Welcome to Atlanta: Alabama downs Auburn 29-13 in Iron Bowl
Henry carried the offensive load, breaking most of the meaningful Alabama-Auburn game rushing records along the way.
The Tigers stayed close into the fourth, aided by Jason Smith 77-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter which he twice tipped back to himself. “A lot of our key players got hurt”, said running back Peyton Barber.
An Alabama win would not only secure a spot in college football’s second four-team playoff, it would give the Tide consecutive SEC titles.
Though the score might not reflect it, Alabama football’s victory against Auburn at Jordan-Hare stadium was a slugfest through the fourth quarter.
But most of all, Alabama won because Saban recognized what his team can do and makes sure it does it. Coaches talk about that concept all the time. Both teams struggled in the red zone early, Alabama kicking five field goals, and Auburn two. Stanford kicker Conrad Ukropina made the 45-yard field goal to defeat Notre Dame on Saturday night, and the senior is now tied for sixth nationally in field goal percentage – having made 15 of 17 (88.2 percent) of his kicks this season.
– With 7:49 left in the game, Alabama took over on its 18. Auburn never really managed to stop Henry and, in fact, the only thing that really managed to hamper them at all was some very questionable play calling at times and some bonehead penalties amongst the offensive line.
“No question that we certainly need those guys to sort of mature, be what we need them to be, in terms of their confidence, their ability to execute and understand what’s necessary on that particular play for them to play well, have a winning performance on that play, whatever you want to call it”, Saban said.
Henry has run the ball 295 times this season for school records of 1,797 yards and 22 touchdowns. Derrick Henry was the workhorse once again, rushing an absurd 46 times for 271 yards and likely salting away the Heisman should Alabama win next week as expected.
Still, though, Auburn put up more yards rushing on Alabama in the first half than Alabama was averaging giving up per game.
-Tanner Mangum, BYU, threw four TD passes and became the first freshman in school history to pass for more than 3,000 yards in a season as the Cougars beat Utah State 51-28.
1996: The Gators won 45-30 en route to setting several game records that survive to this day. By then, the Crimson Tide had run off more than five minutes.
“After the last two years and how we didn’t end the season how we wanted to, it’s kind of easy to get guys to buy in”, Allen said. Instead, Henry and the stout Alabama defense have led the Crimson Tide to an 11-1 record and SEC West title. He had a 5-yard run that put Ohio State up 14-3 in the second quarter and a 10-yarder that made it 35-13 in the fourth.
After snapping its three-year skid in the annual city rivalry game, USC will face Stanford next Saturday in the Trojans’ first trip to the Pac-12 championship game. “We’ll wish him the best, but there’s a lot of conversation between now and then”.
Romond Deloatch caught a touchdown for the Owls, who will play at No. 21 Houston for the AAC title on Saturday with a New Year’s Six bowl bid possibly at stake.
Game: Alabama 29, Auburn 13. Coker finished 17-of-26 for 179 yards (just 6.p per attempt) and a touchdown, and only finished without an interception thanks to the generosity of Auburn corner Blake Countess, who dropped a surefire pick-six late in the first half.