Auburn Loses Fifth-Straight Iron Bowl to Miss Bowl Season

The Auburn Tigers once again take a loss to rival Alabama, eliminating them from bowl eligibility to end their season

Auburn Tigers are eliminated from bowl eligibility in another Iron Bowl loss / Jake Crandall/ Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Auburn Tigers (5-7, 2-6 SEC) fell 28-14 at the hands of No. 13 Alabama (9-3, 5-3 SEC). 

Auburn failed to capitalize on multiple scoring chances throughout the game against the Crimson Tide, and their Iron Bowl losing streak has been extended to five games as a result.

With its loss today, Auburn failed to qualify for a bowl game bringing an end to its 2024 campaign 

The Crimson Tide struck first with a 19-yard touchdown run by Jalen Milroe to make it 7-0 after the extra point. This would be all for scoring in the first quarter. The Tigers got on the board with a 37-yard field goal by Ian Vachon to make it 7-3. 

Milroe extended Alabama’s lead with another touchdown run to make it 14-3 after the extra point. Vachon nailed another field goal (25 yards) to make it 14-6 to finish scoring for the half. 

Alabama drove 75 yards in nine plays to open the third quarter and scored on a touchdown run by Justice Haynes, making the score 21-6.

Auburn’s drive that followed lost seven yards, including a false start penalty and a sack. All hope for Auburn to gain some momentum had passed. 

Milroe scored a third touchdown from the ground to finish up scoring for Alabama at 28 points. Auburn quarterback Payton Thorne found Cam Coleman for a 29-yard touchdown pass to make it 28-14 after the extra point. The fourth quarter went scoreless to end the game. 

Blown opportunities plagued Auburn. The Tigers got into the red zone three times during the first half, two of the trips ended with made field goals by Ian Vachon, one from 37 yards and the other from 25. These two trips came after two big turnovers by the Auburn defense.

Caleb Wooden picked off Milroe. Then, Jalen McLeod forced a fumble when he sacked Milroe which was recovered by Auburn. 

Jalen McLeod forces Jalen Milroe’s 3rd TO pic.twitter.com/TO1Sh5me0f

— Power of Dixieland (@PwrofDixieland) November 30, 2024

Those eight extra points would have gone a long way to changing the course of the game. 

The other trip resulted in a missed 39-yard field goal attempt.

Running back Jarquez Hunter threw an interception on a trick play. The Tigers could have made it a one-score game with a touchdown on that drive.

After an off game in Alabama’s loss to Oklahoma last week, Milroe impacted this game through the air and on the ground. Milroe went 18-for-24 for 256 yards and one interception. He added 104 yards and three touchdowns off 17 carries. Milroe struggled to hold on to the ball, however, fumbling multiple times. Yet he found a way to overcome these mistakes and the Crimson Tide found the end zone four times - enough to win the game. 

Third down was another area in Alabama that drastically out-performed Auburn. The Crimson Tide went 12-for-18 on third-down conversion attempts while the Tigers went 4-for-12.