Heroic Efforts Highlight Iron Bowl Loss

In one of the wildest Iron Bowls ever, Auburn rallied from a 17-point first quarter deficit, took a 20-17 lead at halftime before losing a heartbreaker on an Alabama touchdown pass with 26 seconds left.

Sophomore nose tackle Jimmy Brumbaugh is the Inside the Auburn Tigers Player of the Game. Brumbaugh was credited with seven solo tackles and one assist. The spiritual leader of the defense played through the pain of a dislocated knee cap suffered in the Georgia game and gave his team a chance to win. Freshman safety Brad Ware deserves honorable mention.

It is still not clear if Auburn's season is finished at 7-4. The Tigers may be headed to the Peach Bowl in Atlanta or the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La. However, the game in Birmingham is the one the Tigers really wanted to win. Despite a heroic effort by a battered Tiger defense, it was a second straight crushing defeat following the four overtime loss to Georgia.

Terry Bowden's record against Alabama head coach Gene Stallings slips to 2-2 in the last matchup between the two. While Auburn players were trying to deal with the hurt, next door Stallings announced he was stepping down as head coach. The buzz in the Legion Field press box was that the coach had a falling out with new athletic director Bob Bockrath, but Stallings, who won five of seven games against Auburn, refused to confirm that. He said he was leaving Tuscaloosa and heading to the ranch in Texas.

Defensive line coach Pete Jenkins, who watched as injured linemen Jimmy Brumbaugh, Mark Smith and Leonardo Carson gave the Tigers a chance with a great effort, was stunned by what he witnessed. "I thought they fought so hard. I have so much respect for this group. I wish I had Mark Smith for four years. He did everything he could. He was always ready, even when he couldn't play. I told Jimmy Brumbaugh how much I respect the effort he put into the game when he wasn't full speed because of the injury. Guys like that are what college football is all about."

Terry Bowden told his team in the post-game locker room that no squad he had ever coached, including the 11-0 1993 team, ever put more effort into a season.

Junior wide receiver Tyrone Goodson said the Tigers never panicked despite falling behind by 17 points. "Two years ago we fell behind by 21-0 here and made a comeback. The older guys knew we could do it again. We hit some big plays on offense and the defense really came through for us. We knew we had to score one more touchdown in the second half and we weren't able to do it."

True freshman defensive back Antwoine Nolan said the youth-dominated defense will learn from the experience. "The last two games are all of the pressure training we need," he says. "I really feel we will use this to rebound and challenge for the SEC Championship next year."

Alabama struck early, hitting a short pass that turned into a 63-yard run and score by Curtis Alexander less than two minutes into the action. Four minutes later, the Tigers trailed 10-0 as it became apparent that Alabama was going to be able to move on Auburn's wounded defense. With 3:32 left in the half the Tigers trailed 17-0 on a seven-yard pass to Michael Vaughn to cap an eight-play, 60-yard drive.

Freshman Rusty Williams started the momentum change on the next series as he broke into the secondary on a 42-yard run that set up a 34-yard field goal by Jaret Holmes.

Auburn cut the gap to seven when Dameyune Craig lofted a perfect pass to Karsten Bailey on a sideline deep route. The 57-yard pass signaled that Auburn was ready to rumble.

Another big play by a freshman, safety Brad Ware, tied the game at 17-17 with 2:16 left in the half when he raced 34 yards with a pass thrown by Freddie Kitchens. A big hit by freshman Brandon Morrow on the kickoff put Auburn in business at the Tide 21, but Auburn couldn't turn the fumble recovery into a touchdown but took the halftime lead at 20-17.

The Tigers came out with a good drive to start the third quarter before stalling on third and two at the Alabama 17 when Fred Beasley was stopped for a yard loss. Holmes made a 34-yard field goal to stretch the lead to 23-17. That was the end of the scoring until the Tide made a desperation drive to win the game.

Alabama moved 74 yards on 10 plays after getting the football back with 2:14 left and no timeouts. The winner came on a dump pass in the flat to Dennis Riddle. The tailback made a nice move and dashed into the end zone with 26 seconds left.

Although Auburn had no timeouts left, the Tigers just missed a bomb to Bailey on the sideline that would have set up Holmes for a 40-yard plus field goal to win the game. However, the game ended on fourth down as Craig's desperation pass fell incomplete.

"We fought hard the entire game on both offense and defense," said noseguard Brumbaugh. "We should hold our heads up. Nobody gave us a chance and we came up one point short of having a chance to play in the SEC championship game if LSU loses to Arkansas."

Keys to Victory

• Auburn got the football with 3:41 left at its own 25. The Tigers burned up Alabama's two remaining timeouts, but could not convert a first down with three running plays and had to punt the ball to set up Alabama's desperation touchdown drive. Unlike last season, the Tide cashed in on its last second opportunity.
• The Alabama defense came up with a big play on third down to hold Auburn to a field goal instead of a touchdown on the opening drive of the second half. That proved to be the winning margin.
• Despite coming up with three interceptions, Auburn's young secondary couldn't come up with the big play on Alabama's final drive.
• Alabama's defense allowed the Tigers to convert just 5-18 third downs. Auburn's defense wasn't bad either, allowing just 5-15 conversions.