Wow. There are no words to summarize what we just saw.
Facing a fourth-and-goal from the 31-yard line and 43 seconds to go, it seemed as if the 88th edition of the Iron Bowl had gotten away from Alabama. That was before the impossible happened as Jalen Milroe found Isaiah Bond in the back of the endzone for a jaw-dropping touchdown to give the Crimson Tide a 27-24 lead with just over half a minute to go.
It’s truly heartbreaking stuff for Auburn fans who also had their hearts ripped out by Bryce Young in a similar fashion in 2021.
The go-ahead score was set up by a brutal muffed punt by Auburn who just couldn’t get out of their own way in the final few minutes. Bond’s catch will go down as one of the greatest plays in Iron Bowl history.
It was a very frustrating afternoon in its entirety for Alabama. The Tide committed way too many mindless penalties, they couldn’t find an answer for Auburn’s rushing attack all afternoon and Jalen Milroe committed two illegal forward passes in the same game – something I have never seen in all of my years of watching football.
The madness and chaos in its entirety is what makes the Iron Bowl great though. Auburn entered the game coming off of arguably their most disappointing loss in program history as New Mexico State thumped them by 21 in Jordan-Hare while Alabama has looked like national title contenders for the past two months. Yet, the Tide were beyond fortunate to get out of the Plains today with a win.
It didn’t have to be pretty, and it wasn’t at all, but Alabama found a way to win. Now, they have to regroup as they head to Atlanta next weekend in a de facto Playoff quarterfinal game against Georgia. A thrilling victory like this against Auburn must be celebrated, but Nick Saban’s goal isn’t to beat Auburn, but to collect hardware.
4 and 31 đ#RollTide pic.twitter.com/MzmbnnnPXV
— Alabama Football (@AlabamaFTBL) November 26, 2023
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