This game will feature two Top-5 defenses and Alabama tailback Derrick Henry. Henry may soon join those SEC legends in an even more exclusive club: Heisman Trophy winners.
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Perhaps you wondered how even a coach as practiced at the art of deception as Saban would manage to inject life into an uncommonly lackluster SEC title game.
The Alabama Crimson Tide, led by a record-breaking performance by Derrick Henry, defeated the Auburn Tigers 29-13 Saturday in the 80th edition of the Iron Bowl at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama.
“He was not asking to come out”.
His opponent, though not a stranger, is getting his first taste of the SEC Championship Game as a head coach. Because we’ll put somebody else in there’. Like I said, our goal was to get to the 4th quarter and find a way to win. But Auburn retaliated quickly, as quarterback Jeremy Johnson hit wide receiver Jason Smith on a 77-yard touchdown pass on a third and long play in which Smith bobbled the ball twice into the air before hauling it in and racing untouched to the end zone.
“To be a part of an SEC Championship game, with two storied programs – obviously, the University of Alabama, which, let’s face it, gave me the opportunity to be here at the University of Florida – and then to have the Gators playing them, that’s something special”, McElwain said.
“What Derrick has done for this team”, Saban said, per ESPN’s Ivan Maisel. “I just can’t tell you how happy I am that the administration chose to go our direction and to trust us to help this program get back to where it belongs”.
Secondary: B. A short-handed secondary played one of its better games of the season, covering decently, and crashing up to help stop the run.
Running Backs: B. Auburn’s runners really faced an uphill battle. With a exhausted defense, Alabama was able to grind to a late, meaningless touchdown.
Quarterback Jake Coker assessed his backfield mate and said, “He’s weird”.
Offensively, Auburn did some good things with counter plays early, allowing the team to grind out a few yards on the ground.
Defensively, I think everyone expected coach Will Muschamp to wave a magic wand, insert a healthy Carl Lawson into the lineup, and Auburn would be back to the Dye/Tuberville defensive nastiness level.
Henry is likely to be a finalist, too. As a result, ‘Bama now awaits Florida this coming Saturday in the SEC Championship game in Atlanta. Mostly starvation, as Auburn coaches rarely call deep throws, and do it at odd times, like 3 and 2. On the next drive, he opened with Morris running a sprint draw. “Certainly, that play reminded me of the play they made against Georgia the same year they made the kick return against us, but it was a good play and it counts for seven”.
Clemson extended its nation’s best winning streak to 15 games.
There was something of that in offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin’s play calling on Saturday. Alabama had a big statistical advantage with 465 yards in total offense to Auburn’s 260, but the Crimson Tide couldn’t relax until putting the Tigers away with 10 points over the final 10 minutes.
Backup tailback Kenyan Drake has had a couple of big games this season but has missed the past two with a broken arm.
Henry has run the ball 295 times this season for school records of 1,797 yards and 22 touchdowns. Leading by 10 going to halftime, 20-10, Michigan State took firm control of the game right out of the halftime break by driving right down the field on Penn State for an eight-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to build a 27-10 lead. Coker finished 17-of-26 for 179 yards, a touchdown and no turnovers. Stanford has turned this game plan into an art form. With a loss to Auburn, Alabama would have been essentially eliminated from any further national title talk. The Tigers were spent.
“He was asking to stay in”, Alabama coach Nick Saban said. He failed to convert a fourth-and-1 at the Auburn 31.
“Our guys have had their backs against the wall ever since the Ole Miss game and they’ve responded every time” Saban said. On Antonio Morrison’s status for the SEC Championship “It’s going to be hard to keep him out of this game”.
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Henry broke two school records; most single-season rushing yards and most single-season rushing touchdowns.
