Tide Comeback Ends Dismal Season On Dismal Note

Birmingham, Ala.-Four second half turnovers by the Tigers and two second half touchdowns by Tide star Shaun Alexander helped Alabama rally from behind to take a 31-17 victory Saturday night at Legion Field.

Tide back Alexander

In what may have been his last game as head coach, Bill Oliver said his Tigers did some good things but hurt their own cause. "We sure gave an awful lot tonight," he said. "We may have played well enough to win, but we gave up the big play and turned the ball over and that killed us."

Auburn scored on its first two possessions to take a quick 10-0 lead and extended the margin to 17-0 early in the second quarter. "I thought we played extremely well in the first quarter, probably the best I've seen since I've been here at Auburn," Oliver said. The Tigers gained 111 of their 308 yards of total offense in the opening period while Bama had zero net yards in the first 15 minutes. The Tide rallied to gain 329 yards.

Auburn fell to 3-8 with the loss while the Tide ended its regular season at 7-4 and probably assured itself of a bowl bid. Senior Ryan Taylor, a key member of last year's SEC West championship squad, said he never would have believed that his 1998 Tigers would struggle so much. "I didn't sense this at all because of all first stringers we had coming back who were so good," Taylor said. "We knew we would have to have a quarterback to step up, but it turned out to be a crazy year with a lot of crazy twists."

The next twist is the continuing drama of who the next permanent head coach will be. Oliver, the defensive coordinator who guided the Tigers to a pair of victories in Auburn's final five games after replacing Terry Bowden on an interim basis, plans to be back at the office Monday after doing the Auburn Football Review Show on Sunday. However, there are no guarantees that he or any other current member of the staff will be coaching the Tigers in 1999. Oliver is one of the leading candidates for the job, however, AU officials have given no hints on who will be the next head coach or when they will announce their decision.

Oliver had special praise for Auburn's seniors for holding the team together throughout a controversial season. He singled out Bama's Alexander, who scored three touchdowns, as being a big difference in the game. "We just couldn't overcome the turnovers," Oliver said. "We are a ball team that scores somewhere in the neighborhood of 17 points. We can't get past that point. You have to be able to score some points in this game." Alexander rushed for two TDs and picked up a third score when he turned a short pass into a 43-yard TD with just 25 seconds left in the third quarter. That put the Tide ahead for the first time at 21-17.

Haven Fields picked off his second pass in the last two games.

Auburn's offense, which had looked good in the first half, was sluggish after halftime following injuries to the running backs. Heath Evans, who had added a boost to the running game with his blocking, had problems with the ankle that had been broken in the LSU game. Michael Burks was in for just one play on his sprained ankle before calling it a night. When Demontray Carter needed a break with his problem ankles, the Tigers called on Rusty Williams, who last month was learning the ropes at safety. "I really wanted to play more in the second half, but the ankle was bothering me," Evans said.

Without an effective running game in the second half, Bama's defense decided to blitz freshman quarterback Gabe Gross and pressured him into mistakes." Gross had come out hot, hitting his first seven passes as Auburn jumped to a 17-0 lead less than three minutes into the second quarter when he connected on a nine-yard touchdown pass to Karsten Bailey. "I don't think at any point anyone on our team thought we had the game in hand," Gross said. "We knew this is the Auburn-Alabama game and teams can come back."

Alabama sealed the victory when Clifton Robinson, who had a great punt return in the first half, fumbled a punt at his own 11 with the Tigers down 24-17. Two plays later, Alexander scored from the eight-yard line to stretch the lead to 31-17 with 6:41 to play. The Tigers still had time for a rally if they could score a quick touchdown, but AU was unable to come up with big plays down the stretch, a recurrent theme throughout the 1998 season.

Markeith Cooper's 56-yard kickoff return to open the game put Auburn in great field position at the Bama 44. Four Carter runs and a 23-yard pass to Evans off of a fake reverse set up a one-yard dive over the top for a touchdown by Evans.

Auburn moved 58 yards on seven plays before settling for a 49-yard Robert Bironas field goal on its second possession.

The Tigers had a chance to score on their third possession, but Bironas' 44-yard field goal hit the upright. Auburn found the end zone on its next possession with a 45-yard drive set up by an impressive punt 36-yard return by Robinson. Karsten Bailey's juggled TD reception on a perfect Gross pass over cornerback Fernando Bryant stretched the lead to 17-0 with 12:46 to go in the half. Bailey caught eight passes to finish his career with 150, nine better than the old mark set by Terry Beasley.

Bama mounted its charge with two second quarter touchdowns. The first was on a 13-yard Shaun Alexander run to cap a 60-yard drive. The second was on a halfback pass from Arvin Richard to Quincy Jackson over cornerback Jayson Bray. Auburn could have been trailing or tied at the break if not for Haven Fields intercepting Andrew Zow in the end zone with five seconds left in the half on a third down and inches to go play just outside the Tiger goal line.

Demontry Carter became Auburn's first 100-yard back since Fred Beasley in 1996.

Demontray Carter, who became the first Auburn running back to break the 100-yard barrier in the past 32 games, had 63 yards at halftime and 102 for the game on 22 carries. Alexander carried the football 27 times for the Tide and netted 99 yards.

"This was a very big win for us," Alexander said. "The Alabama-Auburn game is different than any other. We can't think of a bowl game right now. We just had to focus on this game. The crowd was into it and we played off their emotion. I'm just glad we won."

Auburn wide receiver and return man Cooper has one more season and says he is looking forward to it. "This loss hits you hard," he said. "I thought we were going to win. We have to go back and build for next year. We left everything on the field tonight and gave it 100 percent."

Auburn nose tackle Charles Dorsey said he gave his all in his college finale. "I tried to play hard to help the young guys," Dorsey said. "Now it is their time to step up. I think we showed we played hard for Coach Oliver. I hope he's the next coach, but after this year nothing would surprise me."