This one is on Mike Bobo, and Bryan Harsin by extension. You can’t ask for more than 10 points allowed in regulation to Alabama, with 7 sacks and back to back fourth down stops in the fourth quarter. Derek Mason called a whale of a game, even if he did get a little shy with the blitzes later on and gave Bryce Young more time to throw the ball. The defense played the best game it’s had in the last decade for 59 minutes, and shouldn’t have even had that last touchdown drive by Alabama hung on their necks. During Auburn’s 4-game losing streak, the Tigers led by double digits in three of them, and the coaches couldn’t put the players in the right positions to hold on. There’s nothing else to define this game other than saying that we let them off the hook. I can’t pretend that this one didn’t hurt any more than just about any other Auburn loss in recent memory. This is what we get for not running the damn ball- joshdub November 27, 2021 So many what-ifs will haunt us for the next year, and that’s alright. In the end, this Alabama team is a shell of the one that’s won titles, and I fully expect them to get whacked by Georgia next week (if we can do what we did to their soft offensive line, Georgia will feast), and I can’t help but think what happens if we have a healthy Bo Nix for this game. Auburn’s defense played the best game its’ played in years, and deserved to get a monumental victory.
You can blame a littany of different things for this game slipping away, but Mike Bobo’s play-calling allowed the clock to stay stopped more times than we needed, and Tank Bigsby’s run out of bounds also allowed Bama to save precious seconds. We controlled the game for roughly 3.5 quarters, leading until the final :35. In years past, the Tigers have taken average teams and hung around for 2.5 quarters, but this time was different. Auburn has always gotten up for the Iron Bowl, and this year was an extreme version. This one hurts like crazy, but only because we know that we let this game slip away. And the new OT rules are stupid and should be fired into the sun. Not going for 2 at the end of the first OT is what will haunt me the most from this game. Roger McCreary played the game of his life and deserves all the praise for his efforts today. They just got asked to hold one too many times as the defense was gassed. That defense deserved a better fate for how well they played to put themselves in a position to win that game. Hats off to the kids for playing their tails off. I don’t forgive calling those passes with a 1 legged QB. Throwing on first down after your defense gets an INT. Throwing the ball on 3rd down under 5 minutes. In a game where our players fought valiantly it came down to coaching. There’s a ton to unpack here, so let’s start with our immediate thoughts. Auburn fell in quadruple overtime to Alabama 24-22, and let a huge victory slip away in the process.