Hugh Freeze Breaks Down Final Play of the Iron Bowl

Auburn lost on a Hail Mary to the Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday.

The heave from Milroe on fourth-and-goal from the 31 was caught by Isaiah Bond in the corner of the endzone to give the Tide a 27-24 victory, one that the Tigers squandered twice with time winding down in the fourth quarter.

It's one of the most painful losses Tiger faithful have had to experience.

Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze broke down the discussion he and the coaches had regarding the play after the game.

"We had a lot of discussion on that, because they had a timeout and we saw what they were in, and they were in empty," Freeze said. "So your choices are do we rush him? and if you do, we haven’t really gotten him on the ground very much. He can scramble around, and you’re going to have a bunch of one on ones back there, and one of their guys goes up and makes a play. Or, you can drop everybody and play 5-under, 3-deep and just play vision on the ball and knock the ball down because it has to go in the endzone, and that’s the choice we made. I can show you still shots, I took pictures of every still shot from the ten-yard line in, and we are in perfect position. We’ve got three over two, and so either we didn’t coach it well enough, or we didn’t execute it well enough and it’s probably a combination of both."

It's probably a combination of both. Somehow, the Tigers managed to scratch and claw their way to a four-point lead late in the fourth quarter. The game was almost won. They just couldn't hang onto a punt.

And they couldn't stop fourth-and-goal from the 31-yard line.

If anyone understands miracles do happen, it's Auburn fans.

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