Hello and Roll Tide!

Alabama defeated Auburn on Saturday 27-20 in the 90th Iron Bowl. This year’s game featured 92 student athletes from the state of Alabama, highlighting the importance that it has on the state. With this win, Kalen DeBoer starts his career at Alabama 2-0 against Auburn. This was most recently accomplished by Gene Stallings from 1900-1991. Alabama’s win streak against Auburn has increased to 6 in a row, the second longest by Alabama in this series. It is always difficult to win at Jordan-Hare Stadium and the Tide did just enough to squeak out a win. This win landed Alabama on top of the SEC Standings, sending them to Atlanta to take on Georgia on Saturday for the SEC Championship. Below are injury updates, depth notes, an Iron Bowl Recap, and Week 14 storylines revisited. Let’s go!

Injury Notes:

  • Jam Miller exited the game in the 4th quarter and was unable to put weight on his foot; He is questionable for Georgia
  • Parker Brailsford did play, but split time with Geno VanDeMark at center
  • Josh Cuevas was OUT; He is questionable for Georgia
  • Kam Dewberry is questionable for Georgia

Depth Notes

  • Ryan Williams did not have a target, recording only 37 of 73 total snaps
  • Michael Carroll, Kadyn Proctor, and Wilkin Formby took every snap along the offensive line
  • Germie Bernard took 70 of 75 snaps
  • Dijon Lee led the defense with 78 snaps followed by Zabien Brown and Keon Sabb with 77 each

Iron Bowl Recap:

Offense: Alabama’s offense had a difficult time handling the hostile environment at Jordan-Hare Stadium, yet they shined in big moments. Ty Simpson completed only 54% of his pass attempts as he was constantly under pressure. His three touchdown passes were all impressive throws: In the 1st quarter, Ty had to drift back in the pocket with a heavy blitz in his face, then delivered a ball to the back of the endzone finding Isaiah Horton; In the 2nd quarter, Isaiah Horton slipped out of the backfield on a play action, then Ty floated the ball over a defender to Horton in the endzone; in the 4th quarter on 4th & 2, Ty delivered a strike between two Auburn defenders, finding Horton once more for the go ahead touchdown. While the pass game was inconsistent, Alabama’s rushing attack led the way. Alabama rushed for more yards (158) than they passed for (122) against a stout Auburn rush defense. Jam Miller led the way with 83 yards on 15 carries. Ty also had 10 rushing attempts picking up 31 yards. Ty had an important 2-yard gain on 4th & 2 late in the 4th quarter to keep a drive alive. Gaining only 122 yards in the air, the receivers had quiet stat lines, outside of Isaiah Horton. Horton has been gaining confidence recently and it was on full display as Ty found him for all 3 of Alabama’s touchdowns. Alabama’s offensive line played fine as Auburn sent continual blitzes their way. Alabama was effective running the football and linemen created good running lanes.

Defense: Alabama’s defense came out of the gate on fire, forcing three consecutive 3-and-outs. Alabama’s defense allowed only 24 yards in the 1st quarter. Standouts on defense were Keon Sabb, Zabien Brown, Bray Hubbard, and Deontae Lawson. Keon was constantly making contact at the line of the scrimmage, showing great instincts charging forward from the safety position. He broke up two passes at the line of scrimmage and stopped another screen, limiting it to a 1-yard gain. Zabien Brown had the difficult task of covering Cam Coleman for most of this game, limiting him to 43 receiving yards. There was a drive in the 2nd quarter where Zabien broke up a pass on 1st down, stopped a run on 2nd down, then stopped a screen pass on 3rd down, forcing a punt. Bray Hubbard continues to force turnovers, catching one interception and forcing the Cam Coleman fumble at the end of the game. Bray has 11 turnovers in his 18 career starts, reminiscent of Eddie Jackson and vintage Saban teams. Deontae Lawson led the team with 7 tackles and recovered the fumble to end the football game. Alabama limited Auburn most of the game, but big plays kept them alive. In the opening minute of the 2nd half, Dijon Lee missed a tackle on the sideline and Auburn WR Simmons ran 64-yards for a touchdown. Similarl to start the 4th quarter, Zay Mincey missed a tackle on a 4-yard curl route, then Simmons ran 66-yards down to the 4 yard-line. It may be the magic of the rivalry that allows this to happen, but regardless, big plays kept Auburn in the game. Auburn also had several dropped passes that Alabama benefited from.

Special Teams: Conor Talty made both of his field goals from 45 and 29 yards. It is good to see Conor kicking with confidence in a hostile environment. Blake Doud was busy, punting the ball 7 times averaging 38 yards per punt. Doud had a long of 53 and three of the punts were downed inside the 20. He did have a shank that went only 24 yards. There were two unsportsmanlike penalties on the kickoff team, giving away unnecessary field position, something that needs to be cleaned up.

Iron Bowl Storylines: Revisited

One game to rule them all: Alabama went into Jordan-Hare Stadium and took care of business. With the SEC Championship and CFB Playoff hopes on the line, Alabama succeeded and will play Georgia in the SEC Championship on Saturday. If they win, they may even be considered for a top-4 seed to receive a BYE. Last night, the CFB Committee moved Alabama from #10 to #9, ahead of Notre Dame. This likely means that win or lose, Alabama will be in this years College Football Playoff.

Play a clean game: Alabama won the turnover battle 2-0. Both of Auburn’s turnovers happened on Alabama’s side of the field, likely taking points off of the board. In a close game such as this, the 2-0 margin was a huge contributor to Alabama’s win. Alabama did have issues with penalties, committing 8 for 87 yards. Auburn, however, also shot themselves in the foot committing 10 penalties for 84 yards. Two of Auburn’s penalties occurred on Alabama’s go-ahead drive where they committed Pass Interference and Roughing the Passer, both resulting in automatic first downs. The game wasn’t clean, but Alabama executed better than Auburn.

Ghost in the graveyard: The game started out eerily as a phantom whistle was heard on the opening play of the game. Outside of that, this game did not have too much supernatural flare until late in the 4th quarter as Alabama won once again in dramatic fashion. Kalen DeBoer rolled the dice on 4th & 2 from the 6 yard-line with 3:50 left in the game. Instead of taking a 3-point lead on a chip-shot field goal, DeBoer went for it and Ty found Horton to take a 27-20 lead. This drive will make the history books joining other thrilling moments in Iron Bowl history.

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Roll Tide! -Jake