That’s all, folks. Goodbye, upset bid. This year is anyone’s game even though the Tide sit at No. 1 and Auburn has been down all season.
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The Tigers’ 29-13 loss to Alabama in the Iron Bowl Saturday night was the fourth time this season they failed to score more than 20 points and third time they didn’t crack 300 total yards.
Saban has coached at Alabama long enough, though, to realize that the regular season is prelude. That’s exactly what the Tide did by beating Auburn, the program’s ninth straight victory since falling to the Rebels. “I can’t tell you how proud of the way our players responded”. “Ever since the Ole Miss game, they’ve had their back against the wall”, Saban said. And I asked him every time we came over to the sidelines, ‘Are you OK? The LSU star rushed for 228 yards and three touchdowns against the Auburn defense.
In his first field goal attempt at Jordan-Hare since Kick Six, Griffith doesn’t miss.
The famed Toomer’s Corners oaks have been gone for more than two years now. Jovon Robinson was gaining chunks of yards, but for some reason Auburn kept going away from him.
Henry didn’t break another run of almost the same length, but he did join Herschel Walker and Bo Jackson as the only three rushers in SEC history to notch 200-plus yards in a game four times in a season.
It was a heck of an effort by the Tigers on defense for most of the game.
Henry broke Trent Richardson’s single-season rushing mark and had carries on 14 consecutive plays at the end. After Auburn was stuffed on the next possession, Alabama took over again at the Tiger 34. Auburn had already dropped five SEC games prior to Saturday, a disappointing fall from its status as a preseason playoff contender.
The playoffs might be a lost cause if that happens, though.
QB QUESTION: Auburn coach Gus Malzahn insists it’s a positive that there’s uncertainty about whether Jeremy Johnson or Sean White should get the starting nod because both have helped the Tigers win games. Saban and most of the Tide’s players harbored painful memories of this stadium and the pitfalls it could represent. The Tide marched 48 yards in eight plays to the Auburn 9 where Adam Griffith entered to kick a 26-yard field goal, giving Alabama a 3-0 lead with 11:28 on the clock.
Still, they’ll take it. A win is a win. I think his was probably better than mine.
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That brings us back to the present, where we belong. Start with a flawless college football day, 73 degrees and sunny, a light breeze keeping everyone in ideal comfort – it’s the kind of day that makes alumni wish they were still undergrads, and makes undergrads believe they’ll live forever. “That’s two years ago”.
