. In the first quarter, Simpson, under heavy pressure and moving backwards, hit Horton at the back of the end zone from six yards out to give Bama a 10-0 lead in the first quarter. In the second quarter, Simpson hit Horner on a beautifully placed over-the-shoulder pass from three yards out to give the Tide a 17-0 lead.
After Auburn rallied to tie the score at 20 in the fourth quarter, Simpson led Bama on a 15-play, 75-yard drive that ate up 7:35 off the clock. With 3:54 left to play, the Tide drive stalled on the Auburn six-yard line, and they faced a 4th & 2. DeBoer rolled the dice, and instead of going for a chip-shot field goal, he kept the offense on the field. Under pressure, Simpson delivered a six-yard touchdown strike between two Auburn defenders to Horton to put Bama back on top 27-20.
The fourth key play occurred as Auburn was marching for the tying score. The Tigers converted two fourth-down attempts (one on a pass interference call and one on a Daniels two-yard scramble) and found themselves on the Tide’s 40-yard line with 40 seconds to play. Daniels hit Tiger star receiver Cam Coleman on a screen pass, yet Bama safety Bray Hubbard jarred the ball loose and Alabama recovered at their own 27 with 33 seconds left to play. It was Hubbard’s second takeaway of the evening, with the first being an interception late in the third quarter. Auburn still had all three timeouts left and calling them forced Alabama to punt the ball back to the Tigers. Daniels found himself at his own 27-yard line with 10 seconds to go. He was able to complete two short passes, yet the final one ended with a tackle at the Bama 40-yard line when time ran out on Auburn.
Even though it was ugly and hard to watch at times, this was a major victory for the Tide, and it may be the most important one so far in the DeBoer era. Not only did it position Bama to compete for their first conference title under DeBoer, but it also kept Alabama clearly in the hunt for a College Football Playoff spot, which many believed was a necessity for DeBoer and the Tide after a disappointing 9-4 season last year that saw the Tide miss the playoffs entirely.
DeBoer improved his overall record against Auburn to 2-0, and with their sixth straight win over the Tigers, Bama has firmly established itself as the dominant program in the Yellowhammer state. With Auburn falling to 5-7, they not only miss a bowl game for the third straight year, but it also gives the Tigers their fifth straight losing season. Moreover, it looks like Auburn’s primary target for their vacant head coaching position, Tulane’s John Sumrall, is headed to Florida.
Auburn is a great program and a fine university with an incredible fan base, and it is hard to find a better campus than the one located on The Plains. Yet Alabama has taken advantage of their recent struggles to emerge as the dominant program in the football-crazy state. The Tide’s Iron Bowl victory also helps solidify Bama Nation’s trust in its new skipper and gives the program overall confidence that it may be business as usual after Nick Saban’s retirement.
If DeBoer and company can figure out a way to top Georgia in next Saturday’s conference title game for the second time this season, all will continue to be right in the world for those in Crimson and White.
