Confidence Was Obvious for Alabama in Iron Bowl Victory
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — It’s amazing what confidence can do for a football team.
Carnell Williams took over as interim coach for Auburn a month ago. Since then, a switch has been flipped. Auburn has energy and resembles an SEC contender.
But we’re not talking about Auburn.
Alabama took a punch to the mouth in the first quarter but responded with a series of haymakers in Saturday’s 49-27 Iron Bowl win at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Alabama had that swagger that seemed to be absent all season—the kind of swagger Alabama’s previous six championship teams were known for.
“I’m proud of this team, to win 10 games, to go through a rough patch when Bryce (Young) was hurt,” Saban said. “Now that he’s healthy I think that makes us a different team.
“What I’m most proud of is when everybody thought they were out of it and there were a lot of naysayers out there, this team didn’t give up on themselves or each other.”
It was evident from the first play. Running back Jahmyr Gibbs, who missed last week with an injury, burst up the middle for a 13-yard gain. It was a statement—you can’t stop us.
It was Auburn that was unstoppable on its first scoring drive. Robby Ashford racked up 49 rushing yards, including a 19-yard touchdown run to put the Tigers up 7-0.
Alabama didn’t take long to answer. Young stayed in the pocket for an extra second or two to give Jermaine Burton time to get open. The result was a 52-yard bomb for an Alabama first-and-goal. Young later walked into the end zone for the first Tide touchdown to even the score 7-7.
Alabama scored on its next drive on a 10-yard catch from Jase McClellan from Young. Alabama then recovered a fumble and Roydell Williams scored to make it 21-7 and the rout was on.
“We did a lot of quality control for this game to break every tendency that we have,” Saban said. “We did some different formations, different presentations of things that we did, different play-action passes, and it paid off for us.”
For obvious reasons, Young was the story of the game. It’s almost a guarantee Saturday was his final game at Bryant-Denny Stadium, and the NFL Draft awaits the junior, who is Alabama’s only Heisman Trophy winning quarterback.
Young was a prolific 20 of 30 passing for 343 yards and three touchdowns, including one rushing score. All that was possible because of the guys up front—Tyler Steen, Javion Cohen, Seth McLaughlin, Emil Ekiyor Jr. and JC Latham.
The offensive line kept Young out of harm’s way—he had so much time in the pocket he could have checked his phone to find out where he is on the latest NFL Draft projections. Spoiler alert: some services have him No. 1 overall.
“It comes down to what we’ve talked about all season, execution and getting all 11 guys to do their job on every single play,” said right guard Emil Ekiyor Jr. “We had times this season where 10 guys would do the right thing and one guys would mess up and derail the whole thing. To see it work out today shows that we are playing our best ball.”
Auburn has struggled to find its passing game. The Tigers have gone over 100 yards just once in its last three games and had 77 yards against Alabama. A stat like that should have a defensive coordinator rejoicing, until you peek at the Auburn run game numbers.
With the passing game in disarray— the Tigers passed for just 17 yards in the second half—Auburn stuck to the ground.
And it was quite effective. Auburn finished with a season high 318 rushing yards with Robby Ashford accounting for 121 yards and Jarquez Hunter 134.
“Some of those plays they were running I haven’t seen since Pop Warner,” Saban said. “They are good plays, and they are hard to defend. They attacked us on the edges.”
That might have been enough to win against any other team, but not against Young and Alabama.
The running game was a nice complement to Young's passing performance. Gibbs led the way with 76 yards on 17 carries with a 23-yard touchdown. Jase McClellan had 44 yards on 11 carries with a 10-yard scoring run, and Young even got in on the rushing action, going for 48 yards on five carries with the TD run.
“We needed to focus on ourselves and win our one-on-ones and I think we did a great job of that,” Gibbs said. “We made some big plays and finished.”
See Also:
Bryce Young's Legacy is a Memory that Won't Fade Anytime Soon
'This is All We Have, But This is all We Need' Personifies This Alabama Team
Three Years Later, Will Anderson's Gamble Pays Off with Legendary Crimson Tide Career
Auburn HC Cadillac Williams: "We Didn't Get It Done"
Everything Nick Saban Said After Alabama Won the Iron Bowl
Everything Interim Coach Cadillac Williams Said After Auburn's Loss at Alabama
Instant Analysis: No. 7 Alabama Football 49, Auburn 27 at the Iron Bowl
Notebook: Saban Leaves Iron Bowl With Bloody Cheek
Alabama's Playoff Path Continues to Strengthen, Take Shape
No. 7 Alabama Wins Iron Bowl over Auburn, 49-27
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