TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – It wasn’t pretty, but that was nothing about this Alabama season. In the 89th installment of the Iron Bowl, Alabama defeated Auburn for a 28-14 victory that kept critics of the shaky Kalen DeBoer regime at bay and kept alive the faint flames of a College Football Playoff berth.
If you boil down a rivalry game to how it will affect the College Football Playoff, as the announcers did during Friday night’s Georgia-Georgia Tech game, you are completely missing the point of a rivalry game. Alabama and Auburn have been competing for more than a century, and no newly created playoff structure will dent the anger, rage and disgust that animates this perfect rivalry.
Whatever happens with the CFP selection committee, it happens. The Iron Bowl is about much more parochial issues – like who will get bragging rights in offices, supermarkets, churches, cookouts and golf courses in the state of Alabama in the coming year.
That said, there were indeed playoff possibilities on the line Saturday – tenuous, yes, but possibilities nonetheless. When South Carolina eliminated Clemson shortly before kickoff, Alabama effectively moved into the “first team left out” spot in the playoffs, meaning a loss by a higher-seeded team could potentially have opened the door for the Tide.
Auburn, meanwhile, was fighting for bowl eligibility and self-respect after a season that didn’t even reach “disappointing” status. Pride was on the line for the Tigers, and pride can take you a long way in a rivalry game.
Alabama had to make a statement to the CFP selection committee, and in the first half, the Tide made the exact same statement they’ve been making all season: roar one drive, burp the next. Alabama committed three turnovers in the first half — two fumbles and an overthrow that became an interception — while simultaneously scoring on two Jalen Milroe touchdowns.
The Tigers were able to move the ball at will between the 20s – a throwback to Alabama’s struggles that stopped the series against Oklahoma last week – but Auburn could only make two field goals in the first half and the halftime score stood at 14-6.
Alabama scored on its first two possessions in the third quarter, both on rushes, one from Justice Haynes and a third from Milroe. Even with the game seemingly safely in hand at 28-6, Alabama and Auburn continued to scrap, leading to a short sideline throw:
Auburn showed the faintest flashes of what could have been this season late in the third quarter, when quarterback Payton Thorne led the Tigers on a 10-play, 87-yard drive that culminated in a tidy 29-yard touchdown to Cam Coleman. Milroe continued his inconsistent play all season, fumbling and giving Auburn a chance to get within one possession. But a lofted Jarquez Hunter pass on a trick play was intercepted at the Alabama 4, and the Tide were able to run out the rest of the clock.
