- [Narrator] It's November 30th, 2013.
We're in Auburn, Alabama for the 78th Iron Bowl.
The number four Tigers have drawn even
with the number one Crimson Tide at 28,
and with just one second left Nick Saban has sent out
his kicking team for a 57 yard field goal,
hoping to either break the tie,
or move on to overtime.
Whoever wins here tonight will move on
to the SEC Championship, and likely
play for the National Title.
This snap is set to dictate much of the
college football season.
And you likely remember what comes next,
but for everything that made it special
and truly matter, let's rewind.
It goes without saying that these schools hate each other,
but that hate has led to some incredible performances,
and fueled some even more incredible comebacks.
The first time the game came here to Jordan-Hare Stadium
was in 1989 when Auburn pulled off a 30-20
upset that ended Alabama's national title hopes,
and possibly even worse made them share the
SEC Championship with Tennessee.
In '84 a missed block by Bo Jackson
on fourth and goal capped off Alabama's victory
over the number 11 Tigers.
In 1972 Alabama came in as a two touchdown favorite,
but Auburn blocked two punts in the final
five and a half, returning both for scores to win 17 to 16.
Legendary coach Bear Bryant even admitted that
nothing matters more than beating that cow college
on the other side of the state.
Recently that statement has held even more weight
considering the winner of the last four Iron Bowls
has gone on to be crowned National Champ.
But for Auburn after “The Camback” in 2010,
the Tigers hadn't shown up in back to back match ups.
In 2011 they put up 14 points,
all of which came from defensive scores,
before getting shut out a season later.
So in the first quarter of tonight's game
when Auburn QB Nick Marshall took off for
a 45 yard touchdown to open the scoring,
it marked more than just the first offensive points
scored by the Tigers in three years,
it also represented hope that this rivalry could
be competitive again.
And.
Well.
Yeah
- [Will] But it hadn't been expected that Auburn
would make it this close this quick.
After Cam Newton made Gene Chizik look competent in 2010,
Auburn struggled to replicate that success.
Their title defense came up well short as they
alternated wins and losses from October on.
Offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn left to coach
Arkansas State, and with him went the Tigers offense.
They tumbled from best in the nation with Cam,
to outside the top 100 in total offense,
in a season where they finished with just three wins.
They were winless in SEC play,
and once Chizik got the boot,
the Gus Bus pulled back into the station,
and with it, the hope for anything
that resembled an offense.
While a turnaround was expected,
it wasn't forecasted to happen in Malzahn's first year back.
The Tigers entered the season unranked,
and needed some late magic from Marshall,
just to sneak past Mississippi State.
After a loss in Baton Rouge,
Auburn strung together a couple wins,
and a shootout victory over Johnny Manziel
in College Station, hurled Auburn up the ranks.
But two weeks before the Iron Bowl
it looked like their ride was over.
Down one late to Georgia they were facing fourth and 18,
when this happened.
- [Announcer] Let's it go.
Oh my gosh.
Oh my goodness.
Oh no.
- [Will] The Prayer at Jordan-Hare moved Auburn up to
number four in the nation for their showdown with Alabama,
making it the highest ranked Iron Bowl ever,
and just the second time both teams were in the top five.
And unlike other times Bama has faced a
fellow top five team,
at 28 all, the Tide have let this one get competitive.
While Auburn's turnaround surprised some,
Alabama had dominated it's schedule,
pretty much as expected.
They were coming off back-to-back
National Championships.
The most recent being their complete
annihilation of Notre Dame,
and were projected to take home a third straight.
They came into the season ranked number one,
and hadn't left that spot since.
The toughest test for the Tide,
came in their second game of the year at
sixth ranked Texas A&M.
But even that wasn't as close as
the final score indicates.
Since then they beat opponents by an average of 43 points,
so Vegas was being polite,
to give this just a ten point spread.
With AJ McCarron, Amari Cooper, and TJ Yeldon,
most believed their offense would be too much for
Auburn to handle.
The only person reckless enough to not pick Bama
was Sir Charles Barkley.
- [Charles] But Nick Marshall is gonna come up big,
and first of all it's not gonna be an upset.
- [Kirk] Okay.
- [Will] Once Alabama's offense woke up in the
second quarter it looked like Chuck was right,
at least about there not being an upset.
McCarron hit Jalston Fowler for their first score,
then connected with Kevin Norwood for a 20 yard touchdown,
after a Tre Mason fumble gave them a short field.
Following an Auburn punt, Yeldon barreled in
to make it 21 unanswered for Alabama.
And even though they haven't held onto that lead,
they're still in position to win it right here.
But from 57 yards out, this kick is essentially
a different type of Hail Mary.
That left even Verne and Gary confused.
- [Gary] They're gonna try a field goal?
- [Will] 60 minutes ago,
it would have made a little more sense.
Alabama's kicker senior Cade Foster
came into this game on a roll.
He hadn't missed a field goal attempt
since his first try of the season,
and had even drilled a 53 yarder against Ole Miss,
but tonight that went out the window.
In the first quarter he sent a 44 yard kick wide left.
A chance at redemption wouldn't come until
the start of the fourth which he knocked
through from 28 yards out,
but a false start penalty forced a re-kick
from 33 which he badly missed, again to the left.
Nine minutes later, Saban avoided his struggling kicker,
going for it on fourth down instead of
attempting a 30 yard field goal,
that would put them up 10.
A gamble that didn't work out.
Foster would later get a chance to put Bama
up double digits late, but
- [Verne] Cade Foster kicks it. It's gonna be wide left.
It's blocked. It's blocked.
- [Will] It just wouldn't be his night.
By the time Alabama was looking at a 57 yarder to win it,
Foster had lost his chance to play the hero.
He was replaced by a freshman kicker,
who even Verne didn't know.
- [Verne] It's Adrian Griffin.
- [Will] It's actually Adam Griffith,
who had only attempted two kicks all season,
making one from 20 and missing the other from 30.
Whether Saban had seen enough of Foster,
or didn't want to further shake the senior
in case he was needed in overtime,
Griffith lined up with one second left looking to end it.
But wait, who's this little guy down here?
So that's senior cornerback Chris Davis.
He's a real long way from the ball,
but a moment earlier he wasn't even on the field.
Auburn originally sent fellow DB Ryan Smith
to the end zone in case the kick came up short,
but realizing they had someone a little better
at returns, called a timeout to make the switch.
Davis, one of just a handful of players
remaining from the Tigers 2010 National Championship,
was leading the nation in punt return average.
Against Tennessee, even after a muff,
he took one to the house, which sparked an Auburn rout.
And afterwards let the media know
he didn't need much to do something special.
- [Chris] I seen that I had a little space.
All I need is a little crease and I can do
something with the ball like that.
- [Will] On top of those duties, he entered tonight
as Auburn's leading tackler,
but while he added another 10 to his total,
back in the fourth Auburn probably wished their
top defensive back had been closer to the action
on one play in particular.
With Alabama in the shadow of their goalpost
following an Auburn punt,
Davis was up at the line playing the contain
on an expected rush attempt.
But coming off the play action McCarron
unloaded one deep to the opposite side of the field.
Amari Cooper just had to shake off one
would be tackler, while the trailing corner
could only watch as Alabama took a seven point lead.
And when Auburn got the ball back,
still trailing 28-21 with two and a half minutes remaining,
it felt like Bama's defense would hang on.
The Tigers last four drives had ended with three punts
and a turnover on downs,
as the Tide had clamped down on their use of the option.
It felt like only a matter of time,
considering they were facing a quarterback
who began his career as a three-star
defensive back at Georgia,
and was still just in his first season
leading the Auburn offense.
But as he'd been asked to do throughout the season,
Marshall once again looked to bail Auburn out
with under a minute to play.
After handing it off to Tre Mason for six straight rushes,
Marshall kept the ball himself.
As the defender bit, he found Sammie Coates
with nothing but space around him.
And now both sides hoped for a different sort of miracle.
The fact that there's still one second
on the clock is a pretty good start for Alabama.
Starting from their own 29, with just 25 seconds
remaining, the idea of getting close enough,
even for a Hail Mary pass took a hit
when McCarron had to dance around the pocket
before getting rid of the ball which quickly
killed nine seconds.
Alabama then seemed content to head to overtime,
but on second down Yeldon gained enough
that Saban called one of their two remaining time outs.
With seven seconds left the booth expected an end zone shot.
- [Verne] Here comes Alabama's Hail Mary.
- [Will] But instead they ran the same draw,
which Yeldon took towards the Alabama sideline.
He was met by Chris Davis, who not only forced him out,
but unintentionally became an obstacle for
Yeldon that kept him from actually reaching the sideline,
until after the clock hit zero.
As CBS decided it was going to overtime,
officials gathered and took a look at the play.
Following the review they put one second
back on the clock, which brings us back to here.
- [Gary] They're gonna try a field goal?
- [Will] And from past to future, there's a lot on the line.
We've watched two bitter rivals trade scores all night long,
with the winner moving on to the SEC Championship,
and possibly a chance at the National Title from there.
Alabama's kickers would probably rather
throw out the game tape from tonight,
but now they're being asked to win it here.
Auburn is looking to cap off a turnaround season
that few expected to happen in Malzahn's first year.
And their senior corner waits,
hoping to guide the tigers back to the title game.
After 60 minutes it comes down to this.
Welcome to a moment in history.
- [Announcer] It's got, no.
It does not have the leg.
And Chris Davis takes it in the back of the end zone.
He'll run it out to the 10, 15, 20, 25, 30
35, 40, 45, 50, 45 there goes Davis.
- [Other Announcer] Oh my god!
- [Announcer] Davis is gonna run it all the way back.
Auburn is gonna win the football game.
- [Will] Oh hey. You're still here.
So you probably enjoy when bad things happen to Bama,
in which case you'll like our if/then about
what would have happened if Tebow committed
there instead of Florida, or here's another
college football rewinder.
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