Alabama got beat in the Iron Bowl by Auburn, 26-14. The Tide losing is rare in the fact that it’s happened only 20 times since Nick Saban became Tide head coach in 2007, and six of those losses happened in his first season at the helm. In the regular season: Three have been to LSU, two have been to Ole Miss, and now four have come at the hands of Auburn.
Auburn had Bama melting down in the Iron Bowl
The Tigers had the Tide looking like one of those SEC teams the Tide always beat.
John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
This is one of the oddest Ls the Tide have taken, though.
It’s not just the fact that Alabama got beat, it’s how it looked. Auburn played exceptionally well, looking so good that it frazzled Bama. That’s just as jarring to write as it is for you to read.
Auburn’s crowd was raucous, its own offense relentless, and its defense frequently in Bama’s backfield, and the beautiful crimson machine blew gaskets in response.
Let’s start with the botched field goal.
Down six with a chance to cut into the deficit, this play was strange. First, the mishandled snap by punter JK Scott:
Even when things break down, you still see kicker Andy Pappanastos with pretty impressive presence of mind to leak out into the flat and at least try and make something happen. The pass was indeed completed, and it wasn’t a total disaster, so much as it was a weird play. But don’t worry, we’ll get to the busts.
Jalen Hurts’ frenetic roll outs.
I submit this as a microcosm of the day for Hurts in the passing game.
Hurts was hurried nine times and sacked twice. Given that sacks come on passing plays, Hurts had 25 total dropbacks and was statistically affected on 11 of them.
When he did roll out, a lot of them looked like this (and this apparently lucky prayer ended up being called an incompletion):
There didn’t seem like a backup plan as things broke down, and that’s likely due to Auburn’s adeptness in pass defense on the day.
The snaps!
Alright, let’s talk about the totally broken plays.
On two straight plays, I looked at the TV and yelled “What is going on,” because I still do not understand this three-play sequence at another crucial juncture in the game.
The Tide were still down six in plus territory. On third down, Bama had a fumbled snap. It put them on the very edge of Pappanastos’ field-goal range.
On the very next play, Bama had another fumbled snap.
From the other angle, you can see Alabama running back Bo Scarbrough clapping like Hurts does to initiate a snap.
Hurts was obviously not ready for the snap, but the mistake didn’t become too costly because Alabama caught a break.
The unreviewable part of the play showed an illegal motion that probably should have been called on the Tide. A procedural penalty like that is one that Bama doesn’t make at the rate other teams do. The Tide already had a season-high eight penalties in this game.
But the reviewable part of the play bailed the Tide out, because there were 12 Tigers on the field.
On Bama’s second attempt at a fourth down, the Tide ran a play to wide receiver Robert Foster. He didn’t run the route past the sticks, but the throw from Hurts wasn’t great. It brought Foster back to where he couldn’t just turn up the field, and Auburn was right there to stop him.
And it wasn’t even the worst meltdown by an Alabama sports team on Saturday.
The football team lost, but at least it lost with a full complement of players. The Tide’s basketball team played 3-on-5 for 10 game minutes after a bench clearing brawl:
If you’re wondering how the NCAA rulebook’s language treats playing men-down like this, here’s the NCAA’s prescription for when teams are forced to play with fewer than five players:
Rule 3, Sect. 2, Art. 2. Each team may continue to play with fewer than five players when all other team members are not eligible or able to play.
Rule 3, Sect. 2, Art. 3. When there is only one player participating for a team, that team shall forfeit unless the referee believes that both teams have an opportunity to win.
It was bad for Bama football, but it could have been much worse.
The lesson is that no matter how robotic and reliant on precision the machine is, these are still 18- to 22-year-olds, and that means they’re still prone to mental errors and getting caught up in big moments.
On the road in the Iron Bowl is certainly a big moment even even for guys like Hurts who have now only lost one regular season game and been a second away from a national championship.
Auburn was so good, it made Alabama look bad. That’s amazing.
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