BURN BABY ’BURN
Tigers top No. 1 Alabama, throw playoffs into chaos
Auburn quarterback Jarrett Stidham celebrates after scoring a touchdown during the Tigers’ 26-14 victory over top-ranked Alabama on Saturday. The defeat put a big dent into the playoff hopes of the Crimson Tide and head coach Nick Saban (inset).
AUBURN, Ala. — Auburn students began Saturday afternoon sprinting through the gates of Jordan-Hare Stadium, searching for the best seats possible to the biggest game imaginable. They ended the afternoon by running from the bleachers, ignoring PA announcement not to do so, and trampling the pristine hedges surrounding the field.
Popcorn flew through the air. Beverages spilled in rapid succession. An elderly woman repeatedly extended her hand, making sure overexcited kids didn’t slip. Many of the 87,451 fans jammed salt into their rival’s wound, singing a rendition of “Dixieland Delight,” as others screamed “War Eagle.”
More than 15 minutes after the game clock ran to zero on Auburn’s 26-14 thrashing of top-ranked Alabama, not a blade of grass could be seen on the field. The heroes of the 82nd Iron Bowl were missing, too.
“I was stuck out there,” Auburn fullback Chandler Cox said. “I couldn’t move.”
Linebacker Deshaun Davis didn’t want to.
After No. 6 Auburn ended its threeyear losing streak to Alabama, and achieved one of the greatest wins in school history — clinching the SEC West title, and advancing to meet Georgia in the conference championship game next week — no one wanted the night to end.
“I was hugging everybody,” Davis said. “I was taking pictures. You just got to take it in. This doesn’t happen every day.”
It hadn’t happened since 2013, when another undefeated and top-ranked Alabama team drove across the state, expecting to win until the moment Chris Davis ran back the “Kick Six” miracle.
If Auburn’s (10-2) latest triumph was less thrilling, it was more fulfilling.
The Tigers rushed for 168 yards — led by 104 from Kerryon Johnson — nearly doubling what the nation’s best run defense had been surrendering this season. Auburn quarterback Jarrett Stidham was brilliant in his first Iron Bowl, throwing for 237 yards, while running for 51 yards and a touchdown. Alabama (11-1) was held more than 27 points below its season scoring average, and failed to convert a third down until the fourth quarter.
And Nick Saban left with his first double-digit loss in more than seven years, as Auburn dominated the biggest, baddest dynasty of the era in a way that had never been seen since the Crimson Tide took the throne.
“I thought we were the better team,” Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. “It wasn’t like the others.
“We’re playing our best football right now and we’ve got to continue to do that. That was fun to be out there. That crowd, against our rival. … It’s as good as it gets.”
In knocking off a No. 1 team for the second time in three weeks (the Tigers beat Georgia on Nov. 11), Auburn was again the bully from the beginning. The Tigers constantly harassed Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts, and started the scoring with the longest drive (94 yards) against the Tide all season, capped with a Johnson jump pass to Nate Craig-Myers for a 3-yard touchdown with 4:54 left in the first quarter.
Alabama tied the score midway through the second quarter on a 36yard catch by Jerry Jeudy, but the Tigers took a 10-7 lead to the half.
Trailing at halftime for the first time all season, Alabama reclaimed the lead less than two minutes into the third quarter, on a 21-yard touchdown run by Bo Scarborough, but Stidham never let the Tigers look like an underdog, dissecting Saban’s defense as an unlikely dual-threat.
After Johnson punched in a 1-yard run — giving the Tigers a 20-14 lead — Auburn took advantage of a botched field goal by Alabama, with Stidham then adding a 16-yard touchdown run to put the Tigers up 12 with 12:49 remaining.
“He put us on his shoulders and led us to victory,” Cox said of his roommate. “The whole nation was watching us tonight. Everyone wants to see Bama lose and we did that. We did it for the nation and we did it for Auburn. I’m just so excited. It feels so good.”
The SEC fined Auburn $250,000 after the game for its excited fans rushing onto the field after the win because it was in violation of the conference’s policy prohibiting fan access to competition area.
But there was no damping this night and a season that can still get better.
“This was a special moment,” Stidham said. “There’s still a lot to play for.”