Report Card: Grading Auburn’s Iron Bowl loss
The Iron Bowl is the best rivalry in college football for a reason.
Whenever Auburn and Alabama faceoff in Jordan-Hare Stadium something wild seems to happen and that was once again the case on Saturday. A week after losing to New Mexico State, the Tigers went blow for blow with the Crimson Tide and were one play away from pulling off the upset.
They were unable to get that final stop as they scored the game-winning touchdown on fourth-and-31 with 32 seconds to play. Here are grades for every positional group as well as the coaching staff following the wild game.
Quarterback: B
Ignore the stats for Payton Thorne, he rallied from a slow start to make several big plays and give Auburn a chance to win. He continued to make key plays with his legs and showcased his toughness.
Running back: A
Auburn did not have much success through the air but the Tigers were able to run the ball at will. Jarquez Hunter and Damari Alston both ripped off long runs to set up touchdowns and combined to average 7.4 yards per carry.
Tight End: C-
The tight ends made several nice blocks to help the running backs but they didn’t have a catch and Rivaldo Fairweather dropped several passes that cost Auburn.
Wide Receiver: C
Ja’Varrius Johnson earned an A for his two-touchdown performance but the rest of the croup caught just one pass for 15 yards. The receivers were not asked to do much but that is part of the problem.
Offensive Line: B+
Auburn had plenty of success on the ground and a ton of the credit goes to the offensive line for opening up holes for them.
Defensive Line: C
The defensive line was unable to generate enough pressure on Milroe, giving him plenty of time to find the open wide receiver or scramble for big gains.
Linebacker: C-
It wasn’t always their fault, but the linebackers spent way too much of the night chasing after Milroe when he tucked the ball and ran.
Secondary: C-
Auburn’s defensive backs made some nice plays but the Alabama wide receivers got open on too many explosive plays, including the touchdown on fourth-and-31 and converting on third-and-17.
Special Teams: D
We will get the good out of the way first, Alex McPherson made all of his kicks and Oscar Chapman had another great day punting.
Now to the bad, Brian Battie made several questionable return decisions that cost Auburn field position.
The ugly is Koy Moore muffing the fourth-quarter punt that set up Alabama to win the game. Not having Keionte Scott back there was inexcusable, even if he can only afford to fair catch it.
Coaching: C
Auburn had some great play calls on offense but once again used Robby Ashford in a questionable manner.
The defense was unable to slow down Jalen Milroe and the decision to only rush two and use a spy on the game-winning touchdown was a bad one.
