84 seconds.
Just 84. One minute and 24 seconds. That’s how long Alabama had the lead over Auburn in the 2009 Iron Bowl. But when it’s the last 84 seconds on the game clock, that lead is good for 365 days.
The statistics from yesterday’s game provide some other interesting studies in time. For example: Alabama’s time of possession for the game was 7:34 more than Auburn’s [33:47 t0 26:13]; Alabama’s last offensive possession of the 4th quarter was 7:03. Auburn had 14 offensive possession in the game-10 of those possessions lasted less than 2:00 of game time. Alabama had 13 offensive possessions-7 of those possessions lasted more than 2:00 of game time. Alabama had three possessions that lasted more than 3:00. Auburn had only 1.All four of these drives resulted in points.
But perhaps the most compelling time-related statistic requires a longer view: 30 years.
Three decades. That’s how far into Crimson Tide history you have to travel in order to find a game-winning drive that compares favorably with the near-perfect 15 play, 79 yard march that Alabama made yesterday to keep its season record perfect, and its chances for a national championship alive. In the run-up to kickoff, the Auburn people were touting the 1989 Iron Bowl as the point of comparison. They had it all wrong. The better point of comparison is ten years earlier. By the final game of the 1979 season, Alabama was undefeated, untied, and headed for a national championship show-down in the Sugar Bowl against the best team the Southwest Conference had to offer. And late in the fourth quarter all of that achievement and all of that potential glory was on the line as unranked Auburn held a one point lead. Under the direction of quarterback Steadman Shealy, Alabama marched the length of the field and scored the game winning touchdown.
The Auburn / Alabama series has its share of 4th quarter rallies; 1985 comes to mind. The drive in the waning seconds of the 1985 Iron Bowl that Van Tiffin won with what will always be known as "The Kick", was thrilling, and the time pressure was enormous, but the 1985 edition of the Crimson Tide was not playing for a conference or national championship. For a moment, on Friday, I thought that we might witness some cosmic-symmetry and that Van Tiffin's son would kick the go-ahead points. An excellent play call - perhaps the best of the game for Alabama's staff - produced a touchdown, and Auburn was faced with a point deficit greater than a field goal, and only 84 seconds to do something about it.
I give Auburn’s coaching staff and its players all the credit in the world for using their open week to put in trickeration, and schemes on both sides of the ball that allowed them to get a quick lead and to shut down Mark Ingram. But Alabama proved that it has too much depth, and too much character, to lose to Auburn with so much at stake.
Cecil Hurt has an excellent essay on the nature of Alabama’s character. I highly recommend it. http://tidesportsextra.com/cecil-hurt/2009/11/28/nov-27-column-a-drive-for-the-ages/
People say that character is forged in adversity, and I think that’s partially true. The adversity that forges character is not the adversity of a game-day situation like the Tide faced yesterday. It is the adversity of practice, the adversity of constant repetition, the adversity of preparation, and the adversity of discipline that provide the crucible where character is formed. If a team has not formed its character on the practice field, then the game-day adversity will come too late. Being behind to your greatest rival with so much at stake is not where you build your character. It’s where you find out what sort of character you have.
Julio Jones was questioned by reporters following the game yesterday. Everyone wanted to know if the offense was nervous or intimidated by the prospect of having to drive 79 yards to win the game. Jones seemed a bit puzzled by the question. His answer? “No. That’s what we practice every day.” Time and again, the media pressed him on the emotional aspects of the drive Did you have confidence? “Yes. Because this is what we practice.” Did you think you would score and win the game? “Yes. That’s what we practice.”
Nick Saban told the press that yesterday’s drive was the greatest fourth quarter game-winning drive he had ever been associated with. “Ever” is also an interesting time statistic.
Here’s how I grade the game:
Offense: A - I thought at the time, that if Alabama could just get ahead on the scoreboard, that Auburn would lose all of its steam. The Tide defense and special teams did their part in twice setting the offense up on a short field, but the offense had to settle for field goals and allowed Auburn to keep the lead. We never figured out how to adjust to Auburn’s scheme to stop Mark Ingram. It appeared to me that the Tiger’s middle linebacker was keying on Ingram every time Mark was on the field. There may have been more that Auburn was doing, and I solicit input on this point from subscribers who are more schooled in the Xs and Os. Fortunately, what seemed to be working for Auburn to defend against Ingram, did not have the same success with Trent Richardson.
Auburn was committed to stopping the run and making GMac beat them with his arm. We ran the ball just well enough and GMac gave Auburn a horse doctor’s dose of Julio Jones.
Alabama earned 17 first downs-13 by passing. Bama gained 291 yards of total offense-218 in the air. GMac completed 21 of 32 pass attempts for 2 TDs and no interceptions. On the final drive he threw incomplete on his first pass attempt, then completed the next 7 in a row; including 4 to Julio, each one good for a first down.
Julio caught a career high 9 passes for 83 yards. Colin Peek, Trent Richardson and Ingram each had 3 catches, and Peek’s 33 yard TD catch and run was Alabama’s longest pass of the day. The official post-game notes credit Roy Upchurch with his first career TD reception for the game-winning catch on 3rd down at the Auburn 4, but I would swear that we ran that exact play earlier in the year. Terrence Cody came into the game as part of the Tide’s “Big” package on short yardage, but this time he served as the world’s largest decoy. Every player on the Auburn defense sold out to stop Richardson who was hit in the Tide backfield. But Trent didn’t have the ball. Instead, GMac rolled to his right and lofted a perfect touch pass to Upchurch who was open on an out route in the endzone.
Richardson gained 51 yards on 15 carries, while Ingram gained 30 on 16.
Defense: A-- Yes, Auburn outgained Alabama in total offense [332]. Yes, Alabama gave up two big plays, both for touchdowns. Yes, Auburn scored 21 points, more than doubling the average points that Alabama has allowed on average this season. But Auburn had 14 offensive possessions, the Alabama defense earned it’s A grade by what it did to the Tigers on 11 of those possessions: 8 punts; 7 possessions that ended after only 3 plays; 2 turnovers; and the end of the game.
Roland McClain led all defenders with 12 tackles [1.5 for loss]. Javier Arenas and Eric Anders each had 7 tackles; Arenas is credited with 1 tackle for 10 yards of lost yardage, Anders is credited with 3.5 tackles for 16 yards of lost yardage. Auburn’s quarterbacks were sacked 3 times and hurried 6. Nine times Auburn was tackled for a loss of yardage and the defense had its own version of “The Drive”; call it “The Reverse Drive”. Bama punted from its own 5 yard line and Auburn got possession of the ball at the Bama 44 holding 1 point lead. Any points at all would have put the Tigers in control of the game. On first down, Ben Tate gained a yard. On second down, Kareem Jackson tackles Tate for a 7 yard loss. On third down, Roland McClain sacked Chris Todd for a 10 yard loss. Auburn punted from its own 40. Alabama took possession at its 21 yard line with 8:27 seconds to play in the game.
Special Teams:
Punting: A+ Fitz punted 5 times for an average of 45.2 yards per punt. His longest was 55 yardes, he landed 2 inside the Auburn 20 and had one touchback. Auburn only had 5 yards in punt returns. Javier had 67 yards in punt returns including one return for 56 yards, making him Alabama’s all-time leader in career punt return yardage, and placing him only 25 yards shy of the NCAA record in that category.
Place Kicking: B+ Leigh Tiffin missed from 42 at the end of the first half. A score at that point would have been huge psychologically. He was good from 27 and 31 in the third quarter.When you win a game by 5, the 6 points you earn from kicking field goals are huge.
Kickoffs: C-- Bama’s average kick off was only 59 yards gross and the net was only 39.2. Javier was only able to return 1 Auburn kick but the return was good for 46 yards.
Coaching: A-- I was going to give the coaching staff a B+, but I reconsidered. The fact that we beat Auburn in the Cow Pasture deserves an A. We were able to weather a violent storm in the first quarter, settle down, keep our poise, and win the next 45 minutes of game time. Alabama had 418 all purpose yards. Officially, we were penalized only 4 times for 28 yards, but that stat is missing something, because we had 2 false starts, a kick out of bounds, an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and a pass interference. The false starts were all right in front of the Auburn students as we tried to get off of our own 1 yard line.
I’ve got to say something about the officiating. What I am going to say has been heavily edited since The Grades are often read by persons under 18 years of age. SEC officials are not "professionals" in the sense that this is not their full-time gig, but they do get paid. If someone gets paid to do a job, they should be expected to do it with some degree of competence. Otherwise, how can it be said the person "earned" their pay-check? That being said, the only way the Umpire in Friday's game should get any money for the way he spent the afternoon, is if he shows up at the league office carrying a gun and wearing a mask. I realize that officials are “part of the field” but that ignorant tub-o-guts who clogged up the middle of the field yesterday twice interfered with what would have been a successful first-down generating play, and made no effort whatsoever to get his ginormous butt out of the way. When we had third and 4 at our own 7 yard line, we attempted a pass to Ingram over the middle. There was not a blue shirt within 15 yards of a wide-open Mark Ingram. So, what does the Umpire do? Does he move his lard-ass out of the way like he is supposed to do? NO! If anything he takes a step or two in the direction of the play and Ingram, who is turned to face the line of scrimmage, collides with the dufuss. And don’t get me started on the penalty called on Justin Woodall in the first quarter! OK, no doubt Auburn’s left tackle false started on that play. So blow the $&%* whistle, ref! You don’t wait until the quarterback has thrown an interception, and the defender has run 30 yards with a completely unobstructed path to the goal line; THEN blow the whistle and get all offended because the player whose glory you just stole shows a little frustration. It that call on Woodall was within the rules, then the rule is stupid and should be changed. That was officiating malpractice and it caused a 14 point swing in the game.
Auburn was penalized 8 times. It could easily have been twice that number. How do you miss calling a personal foul when one player pulls another player's helmet off and throws it 5 yards? How do you miss a holding call when a would-be tackler is grabbed by the inside of the shoulder pad and horse-collared? Why do we have to endure such horrible officiating in what is supposed to be the nation's best college football conference?
OK. I feel better now.
We have an extra day to prepare for Florida and the SEC Championship. That 24 hours is yet another interesting time-statistic. I have no doubt that the coaching staff will put it to good use. They need to. Florida dispatched FSU with clinical precision. Julio Jones said after the game on Friday that Alabama had been guilty of taking Auburn too lightly. There should be no chance of that mistake being repeated with the Gators.
The first time that Alabama won at least 10 games in a season was 1925. The coach was Wallace Wade. This season's 12-0 record is Alabama's 29th season with 10 or more victories. This is the first time in Alabama's football history that the team has compiled consecutive 12-win regular seasons, and it is the third time that Alabama has posted back-to-back undefeated regular seasons. Coach Wade achieved the first pair of perfect regular seasons in 1925-1926. Coach Bryant achieved the second pair in 1973-1974. For Bryant, the loss to Auburn in the 1972 Iron Bowl was the only regular season loss for the Tide between September 10, 1971 and September 8, 1975. Both Wallace Wade and Paul Bryant won multiple national championships at Alabama. Will Nick Saban follow in these footsteps? There are only three teams that are in the mix to play for the 2009 BCS Championship. Alabama is one of them. Will it still be next Sunday? The answer will come in one week. A matter of time: just like 84 seconds, 365 days, and 30 years.
The Commissioner
Just 84. One minute and 24 seconds. That’s how long Alabama had the lead over Auburn in the 2009 Iron Bowl. But when it’s the last 84 seconds on the game clock, that lead is good for 365 days.
The statistics from yesterday’s game provide some other interesting studies in time. For example: Alabama’s time of possession for the game was 7:34 more than Auburn’s [33:47 t0 26:13]; Alabama’s last offensive possession of the 4th quarter was 7:03. Auburn had 14 offensive possession in the game-10 of those possessions lasted less than 2:00 of game time. Alabama had 13 offensive possessions-7 of those possessions lasted more than 2:00 of game time. Alabama had three possessions that lasted more than 3:00. Auburn had only 1.All four of these drives resulted in points.
But perhaps the most compelling time-related statistic requires a longer view: 30 years.
Three decades. That’s how far into Crimson Tide history you have to travel in order to find a game-winning drive that compares favorably with the near-perfect 15 play, 79 yard march that Alabama made yesterday to keep its season record perfect, and its chances for a national championship alive. In the run-up to kickoff, the Auburn people were touting the 1989 Iron Bowl as the point of comparison. They had it all wrong. The better point of comparison is ten years earlier. By the final game of the 1979 season, Alabama was undefeated, untied, and headed for a national championship show-down in the Sugar Bowl against the best team the Southwest Conference had to offer. And late in the fourth quarter all of that achievement and all of that potential glory was on the line as unranked Auburn held a one point lead. Under the direction of quarterback Steadman Shealy, Alabama marched the length of the field and scored the game winning touchdown.
The Auburn / Alabama series has its share of 4th quarter rallies; 1985 comes to mind. The drive in the waning seconds of the 1985 Iron Bowl that Van Tiffin won with what will always be known as "The Kick", was thrilling, and the time pressure was enormous, but the 1985 edition of the Crimson Tide was not playing for a conference or national championship. For a moment, on Friday, I thought that we might witness some cosmic-symmetry and that Van Tiffin's son would kick the go-ahead points. An excellent play call - perhaps the best of the game for Alabama's staff - produced a touchdown, and Auburn was faced with a point deficit greater than a field goal, and only 84 seconds to do something about it.
I give Auburn’s coaching staff and its players all the credit in the world for using their open week to put in trickeration, and schemes on both sides of the ball that allowed them to get a quick lead and to shut down Mark Ingram. But Alabama proved that it has too much depth, and too much character, to lose to Auburn with so much at stake.
Cecil Hurt has an excellent essay on the nature of Alabama’s character. I highly recommend it. http://tidesportsextra.com/cecil-hurt/2009/11/28/nov-27-column-a-drive-for-the-ages/
People say that character is forged in adversity, and I think that’s partially true. The adversity that forges character is not the adversity of a game-day situation like the Tide faced yesterday. It is the adversity of practice, the adversity of constant repetition, the adversity of preparation, and the adversity of discipline that provide the crucible where character is formed. If a team has not formed its character on the practice field, then the game-day adversity will come too late. Being behind to your greatest rival with so much at stake is not where you build your character. It’s where you find out what sort of character you have.
Julio Jones was questioned by reporters following the game yesterday. Everyone wanted to know if the offense was nervous or intimidated by the prospect of having to drive 79 yards to win the game. Jones seemed a bit puzzled by the question. His answer? “No. That’s what we practice every day.” Time and again, the media pressed him on the emotional aspects of the drive Did you have confidence? “Yes. Because this is what we practice.” Did you think you would score and win the game? “Yes. That’s what we practice.”
Nick Saban told the press that yesterday’s drive was the greatest fourth quarter game-winning drive he had ever been associated with. “Ever” is also an interesting time statistic.
Here’s how I grade the game:
Offense: A - I thought at the time, that if Alabama could just get ahead on the scoreboard, that Auburn would lose all of its steam. The Tide defense and special teams did their part in twice setting the offense up on a short field, but the offense had to settle for field goals and allowed Auburn to keep the lead. We never figured out how to adjust to Auburn’s scheme to stop Mark Ingram. It appeared to me that the Tiger’s middle linebacker was keying on Ingram every time Mark was on the field. There may have been more that Auburn was doing, and I solicit input on this point from subscribers who are more schooled in the Xs and Os. Fortunately, what seemed to be working for Auburn to defend against Ingram, did not have the same success with Trent Richardson.
Auburn was committed to stopping the run and making GMac beat them with his arm. We ran the ball just well enough and GMac gave Auburn a horse doctor’s dose of Julio Jones.
Alabama earned 17 first downs-13 by passing. Bama gained 291 yards of total offense-218 in the air. GMac completed 21 of 32 pass attempts for 2 TDs and no interceptions. On the final drive he threw incomplete on his first pass attempt, then completed the next 7 in a row; including 4 to Julio, each one good for a first down.
Julio caught a career high 9 passes for 83 yards. Colin Peek, Trent Richardson and Ingram each had 3 catches, and Peek’s 33 yard TD catch and run was Alabama’s longest pass of the day. The official post-game notes credit Roy Upchurch with his first career TD reception for the game-winning catch on 3rd down at the Auburn 4, but I would swear that we ran that exact play earlier in the year. Terrence Cody came into the game as part of the Tide’s “Big” package on short yardage, but this time he served as the world’s largest decoy. Every player on the Auburn defense sold out to stop Richardson who was hit in the Tide backfield. But Trent didn’t have the ball. Instead, GMac rolled to his right and lofted a perfect touch pass to Upchurch who was open on an out route in the endzone.
Richardson gained 51 yards on 15 carries, while Ingram gained 30 on 16.
Defense: A-- Yes, Auburn outgained Alabama in total offense [332]. Yes, Alabama gave up two big plays, both for touchdowns. Yes, Auburn scored 21 points, more than doubling the average points that Alabama has allowed on average this season. But Auburn had 14 offensive possessions, the Alabama defense earned it’s A grade by what it did to the Tigers on 11 of those possessions: 8 punts; 7 possessions that ended after only 3 plays; 2 turnovers; and the end of the game.
Roland McClain led all defenders with 12 tackles [1.5 for loss]. Javier Arenas and Eric Anders each had 7 tackles; Arenas is credited with 1 tackle for 10 yards of lost yardage, Anders is credited with 3.5 tackles for 16 yards of lost yardage. Auburn’s quarterbacks were sacked 3 times and hurried 6. Nine times Auburn was tackled for a loss of yardage and the defense had its own version of “The Drive”; call it “The Reverse Drive”. Bama punted from its own 5 yard line and Auburn got possession of the ball at the Bama 44 holding 1 point lead. Any points at all would have put the Tigers in control of the game. On first down, Ben Tate gained a yard. On second down, Kareem Jackson tackles Tate for a 7 yard loss. On third down, Roland McClain sacked Chris Todd for a 10 yard loss. Auburn punted from its own 40. Alabama took possession at its 21 yard line with 8:27 seconds to play in the game.
Special Teams:
Punting: A+ Fitz punted 5 times for an average of 45.2 yards per punt. His longest was 55 yardes, he landed 2 inside the Auburn 20 and had one touchback. Auburn only had 5 yards in punt returns. Javier had 67 yards in punt returns including one return for 56 yards, making him Alabama’s all-time leader in career punt return yardage, and placing him only 25 yards shy of the NCAA record in that category.
Place Kicking: B+ Leigh Tiffin missed from 42 at the end of the first half. A score at that point would have been huge psychologically. He was good from 27 and 31 in the third quarter.When you win a game by 5, the 6 points you earn from kicking field goals are huge.
Kickoffs: C-- Bama’s average kick off was only 59 yards gross and the net was only 39.2. Javier was only able to return 1 Auburn kick but the return was good for 46 yards.
Coaching: A-- I was going to give the coaching staff a B+, but I reconsidered. The fact that we beat Auburn in the Cow Pasture deserves an A. We were able to weather a violent storm in the first quarter, settle down, keep our poise, and win the next 45 minutes of game time. Alabama had 418 all purpose yards. Officially, we were penalized only 4 times for 28 yards, but that stat is missing something, because we had 2 false starts, a kick out of bounds, an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and a pass interference. The false starts were all right in front of the Auburn students as we tried to get off of our own 1 yard line.
I’ve got to say something about the officiating. What I am going to say has been heavily edited since The Grades are often read by persons under 18 years of age. SEC officials are not "professionals" in the sense that this is not their full-time gig, but they do get paid. If someone gets paid to do a job, they should be expected to do it with some degree of competence. Otherwise, how can it be said the person "earned" their pay-check? That being said, the only way the Umpire in Friday's game should get any money for the way he spent the afternoon, is if he shows up at the league office carrying a gun and wearing a mask. I realize that officials are “part of the field” but that ignorant tub-o-guts who clogged up the middle of the field yesterday twice interfered with what would have been a successful first-down generating play, and made no effort whatsoever to get his ginormous butt out of the way. When we had third and 4 at our own 7 yard line, we attempted a pass to Ingram over the middle. There was not a blue shirt within 15 yards of a wide-open Mark Ingram. So, what does the Umpire do? Does he move his lard-ass out of the way like he is supposed to do? NO! If anything he takes a step or two in the direction of the play and Ingram, who is turned to face the line of scrimmage, collides with the dufuss. And don’t get me started on the penalty called on Justin Woodall in the first quarter! OK, no doubt Auburn’s left tackle false started on that play. So blow the $&%* whistle, ref! You don’t wait until the quarterback has thrown an interception, and the defender has run 30 yards with a completely unobstructed path to the goal line; THEN blow the whistle and get all offended because the player whose glory you just stole shows a little frustration. It that call on Woodall was within the rules, then the rule is stupid and should be changed. That was officiating malpractice and it caused a 14 point swing in the game.
Auburn was penalized 8 times. It could easily have been twice that number. How do you miss calling a personal foul when one player pulls another player's helmet off and throws it 5 yards? How do you miss a holding call when a would-be tackler is grabbed by the inside of the shoulder pad and horse-collared? Why do we have to endure such horrible officiating in what is supposed to be the nation's best college football conference?
OK. I feel better now.
We have an extra day to prepare for Florida and the SEC Championship. That 24 hours is yet another interesting time-statistic. I have no doubt that the coaching staff will put it to good use. They need to. Florida dispatched FSU with clinical precision. Julio Jones said after the game on Friday that Alabama had been guilty of taking Auburn too lightly. There should be no chance of that mistake being repeated with the Gators.
The first time that Alabama won at least 10 games in a season was 1925. The coach was Wallace Wade. This season's 12-0 record is Alabama's 29th season with 10 or more victories. This is the first time in Alabama's football history that the team has compiled consecutive 12-win regular seasons, and it is the third time that Alabama has posted back-to-back undefeated regular seasons. Coach Wade achieved the first pair of perfect regular seasons in 1925-1926. Coach Bryant achieved the second pair in 1973-1974. For Bryant, the loss to Auburn in the 1972 Iron Bowl was the only regular season loss for the Tide between September 10, 1971 and September 8, 1975. Both Wallace Wade and Paul Bryant won multiple national championships at Alabama. Will Nick Saban follow in these footsteps? There are only three teams that are in the mix to play for the 2009 BCS Championship. Alabama is one of them. Will it still be next Sunday? The answer will come in one week. A matter of time: just like 84 seconds, 365 days, and 30 years.
The Commissioner
