IRON BOWL 2021: Crimson Tide turns epic loss into iconic victory

The Alabama Crimson Tide defeated the Auburn Tigers at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday. (Courtesy Unv. Alabama Media Relations/Auburn University Media Relations)

By GRAHAM DUNN

AUBURN - It was an epic comeback that will go down in the laurels of Iron Bowl history.

Or it was the most cataclysmic collapse in the recorded annals of the series.

Whichever side is taken, the fact remains that the Auburn Tigers, a 20-point underdog, took third-ranked Alabama to the cusp of being eliminated from playoff contention before quarterback Bryce Young pulled his team out of the fire with a 24-22 win in four overtimes at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Saturday.

It was wild. It was hysterical and nerves were unsettled as both defenses were prodigious throughout the contest.

 “It’s the Iron Bowl and there is a lot of emotion involved,” Young said. “We take it very seriously and we have a lot of pride and there was a lot of pride out there.”

For 58 minutes the Tigers were set to pull off one of the biggest upsets in the series and were feeling positive after punter Oscar Chapman had buried the Crimson Tide offense at its own 3-yard line with 95 seconds remaining in regulation.

Young had fought through a tempestuous three quarters with just 12 completions and 138 yards passing.  The Tide did not score until the 8:44 mark of the fourth quarter and trailed for most of the game.

But the Tide defense had, more or less, matched the play of the Auburn defense, allowing the sophomore one more chance.

 “I think it’s pretty simple,” coach Nick Saban explained. “You work all year long to put yourself in this position and now you have the opportunity… this is the drive. You aren’t going to get too many more opportunities like this. You have to make the most of it. (It’s) what you work for all year.”

Young hit 4 of 10 throws on the drive with the final blow finding Ja’Corey Brooks on a 28-yard strike with 24 seconds left to tie the game at 10-10.

In overtime, both offenses were called on to make big plays and both did until Auburn’s second two-point try in the fourth extra frame was denied by Kool-Aid McKinstry, who knocked away T.J. Finley’s pass.

That left Young the opportunity to make one final big play and he answered with the pass to John Metchie at the front pylon to secure the win.

“We prepared for this, the toughest situations and toughest plays,” Metchie said. “The win is what you do it for. It’s not about how you start but how you finish. We have a to learn from this.”

Auburn’s defense was as gritty as it’s been all season. But for the third straight game, it was unable to hold a lead.

“I thought our pass rush was really good tonight,” stated Auburn coach Bryan Harsin. “Some of that was individual effort, beating their one-on-one matchup. Some of that was a little bit of pressure we brought from our schemes. I thought they were coming off their pass rush. The coverage on the back end was pretty good.”

Finley fought through an apparent ankle injury and passed for two touchdowns including a game-tying score to backup tight end Landen King, who made a one-handed grab in the back of the end zone in the first overtime.

But the focus of most Auburn fans in the post game was a decision by Tank Bigsby, who turned a big 10-yard run into a head-scratching play by getting forced out of bounds as Auburn was trying to run down the clock late in the game.

The move allowed Alabama to save a timeout, which it used after the next play and forced a punt.

Harsin refused to placed the blame on his running back.

“Guys are running the ball and it’s important to understand the situation on the clock,” he said. “Guys are fighting hard for yards. Ideally you stay in bounds during that but at the same time, guys are running hard. I’ll go back and watch it and try to see the situation.”

It left the door open for Young, who converted two fourth-down plays on the final drive in regulation.

“It wasn’t Bryce’s fault he was struggling in the first half,” Saban said. “We weren’t giving him much of a chance. He’s got a lot of mental toughness, lot of grit about him. He’s kinda quiet in his demeanor and the way he goes about things but he kept telling the offense, ‘we are gonna get this right. We are going to be alright.’

“When we started making a couple of plays and moving the ball, we started being confident. I think that helped not only him but the players around him play better, which enabled him to make a lot of plays which we needed him to make.”

Alabama completed the comeback despite not having two of its top offensive players on the field. Jameson Williams had been ejected in the second quarter after a targeting call while playing on the punt team.

Brian Robinson apparently pulled his hamstring on his final carry of the game, which came early in the fourth quarter.

Saban said there were few adjustments made in the second half - just do what you do better, he told his team.

“I told them at halftime that they were dictating the game to us and we needed to dictate the game to them, by being aggressive and if we have to throw RPOs, we throw RPOs and if we get the right box we run it,” Saban said.

“So I think we didn’t do a lot different, we just did what we did a lot better. And you have to give the players a lot of credit for the ability to overcome the adversity and execute in the second half.”

Bama (11-1, 7-1) enters next weekend’s SEC Championship against Georgia with the opportunity to earn a trip to the College Football Playoff. But it will need to find the offense used in the win over Arkansas two weeks ago and not what it showed Saturday against Auburn.

“It’s the feeling of being on a team, the feeling of everybody making a commitment to support each other, be positive, trust in each other and go out there and make plays, especially as they did at the end,” Saban said. “We did tonight and you always remember it.”