21 Things I Noticed In Alabama's 27-24 Victory Over the Auburn Tigers

The Crimson Tide pulled off one of the most improbable plays in Iron Bowl history on Saturday night in Jordan-Hare Stadium.

It was never supposed to be close as No. 8 Alabama entered Jordan-Hare Stadium last Saturday to take on the Auburn Tigers. The Crimson Tide entered as a 14-point favorite and already SEC West champions, but it took all 60 minutes to defeat the Tigers and win the 88th Iron Bowl.

Why was the game so close? What went wrong for the Crimson Tide? We go drive-by-drive to dissect the game and point out things that worked, and things that caused the Crimson Tide headaches in the regular season final. 

1. Alabama's defense with a perfect start

The Alabama Crimson Tide's defense set the tone for the Iron bowl by forcing the Tigers to go three-and-out. The first series was really about Dallas Turner and Chris Braswell speeding up Peyton Thorne and the Tigers as we look at it play-by-play.

• Snap 1 - 1-and-10: This is a play-action right off the bat to try to influence the linebackers, Deontae Lawson and Jihaad Campbell do step away but recover nicely. Turner does a brilliant job holding up the tight end who's trying to get out into a route. Once Turner comes off Luke Deal he's right on top of Peyton Thorne forcing a quick decision that goes awry. 
• Snap 2 - 2-10: Alabama chooses to drop-eight as both sides are sort of feeling each other out. Thorne takes a quick read to the sideline but his receiver can't stay in bounds.
• Snap 3 - 3-10: False start Auburn.
• Snap 4 - 3-15: Alabama's ends, particularly Braswell, force Thorne off his spot quickly and he rolls out. There's no one open but he throws a pass downfield. Unfortunately for Thorne he's across the line of scrimmage for another penalty. Alabama's edge rushers win the first series of the day.
• Snap 5 - Punt goes unfielded by Caleb Downs.

2. Jalen Milroe's forgotten conversion

So all the attention is going to Jalen Milroe's 4th-and-31 conversion to Bond at the end of the game, and we will get to that when it comes, however let's not forget his conversion to Malik Benson on the Crimson Tide's opening drive to enable it to take a 7-0 lead.

• Snap 1 - 1-10: Jase McClellan and the Alabama offensive line set the tone from the start with an inside zone going for 12 yards. McClellan hits the hole hard as the line has some decent run-fits.
• Snap 2 - 1-10: Milroe finds Jermaine Burton on a stick route to the outside for a quick first down. Auburn dropped into zone and Milroe made a quick choice to keep the chains moving.
• Snap 3 - 1-10: Tommy Rees gets into 12 for the first time and calls a toss play for McClellan. The offensive line aggressively blocks for a six-yard gain. Too aggressive for the officials as JC Latham is called for unnecessary roughness off screen. 
• Snap 4 - 2-15: Because the penalty was after the play the Tide got backed up on the chains. Rees tries a sweep of sorts with Kendrick Law. Amari NiBlack slips out of his stance and gets a poor block as the Auburn defender defeats the double team and makes a play.
• Snap 5 - 3-17: This is a special play for Milroe. He wants to through to Burton and looks him down out of the snap, but Auburn has him covered nicely. Milroe feels backside pressure and calmly slides his feet back into the pocket and looks backside to find Benson for the conversion. Really nice offensive play all around by the Alabama offensive line, Milroe and Benson. 
• Snap 6 - 1-10: Milroe finds Burton left one-on-one and hits him on a 12-yard stick route for another first down. Auburn is quickly finding out it has a problem in man-to-man coverage.
• Snap 7 - 1-10: Back in 12 personnel and another probing handoff, this time to Williams. He finds a gap off the tight-end stack for nine yards and the Tide continues to march. 
• Snap 8 - 2-1: Williams plunges into the end zone from three-yards away to give Alabama the lead. The Alabama offensive line really deserves credit as it was moving the Tigers defenders off the ball pretty consistently on interior running plays.

3. Referee's rattled begins domino effect

The game has started out perfectly for the Crimson Tide, a quick stop on defense and a methodical drive on offense put Alabama ahead 7-0. Then the madness really began for the 88th Iron Bowl.

Will Reichard's kick was fielded by Brian Battie who was tackled at the 6-yard line. Battie made it to the 10, but was face masked by Law who was simultaneously being blocked in the back. This is where the officials started to lose their grip. Stripes only called a penalty on Auburn for a blocking in the back, sending Jordan-Hare into a frenzy and thus rattling the officials. A correct call would have been offsetting penalties and the Tigers starting on the 10-yard line, instead the penalty was called and Auburn opened up on the 4-yard line.

• Snap 1 - 1-10: Auburn is clearly shaken by the penalty, and while it was a missed call it truly only cost the Tigers four or five yards of field position. Auburn does the smart thing and gets into 12 personnel and runs an inside hand-off for a four-yard gain to settle its players down and get its back off the goal line. 
• Snap 2 - 2-6: It's not the exact same play, but it's close as the Tigers remain in 12 and call an inside handoff, looks like a bit of a trap with Downs blowing it up by blitzing from the star position. 
• Snap 3 - 3-4: Peyton Thorne misses Jarquez Hunter out of the backfield. Hunter is open and may have run for the first down thanks to the picks set by the Auburn receivers. Thorne's first two drives are very poor play by the transfer quarterback. 

4. Penalty negates a touchdown

The Crimson Tide get derailed by a penalty, forcing a punt. Was it a makeup call? Perhaps. Did Auburn find an answer on defense? Perhaps.

• Snap 1 - 1-10: Alabama comes out in the pistol set, and McClellan is bottled up for a loss on an inside zone handoff. No one sealed the backside of the play, allowing the Auburn defender to make a clean tackle. Robbie Ouzts blocks A backside defender, but unfortunately not the most dangerous man on the play.
• Snap 2 - 2-9: Milroe scrambles for six yards but I think Auburn found something it likes with this look. The Tigers only rush the three and do a good job of keeping Milroe in the pocket until the last second. The secondary clearly does a good job matching the deep routes and the Tide's underneath receivers are being watched by other Auburn defenders. This is the first sign of the passing game being slowed in this contest.
• Snap 3 - 3-3: McClellan gets stopped after minimal gain after a strangely executed play. Burton fakes a jet-sweep and unfortunately doesn't take any second-level players out of their gaps, the backside inside linebacker just patiently waits for the traffic to clear and makes the tackle to bring up fourth down. 
• Snap 4 - 4-1: First, I love going for it on fourth and short in plus territory. This Alabama offensive front combined with the rushing weapons should make it a no-brainer. Second, I love Alabama going under-center here for this play call. Third, I love that the Tide has three tight-ends on the field for this play, Ouzts, CJ Dippre and Miles Kitselman. Alabama uses Law on an end around and he breaks open for a 41-yard score. Unfortunately Dippre is called for holding and it forces the Tide to punt instead. 

5. Bad Alabama eye discipline leads to Tigers Touchdown

All it takes against a Hugh Freeze led offense is a little layoff in focus. That's exactly what plagued the Crimson Tide on the third drive of the game and wastes the strong start that Alabama had built.

• Snap 1 - 1-10: It becomes a huge problem when both inside linebackers misplay a run. First Trezmen Marshall is who Peyton Thorne appears to be reading and the mesh holds Marshall in place, his partner Lawson doesn't get over the top and into the fit, causing Marshall to chase down Jarquez Hunter while Arnold and Malachi Moore play and fight off blocks of their own. 
• Snap 2 - 1-10: Downs is rushing in from the star position, so what is Marshall looking at? When the guard pulls it should be taking Marshall directly to the play but he waits and gets blocked on the play. Without Marshall in the picture the run becomes Hunter on Jaylen Key one-on-one in the hole, the hole that Key fills poorly as he's dropping on the snap of the football. Key misses the one-on-one tackle and Hunter rips off a huge gain. Credit Dallas for chasing down the play before it became even worse. 
• Snap 3 - 1-10: Damari Alston takes the outside zone play for a nine-yard gain. Its tough to ask freshman Downs to set the edge but both he and Tim Smith set one but are washed up field on the run. Marshall is blocked eight-yards down the field and Key does fill nicely this time to make a stop before a first down is gained.
• Snap 4 - 2-1: Auburn goes quickly and calls a simple inside zone for a quick first down and sets up a first and goal. 
• Snap 5 - 1-Goal: The Tigers are under center and in 12 personnel in a tight bunch formation. They've run it successfully to this point so why stop? Auburn calls a bit of a stretch zone to the right side where Alston cuts back and scores from four-yards away. Alston ran right over Marshall at the line of scrimmage to get into the end zone and tie the game. 
• Alabama was walked down the field in the running game because of poor eye control leading to bad gap integrity, add in a little bit of softness at the point of attack and you have a five-play, 68-yard touchdown drive and a tie game.

6. Settling for field goals in the red zone

Alabama allowed Auburn to hang around in this game due to its own inability to finish inside the red zone. The Crimson Tide settled for the first of its three field goal tries in Auburn territory and while Reichard converts, it leaves a sour taste for what could have been. 

• Snap 1 - 1-10: Milroe just makes a play here. Rees calls a two-man pass pattern into a zone defense. There's no reason for this play to be successful as the Tigers have seven defenders for two guys. Milroe escapes the pocket to shorten the throw and finds Bond left alone as an Auburn defender guards grass.
• Snap 2 - 1-10: Milroe throws an RPO out to Burton who's got eight-yards of cushion on the snap. Burton's early wins create the space that Milroe utilizes. 
• Snap 3 - 1-10: Alabama timeout
• Snap 5 - 2-7:  JAM Miller takes a five-yard gain off the left edge thanks to a devastating seal block from Law. 
• Snap 6 - 3-2: Alabama gives Miller a handoff on inside zone for a first down and keeps the drive going.
• Snap 7 - 1-10: The Tide is in 12 again for a play-action pass. Auburn brings five with a spy and moves Milroe off his spot quickly who eventually throws the ball away to avoid a sack. 
• Snap 8 - 2-10: McClellan works an inside handoff for seven yards as the Alabama line gets a hat on a hat. 
• Snap 9 - 3-3: Auburn only rushes three and Milroe takes advantage by sitting in the pocket and waiting for things to open. The Crimson Tide quarterback pulls down the ball and scrambles for a short gain but a first down.
• Snap 10 - 1-10: Alabama gets into my favorite offensive formation of 2023, 12 personnel pistol and hands the ball off to McClellan. He makes a man miss in the hole on the final play of the quarter. 
• Snap 11 - 2-5: The Tide tries to fake an option and have Milroe run but the Tigers sniff it out with almost 10 players in the box. This may have been a good play to audible out of it Milroe has that power in the offense.
• Snap 12 - 3-8: Milroe rolls out into open space and throws a touchdown to NiBlack, the problem was he was ahead of the line of scrimmage, resulting in a loss of down penalty and brining on Reichard for a chip shot field goal.

7. Alabama bends but doesn't break

Alabama recovers a bit from the touchdown on the earlier drive and forces Auburn to punt after a drive that makes a decent gain. Give credit to the Alabama defensive front for forcing the Tigers into a third and long situation, making it easy to get off the field.

• Snap 1 - 1-10: Jarquez Hunter gains a few yards off the edge. Pay attention to Arnold, starts in man coverage and begins the snap covering his man, recognizes the play and fills the run lane while taking on a blocker. Impressive play in the running game by the Alabama corner.
• Snap 2 - 2-8: Auburn rolls their play away from the blitz, good call Tigers on that, but Peyton Thorne completely misses his target. The Tigers still have zero yards passing as we're on the fourth drive of the game.
• Snap 3 - 3-8: Alabama brings five and goes man-to-man on the outside. Thorne completes an easy pass to Caleb Burton III over the middle of the field as Kool-Aid McKinstry and Malachi Moore had some confusion on matchups. Both defensive backs went with Koy Moore, leaving Burton all by himself for the first down.
• Snap 4 - 1-10: Thorne gets called to run a naked boot and gains four yards keeping the Tigers on track. 
• Snap 5 - 2-6: Auburn takes timeout.
• Snap 6 - 2-6: Auburn tries an outside zone out of 12 personnel that Hunter can't really make much of. Lawson reads it beautifully and while he doesn't come up with the tackle, his impact allows others to catch up for just a small gain.
• Snap 7 - 3-5: Thorne completes his second pass for a first down on a slant to Ja'Varrius Johnson right at the sticks. Alabama brought five and stayed in man-coverage on the outside, Johnson just made the reception right in front of Malachi Moore. 
• Snap 8 - 1-10: Hunter makes a good gain on a stretch play and beating Moore on a tackle attempt. Justin Eboigbe makes his first play of the game in pursuit. 
• Snap 9 - 2-4: Auburn runs Hunter in power off the right side and gains the first down. The Tigers are dictating the running game at this point as it seems like Kevin Steele is sort of guessing where it's coming from at the moment. 
• Snap 10 - 1-10: The guessing continues but this time it's Turner in the backfield for the Tide. Turner penetrates off the snap based off the play design and beats the Auburn blockers that are trying to take him out of the play.
• Snap 11 -2-15: Alabama rushes four and twists its front. Damon Payne and Turner both win off the line, resulting in a big sack for the Tide.
• Snap 12 - 3-20: Auburn concedes on third and long from midfield and just hands off to their tailback, resulting in a punt. 

8. Bama battles for field position

The Crimson Tide end up punting the ball back to the Tigers but after almost an entire field flip. The offense starts on its own 0-yard line making the drive impressive-enough but not strong enough for points. 

• Snap 1 - 1-10: Alabama gets in 'Tush Push' formation and pushes Milroe off its own goal line. The play doesn't go for much but it's important that Auburn sees this for later in the game.
• Snap 2 - 2-9: The Tide is in 12 while still backed up. The play is an inside handoff with Robbie Ouzts leading the way and or protecting the backside. McClellan sees space to the outside and gets upended. Does it look like the running back could have been patient and found a hole on the backside? 
• Snap 3 - 3-6: Auburn's defense brings five rushers and runs a stunt upfront. The Tide sends five into the pass pattern so it's one-on-ones across the board in protection. Watch as Kadyn Proctor is beat inside, then the looper gets into Milroe's vision as well. Tough rep for the freshman, but the quarterback finds NiBlack who gets a favorable spot and then review. You'd rather see NiBlack stick his shoulder down instead of dance to juke someone out right at the line to gain. 
• Snap 4 - 1-10: Another handoff to McClellan with Ouzts leading the way. The line does a nice job with the Auburn front for a five-yard gain.
• Snap 5 - 2-5: It's hard to tell on the TV copy if anyone breaks open in the passing pattern, but Auburn brings a fifth rusher late against just the five lineman up front. Senior Elijah McAllister takes Proctor into a drifting Milroe, who magically escapes and runs for a first down. It's plays like these that defenses can't account for that make Milroe so dangerous as the Crimson Tide's quarterback.
• Snap 6 - 1-10: Alabama uses Ouzts to seal off the backside as McClellan has another successful first down run. Does Latham block the right linebacker or was the run designed to go in a different hole more to the left side?
• Snap 7 - 2-4: This is unfortunate because Milroe makes a great decision while appearing to work through his progression. The line blocks the four rushers and it looks like at least Milroe's second, perhaps third read is to Bond who he chooses correctly, but throws the ball short trying to place it on his target.
• Snap 8 - 3-4: Auburn brings three with a green-dog late once Williams shows he's in protection. The Tigers, fearful of Milroe's legs, leave two backers to spy and while the Alabama quarterback picks out a man breaking open, he's late and he gets not help from his receiver. Had Milroe thrown it earlier he may have completed it, or held his ground in the pocket and picked out Benson in the drive concept. 

9. Missed tackles and bad steps lead to Auburn points

The Auburn Tigers strike before half with another TD drive consisting of all ground yards, poor eye control and bad gap integrity gives up big plays and the lead. 

• Snap 1 - 1-10: Lawson really struggles on this play, as well as Jaylen Key. The two together were late seeing this as they could have been in the gap at the line of scrimmage to stop this for minimal gain. Look at the :09 mark where Lawson hesitates, instead of following Campbell into the hole, then to top it off he misses the tackle allowing for Alston to have a big gain. 
• Snap 2 - 2-2: First give Hugh Freeze a lot of credit on this play design, there are bodies going everywhere. Next, realize this big gainer is caused by guys eyes in the wrong places. Lawson's eyes go with Alston getting the ball, but his body and steps take him to the left towards the quarterback, sealing his fate that he won't make the play. Campbell makes a good initial step and read, but then inexplicably jumps back inside, presumably to beat a blocker but it just takes him out of the play. Credit Key for chasing Alston out of bounds, but not before a huge gainer.
• Snap 3 - 1-10: The Tigers called an end around to Ja'Varrius Johnson who scored from 12-yards away. Johnson scored just as Campbell was coming across the formation to make the play. Kool-Aid McKinstry makes a weak effort to come up in run support and Key bit on the play fake causing him to be late to his positioning. The Auburn score made it 14-10 with 2:25 left in the first half. 

10. Milroe takes advantage of an Auburn busted coverage

Milroe hasn't always run the Alabama offense in the most efficient fashion, but he's shown he'll take advantage of a busted coverage and he did so again putting the Crimson Tide back on top. 

• Snap 1 - 1-10: McClellan gets the handoff as the Tide opens its next drive with something simple just to get things moving. He gains five yards against a light box, Auburn's Marcus Harris does a good job occupying both Jaeden Roberts and Latham, enabling his linebacker to make the tackle after a short gain.
• Snap 2 - 2-5: Auburn rushes three and drops eight, leaving Milroe to dump a pass off to McClellan for a gain and a first down. 
• Snap 3 - 1-10: For the second play in a row the Tigers rush three and drop eight. Alabama called vertical routes on the left, middle and right sides with 1:42 left in the half. For some reason the Auburn safety to Burton's side didn't play deep and Milroe connected with his favorite target for a 68-yard score. 

11. A drop and a sack end the Tigers two-minute hopes

There's a perfect amount of time on the clock for Auburn to answer the Tide's latest score but a lack of concentration and a one-handed sacks derails Freeze's response.

• Snap 1 - 1-10: Lawson takes the fake, maybe that's his responsibility in this particular defense, regardless Jarquez Hunter takes a handoff off the right side and it's Arnold with the tackle. The corner is proving to be such a strong all-around football player. 
• Snap 2 - 2-4: Peyton Thorne sits in the pocket and finds Rivaldo Fairweather for what should have been a nearly 30-yard gain. The Tide gets lucky as Fairweather merely drops the pass. 
• Snap 3 - 3-4: Lawson gets a sack as he green-dogs after seeing the running back stay in for pass protection. What a strong individual play taking on a block and bringing Thorne down with one hand. 

12. Alabama fails in two-minute

Alabama had an opportunity to double up by scoring again and opening up the second half with a score, but squandered it by sputtering out offensively with less than a minute remaining. 

• Snap 1 - 1-10: It's hard to tell what's happening in the pass pattern based on the tv angle but Milroe rolls out and throws the ball away to avoid a sack and save some time. 
• Snap 2 - 2-10: JAM Miller gains five yards off a simple inside handoff. The Tide takes its last timeout with :33 left in the half. 
• Snap 3 - 3-5: Auburn shows five, but brings just three as it hopes to contain Milroe's running ability. He gets outside the pocket but isn't able to get the first down running. Again it's hard to see who may or may not be covered down the field. 

13. Terrion Arnold with an interception

The Auburn Tigers don't waste a single second trying to score as they're going for it till the very end of the half.

• Snap 1 - 1-10: With :17 seconds left in the half the Tigers call for a quarterback draw to get things moving. We've seen the draw and or scrambles by quarterbacks be highly effective when the Tide has put its passing personnel on the field. 
• Snap 2 - 1-10: Chris Braswell wins his pass rushing rep and forces Peyton Thorne to throw the ball out of bounds. 
• Snap 3 - 2-10: Thorne overshoots his receiver down the field for an incompletion. Alabama wasn't doing anything special in coverage as the clock is winding down from midfield.
• Snap 4 - 3-10: With :01 second Thorne throws up a bomb into the end zone that Arnold intercepts to end the half. Alabama green-dogged a fourth rusher to put pressure on Thorne but the Tide had six defenders at the goal line to cover three Tigers pass catchers. 

14. Alabama marches but forced to settle for a field goal 

The Alabama red zone woes continue as the game wears on. Milroe successfully works them down to the goal line, but miscues and drops keep them from reaching the promised land. 

• Snap 1 - 1-10: After taking a fair catch the Tide comes out in 12-personnel and Milroe rips one of the prettiest passes all day. The Tigers rush four and Milroe steps up and throws a strike to NiBlack on an out route to the sidelines for a first down. 
• Snap 2 - 1-10: More 12-personnel and a handoff to McClellan follows strong blocks from Roberts and Dippre. Good exterior blocking from Bond enables the play to go for good yardage. 
• Snap 3 - 1-10:  Alabama pop-passes to Law to get onto the edge quickly. The play schematically was probably poor due to Auburn outnumbering Alabama on the edge, but Law's athleticism makes it go for positive gain. 
• Snap 4 - 2-4: The Tide gets back into 12 after taking the previous play off. McClellan gets the handoff and may have gone for huge yardage if not for a blitzing backside Keionte Scott. 
• Snap 5 - 3-3: Auburn rushes four and somehow is able to isolate three rushers on Kadyn Proctor and Tyler Booker. Milroe takes off and beats the dropping linebacker for a first down run. He could've likely immediately hit McClellan as his check down for the same result but the Tide keeps moving. 
• Snap 6 - 1-10: More 12-personnel and Alabama runs a drive concept. Milroe takes the easy pass to Bond  who runs for extra yardage.  
• Snap 7 - 2-1: You think Alabama likes this two-tight end look? Here it comes again. Marcus Harris does a good job splitting the Booker and Seth McLaughlin double-team and stopping Williams for a loss inside the Tigers's 20-yard line.
• Snap 8 - 3-2: How about a toss behind future first round pick J.C. Latham? Williams gets the first down with ease but the thing to notice here is maturity by Bond not to block in the back and set Alabama back.
• Snap 9 - 1-Goal: More 12 personnel as the Tide moves into the pistol set. Williams takes a handoff and dives into the pile for four-yards. Had he kept his eyes up would he have seen the hole developing off the right side?
• Snap 10 - 2-Goal: Much like Drive 6 Play 11 the Crimson Tide tries to get a little too cute with Milroe running. Rees motions Williams out of the backfield, leaving Milroe alone. It's he, the five offensive lineman and Dippre against seven in the box for Auburn. Apparently Kadyn Proctor or Dippre doesn't know the blocking assignment or the design isn't correct as they let a Tiger linemen right into the backfield between their gap. 
• Snap 11 - 3-Goal: Alabama gets Isiah Bond and Jermain Burton into a two-man route in the end zone but Milroe and Bond can't connect for the score. Milroe makes the correct read and delivers a catchable ball, some may say it was a tad late, but Bond has to make that catch for his quarterback. Instead the 11-play drive ends with just three-points and the game stays close. 

15. Auburn takes the lead on a busted coverage

Alabama's now taken two red zone drives and settled for field goals, what does that do? Opens the door for Auburn to take the lead on one Crimson Tide defensive mistake.

• Snap 1 - 1-10: Peyton Thorne keeps the ball and gains a few yards. It appears to be played pretty well by the Alabama defenders. 
• Snap 2 - 2-8: Jarquez Hunter gets around the right side of the defense for a solid gain. Who's supposed to set the edge here for the Tide? Arnold from his corner spot? He fails. Jaylen Key tracks down Hunter and knocks him out of bounds.
• Snap 3 - 3-3: Thorne finds Ja'Varrius Johnson for a huge pass play to set up the Tigers just outside the red zone. Johnson beats Downs on a slant pattern as Downs and McKinstry were playing match coverage on the stack. 
• Snap 4 - 1-10: Robby Ashford comes in for what appears to be his first snap of the game. This should cause immediate alarm bells for the Tide defense and it appears to as he's stopped on a QB-keeper for a minimal gain. 
• Snap 5 - 2-6: Thorne finds Johnson for a 28-yard touchdown pass to take the lead. Johnson goes into motion and gets a bit of a pick from Malcom Johnson Jr. to break him open. He's extra open because of miscommunication between McKinstry and Malachi Moore. Moore said later it was his fault for the busted coverage. Regardless, the miscue put the Tide behind the eight-ball as it trails 21-20.

16. Jordan-Hare Voodoo makes the Tide's all-time leading point scorer miss

Alabama drives once again on the Auburn Tigers to put themselves in position to take a lead. However a critical penalty and another drop derail another Crimson Tide drive before the end zone. 

• Snap 1 - 1-10: It looks like Auburn brings five and runs man-to-man behind the play. Milroe escapes the pressure and runs for a big gainer to the other side of the field. 
• Snap 2 - 1-10: Back in 12-personnel the Tide keeps things moving with a short underneath pass to Bond. Never go broke taking a profit as Bond's yards after catch go for a first down. 
• Snap 3 - 1-10: Milroe keeps it on what appears to be by design. He gains five yards as the execution looks a little messy. 
• Snap 4 - 2-6: McClellan appears to miss the hole to the inside on this handoff. The play appears to be designed to go off of J.C. Latham's right hip but McClellan takes it further and runs himself into trouble and a short gainer. 
• Snap 5 - 3-3: Milroe made the choice to pull down and run rather early but Law gets the first down scramble negated with a blindside block. 
• Snap 6 - 3-12: After the penalty negated the first down Auburn decided to rush just four against Alabama's line plus McClellan. The extra protection allowed Milroe to hang in the pocket and put a strike on Malike Benson which would have been enough for a first down. Benson lets him down by dropping the ball. The second drop by a receiver leading to a field goal. 
• Snap 7 - 4-12: Reichard misses his third field goal of the year and Alabama stays behind in the game. 

17. Tigers grind away for another three points.

Auburn does everything it wants to do on this next drive except score a touchdown. The Tigers control tempo and build momentum and confidence and ultimately stretch the lead to four points.

• Snap 1 - 1-10: Lawson doesn't really see the play once again and the Tigers make a three-yard gain
• Snap 2 - 2-7: This time Lawson and Campbell step for the running back and Peyton Thorne keeps it and runs for a nice gainer. 
• Snap 3 - 1-10: Thorne probably makes his best play of the day from a quarterback standpoint, executing a play-fake, then juking out Turner, getting on the run and finding Ja'Varrius Johnson for a completion underneath.
• Snap 4 - 1-3: Auburn gives to Alston and Campbell once again jumps gaps. It's only a short gainer but something to think about going forward. 
• Snap 5 - 1-10: Thorne keeps again but only carries for a short gainer as the Tigers are trying to wear out the Alabama defense. 
• Snap 6 - 2-8: The Tigers are spamming Alabama with the QB-read and Thorne keeps another. This time for a first down as Lawson and Campbell both step with the running-back. 
• Snap 7 - 3-1: Alston takes a handoff right up the middle as Auburn seems to be dictating to Alabama here.
• Snap 8 - 1-10: Thorne is taken down after minimal gain after Lawson reads the play correctly this time. 
• Snap 9 - 2-6: Another handoff, but this time Jaylen Key steps up and fills nicely as the Auburn back goes for minimal gain. 
• Snap 10- 3-4: Robby Ashford took a pop-pass off the edge and gained three yards as TV kind of lost the play. 
• Snap 11 - 4-1: Ok let's get into some controversy. Auburn clearly has three men moving at the snap, but Alabama clearly has two men jump offsides. The officials rule an Alabama offsides and an automatic first down, but the men in motion are never accounted for. 
• Snap 12 - 1-10: Ashford takes a snap and ties to get wide but Downs not only sets the edge, he keeps it for a big tackle for loss. 
• Snap 13 - 2-17: Thorne does the most predictable thing ever and QB-draws. The middle is completely vacant and he's not brought down until the five-yard line. It's been mind-blowing how effective the QB-draw has been this year against the Tide.
• Snap 14 - 1-Goal: Auburn tries an outside zone of sort and gains four yards to inch things closer to the goal line. It's muscle on muscle as Tim Keenan appears to make the stop.
• Snap 15 - 2-Goal: Thorne hangs in the pocket and picks out Johnson in the end zone but the pair can't connect as Downs was in coverage. 
• Snap 16 - 3-Goal: Thorne hands off to Jarquez Hunter from under-center on the five-yard line. This seems like a throw-away call as it just gains two yards. Huge for the Crimson Tide to force the field goal.

18. Tough officiating running the Tide out of chances.

Alabama faces a four point deficit with 10 minutes left. Plenty of time, right? Not with the new timing rules. The Crimson Tide knows it must go now to get back into the game, unfortunately things don't go their way.

• Snap 1 - 1-10: Rees opens the drive with what appears, from the TV copy, to be a shot play. Milroe fakes a handoff to Roydell Williams and only three Alabama receivers are in the pass pattern. Nothing happens downfield and therefore Milroe runs for no gain. 
• Snap 2 - 2-10: Another play-action pass and a second deep-shot for Milroe. This time he does throw it to NiBlack who's double-covered. It looks like Burton may have broken open if he had seen him. Regardless, these two plays as drive starters feels desperate for Alabama, unfortunate to see with so much time still remaining. 
• Snap 3 - 3-10: Auburn rushes three and appears to spy with two players. Burton runs an underneath route and Milroe puts the pass on the sideline. This play ended up highly controversial as it's difficult to tell if Burton is in bounds or not. It's ruled out of bounds after review and the Tide must punt, basically now down to its last chance. 

19. Alabama's defense gives the offense one more chance

When the Auburn Tigers got the ball back with nine minutes remaining in the game it was conceivable that the Crimson Tide wouldn't get the ball another time. A first down here, the right penalty there and the time evaporates. Knowing this, the Alabama defense snapped into shape and only allowed a single first down before forcing the Tigers to punt. 

• Snap 1 - 1-10: The Tigers run Jarquez Hunter on kind of an outside power of sorts. Both inside backers see it from the start and stop him for a short gain.
• Snap 2 - 2-6: Auburn spreads out Alabama and what do the Tigers do? Surprise, surprise, QB-draw for a first down. Peyton Thorne takes the snap and holds his position for a second before taking off through a vacated middle of the field.
• Snap 3 - 1-10: Two play means bye, bye one minute on the clock. The Tide gets to work stuffing Thorne on a keeper for no gain. The Tide's Tim Smith fights through a double-team and makes the tackle.
• Snap 4 - 2-9: Alabama rushes a fourth player late but it never really got to Thorne. We haven't seen him go middle of the field too often in this game and he does put one on Rivaldo Fairweather. Arnold and Campbell were all over the pass though to make the catch very difficult. 
• Snap 5 - 3-9: Which defender has the Crimson Tide seen step up in must have it situations throughout the year? Turner. Turner gets Thorne to move off his spot and right into fellow rushers Chris Braswell and Justin Eboigbe to end the drive and give the offense one more chance.

20. How improbable was the Milroe Miracle?

So many wild things happened on this second to last drive of the game. First the Crimson Tide completely stalled out on what was virtually its last hope. Second Auburn muffs a punt. Third huge sack leads to a 4th and one conversion and finally the Milroe Miracle. This sequence will live in Crimson Tide lore forever. 

• Snap 1 - 1-10:  Alabama returns to the quick game that it started the game with. An easy throw to Bond gets the comeback started.
• Snap 2 - 2-7: Back in 12 personnel and handing it off inside to Jase McCellan. It seems like Rees is almost searching for what to call as the game winds down.
• Snap 3 - 3-4: Auburn rushes three and leaves two backers close to the line of scrimmage to spy Milroe. It looks like Auburn is in man-to-man on the back end but it's tough to tell on the TV copy. Regardless, Milroe can't find anyone to throw to and knows running would be difficult. He ultimately throws the ball away, leading to an Alabama punt.
• Snap 4 - 4-4: Alabama punts but Campbell gets possession back for the Tide as Auburn's Keionte Scott muffs the reception.
• Snap 5 - 1-10: Milroe bolts at the first open opportunity as the Tigers rush four. He's so athletic that he runs for a first down despite Auburn sitting in zone coverage looking right at him. 
• Snap 6 - 1&10: Credit Jalen McLeod for blowing up this play. It looks like Dippre is supposed to block him from the other side of the formation but he appears to beat Dippre to the running back and makes a tackle for a loss.
• Snap 7 - 2-11: Auburn only rushes four but is able to get home for a huge sack. Marcus Harris beats Roberts one-on-one and is on Milroe before he can react to set Alabama way behind the chains. 
• Snap 8 - 3-20: Auburn rushes four and leaves a fifth to spy, but it doesn't work. The rush nearly gets home, forcing Milroe off his spot but once he decides to run it's over for the Tigers defense. Defenders are forced to come off their passing assignments and end up stopping him a yard short of the first down. 
• Snap 9 - 4-1: On Drive 8, Snap 1 the Crimson Tide lined up in the 'Tush Push' formation and let Milroe QB-sneak it. The Tigers were lined up in the A-Gaps to respond to this formation and it makes for an easy conversion. Instead of QB-sneaking, Alabama tosses to Williams for a first down. 
• Snap 10 - 1-Goal: Alabama is back in 12 personnel and hands it ball off to Williams inside the eight-yard line. Credit Austin Keys for flying into the backfield and making the tackle. Keys was blitzing on the snap and was in the perfect place at the perfect time. 
• Snap 11 - 2&Goal: Alabama's McLaughlin snaps the football before Milroe is ready, forcing the quarterback to take a huge loss on the play. Does the Auburn safety clap to make McLaughlin snap the ball early? It's hard to tell on film but it certainly looks like a believable theory. 
• Snap 12 - 3-Goal: Scoring in two plays from the 26-yards line would be improbable. Making what happened next to be mind-blowing. Milroe is forced out of the pocket after an age and a half. It looked like he may have gotten back behind the line before throwing a pass to Benson. It didn't matter as Benson dropped his second contested catch opportunity of the night and Milroe was flagged for an illegal forward pass. 
• Snap 13 - 4-Goal: Why did Auburn only rush two? How did Bond get one-on-one coverage? How often can Milroe make that pass on a sunny-day with no pressure? The questions are unanswerable but what did happen was a bit of a miracle. The Tigers came out with a poor strategy and the Crimson Tide got fortunate with a brilliant pass and a catch to save the season.

21. Terrion Arnold ends the game like he ended the half, with an interception.

A shellshocked Auburn Tigers did what it could after losing the lead in such improbable fashion, but in the end Arnold came up with his second interception of the evening. Arnold stepped out of bounds at the three yard line to end the game. 

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