Final Auburn Stock Report after 28-14 Iron Bowl Loss to Alabama

The Auburn Tigers season came to an end in a 28-14 loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide in the Iron Bowl. There was good. There was bad. There was familiar, and there were some surprise performances.

We take one-final stock report from the game in Tuscaloosa as Auburn turns its head to Wednesday's National Signing Day hoping to lock up another top-10 class.

Putting Points on the Scoreboard – DOWN

This is an area all season that has plagued the 5-7 Tigers. They’ll move the ball between the 20s but will struggle to get points deep in opponents’ territory.

In the first half Auburn ran 21 offensive plays on Alabama’s side of the field. 15 of those inside Alabama’s 25, nine in the red zone, and three plays inside the three. None of those plays resulted in a touchdown.

Auburn’s first scoring opportunity ended in a missed Ian Vachon 39-yard field goal attempt that hooked left. The result of that carried over to Auburn’s next attempt deep in Alabama territory as Hugh Freeze opted to go for it on a fourth down.

On the first play of the second quarter down 7-0, with 4th and 4 at the Tide 19, Payton Thorne threw an incompletion on what looked like a throwaway by the senior playing in his final collegiate game.

The opportunities were plentiful in the first half. After a 31-yard throw over the middle to Malcolm Simmons and a personal foul on Alabama defensive back Malachi Moore at the end of the play, Auburn was again threatening in the second quarter.

False starts by the Tigers offensive line were an issue all game despite a crowd that wasn’t all that raucous by SEC standards. Playing behind the chains was again an issue in the Alabama red zone, but even more of a problem was Thorne’s inability to complete drives.

He missed an open KeAndre Lambert-Smith in the Alabama end zone on a well setup screen and go, that started off identical to an orbit screen for Simmons on the previous possession. The call opened up Lambert-Smith, but the ball was poorly thrown.

Then on a 3rd and 15 Thorne was faced with a blitz, Jarquez Hunter was wide open over the middle and underneath the Bama safeties. However, Thorne opted to lob the ball to Hunter, giving Moore time to blast Hunter as he was making the catch.

The ball fell incomplete, and a made 37-yard field goal by Vachon, cut Alabama’s lead to 7-3.

Auburn’s defense allowed 457 yards and four offensive touchdowns, but it also came up with four turnovers. Down 14-3 nearing the end of the half, Jalen McLeod went around Kadyn Proctor at left tackle, ran down Jalen Milroe for the strip and Philip Blidi recovered.

Auburn’s offense started with a short field for the first time in what feels like all season. Starting at the Alabama 34-yard line Auburn quickly got back into the Alabama red zone.

After tight end screen to Rivaldo Fairweather off a fake rollout the opposite way, Auburn had a 1st down at the Alabama 2-yard line. However, Auburn squandered its best opportunity of the game and walked away with just three points.

Hunter was stopped behind the line on a toss play from the two, but a Thorne counter got the ball inches from the goal line for a third-down play. The Auburn offense ran hurry-up, snapped it quickly, and that led to unblocked Tide defenders and a Bama defensive stop.

There wasn’t much need for such a quick tempo as there were 29 seconds left in the first half and Auburn had a timeout remaining. Freeze owned his mistake on the tempo call with post-game media, and Thorne did the same with his missed touchdown to Lambert-Smith.

At halftime it felt as if Auburn was in bad shape down just 14-6. The offense wasn’t going to get that many opportunities in the second half. And defensively, turnovers were the reason that Alabama hadn’t finished its drives with touchdowns.

The Crimson Tide dominated the early stages of the third quarter and claimed a 28-6 lead. Auburn struck back with a touchdown from Thorne to Cam Coleman and a two-point conversion run by Hunter.

Touchdown TIGERS‼️

Payton Thorne finds @CamColeman12 for the 29 yard score. https://t.co/I3ZiSHy9nB pic.twitter.com/bwupwMqkV2
— Auburn Football (@AuburnFootball) November 30, 2024

With the deficit cut to 14, McLeod rose up again, this time coming off the other edge. He tracked down Milroe, stripped the ball out, and it was recovered by Keldric Faulk. After a couple of first downs the Tigers were 30 yards away from cutting it to a seven-point game early in the fourth.

However, a trick play went awry. With quad receivers left, Thorne threw a lateral to Hunter. From there the play had two passing options – throw back to Thorne on the screen (which was covered), or throw deep for Lambert-Smith across the field, (which was also covered).

Hunter probably should have just taken the lost yardage, but he threw downfield for Lambert-Smith. It was right to free safety Bray Hubbard for the pick.

From there the Tide held on to its 28-14 advantage.

Defense Forcing Turnovers – UP

Auburn had only forced 13 turnovers through 11 games of the season, but the defense picked off Milroe once and forced four other fumbles, recovering three.

Early on Milroe hit Ryan Williams for a big gain over the middle, but Kaleb Harris was able to knock the ball loose on the tackle while Eugene Asante recovered.

Shortly thereafter, Faulk ripped the ball out of Milroe’s hands as he was running up field, but the Tide was able to maintain possession.

In the second quarter Alabama had driven from its own 19 to the Auburn 35 when safety Caleb Wooden picked off an overthrown ball over the middle.

Then there were the two previously mentioned forced fumbles by McLeod that not only changed possession but gave the Tigers’ offense a shot at points with good starting field position.

Don't forget to block 3️⃣5️⃣@_JayRashaan pic.twitter.com/QhMewu793O
— Auburn Football (@AuburnFootball) November 30, 2024

However, Auburn was only able to come up with six points off the four turnovers.

Third Down Defense – Down

Setting aside Alabama’s kneel down at the end of the first half, the Tide’s offense had four drives end in touchdowns, four drives end on turnovers, and only three drives ending with a punt. The defensive Tigers had a tough time getting off the field allowing Alabama to convert 12 of 18 third-down conversions.

The Auburn defense forced one punt in the first three quarters of the game, and if not for the four turnovers Alabama could have scored way more than 28 points.

Alabama’s offense was an incredible 10 of 10 on 3rd downs between 5-8 yards to go. It was 4-8 in 3rd and Short (1-4 yards to go), 1-4 on 3rd and Long (9+).

Auburn’s Run Offense – Down

It looked early on as if Hunter was going to have a big day on the ground, but that didn’t prove to be the case.

After a first quarter that saw Hunter go 5 carries for 48 yards, including runs of 19 and 21, the Auburn senior tailback was shut down in his final collegiate game.

Starting with Alabama’s goal-line stop of Auburn right before half, Hunter averaged negative yards per attempt the rest of the way.

Hunter finished the season with 1,206 yards on the ground, and his career with 3,376 yards. His tally against the Crimson Tide was good enough to get him to fourth on Auburn’s all-time rushing list.

Worth noting, Lambert-Smith finished his only season at Auburn with 981 yards after a 116-yard performance in the Iron Bowl.

Auburn at Alabama postgame notes

November 30, 2024; Bryant-Denny Stadium; Tuscaloosa, Ala.

>> Captains: Eugene Asante, Luke Deal, Jerrin Thompson, Jeremiah Wright

>> Coin Toss: Alabama wins the toss and defers; Auburn will receive

TEAM NOTES

>> First-time starters for Auburn: none

>> Auburn has scored in a school-record 154 consecutive games

INDIVIDUAL NOTES/OFFENSE

>> Jarquez Hunter is fourth among Auburn career rushers with 3,371 yards, passing Ben Tate (3,321 from 2006-09) and Joe Cribbs (3,368 from 1976-79); next is James Brooks (3,523 from 1977-80)

>> Hunter’s 1,201 yards this season rank 19th among Auburn single season rushers all-time

>> Hunter ranks sixth in Auburn career all-purpose yardage with 4,446 yards; next is Joe Cribbs (4,561 from 1976-79), Onterio McCalebb (4,566 from 2009-12), Bo Jackson (4,892 from 1982-85)

>> Cam Coleman is third in Auburn freshman receiving with 598 yards, passing Seth Williams (534 in 2018); next is Freddy Weygand (796 in 1984)

>> Coleman has eight touchdown catches this season, second most ever by an Auburn freshman behind Ronney Daniels (9 in 1999)q

>> Malcolm Simmons ranks fifth in Auburn freshman receiving with 451 yards to date, just behind Cam Coleman

>> Payton Thorne has 21 touchdown passes this season and 36 at Auburn

>> Luke Deal has set an Auburn record appearing in 65 career games

>> Rivaldo Fairweather is tied for the Auburn lead in career tight end receptions with 68 with John Samuel Shenker (68 from 2018-22)

>> Fairweather is fourth among Auburn tight ends in career receiving yardage with 763, passing Robert Johnson (741 from 2000-02); next is Fred Baxter (767 from 1990-92), John Samuel Shenker (779 from 2018-22)

INDIVIDUAL NOTES/DEFENSE

>> Kaleb Harris records his first career forced fumble; Eugene Asante records his second fumble recovery at Auburn

>> Keldric Faulk records his first and second career forced fumbles

>> Caleb Wooden records his first interception of the season and second of his career

>> Jalen McLeod records his second and third forced fumbles at Auburn

>> Philip Blidi records his first Auburn fumble recovery

>> Jalen McLeod has 13.5 sacks and 23.0 TFL for his Auburn career

INDIVIDUAL NOTES/SPECIAL TEAMS

>> Oscar Chapman is now the leader in Auburn career punts with 246, passing Lewis Colbert (244 punts from 1982-85)