Got a ‘second’?

AUBURN, Ala. — If iron sharpens iron, it’s never been more evident than what we witnessed while watching the 2019 Iron Bowl; for the game’s name has never been more epitomized in the annual clash of the gridiron titans from the Heart of Dixie than what we saw in Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Like two heavyweight prized fighters going toe-to-toe, exchanging blow-for-blow and knockout punches to the canvas, Auburn and Alabama would rise to their feet again and again to show the sports world why the Iron Bowl is, was, and always will be the best rivalry in all of sports.

If 2013 gave us the mother of all Iron Bowl’s with ‘Kick Six’ then 2019 gave us its offspring with ‘Doink.’

And this season’s game gave us an all-time classic that had college football fans on the edge of their seats every single second.

And I do mean ‘second.’

In a twist of irony, 2013 happened all over again.

Auburn won the 2019 Iron Bowl much like they did in 2013 when a ‘second’ was put back on the clock after it struck zero.

On the play prior to Kick Six in the 2013 game, the best play in college football history would have never happened had it not been for Alabama head coach Nick Saban petitioning the officials, demanding that a ‘second’ be put back on the clock. Replay revealed that the Bama runner did indeed step out of bounds with a ‘second’ left so Saban got his wish, and then Auburn got theirs.

“THERE GOES DAVIS!”

“OH MY GOD!”

“DAVIS IS GONNA RUN IT ALL THE WAY BACK!”

“AUBURN’S GONNA WIN THE FOOTBALL GAME!”

Can you imagine how Saban felt after the Kick Six knowing that if he would have just kept his mouth shut, the game would have went into overtime?

And on the same sideline that Saban was endorsing the addition of a ‘second’ in the 2013 game, he was now opposing it in the 2019 version.

At the end of the 2nd quarter when it appeared that the clock struck 00:00, Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn wanted a ‘second’ put back on the clock before he took his men into the locker room for halftime.

Officials agreed after reviewing the play — a 17-yard catch and run by Boobee Whitlow — which would set up a long field goal try for Auburn with a single ‘second’ on the clock prior to halftime.

Auburn leg-acy kicker Anders Carlson nailed the 52-yarder, which appeared to be the equivalent of a kick to Nick Saban’s midsection as the Crimson Tide head coach went absolutely berserk on the Bama sideline, while Gus Malzahn went “BOOM!” on the Auburn one, trailing the Tide, 31-27 but taking the all-important momentum into halftime to the delight of a rockin’ Jordan-Hare.

 

And that ‘second,’ much like the successful Carlson field goal before halftime, would turn out to be the difference in one of the most memorable Iron Bowl wins in Auburn history as the Tigers dammed the Tide, 48-45.

And all it took was a ‘second’ to signify an end to Saban’s reign and Auburn’s ascension as the new premier college football program in the state of Alabama.

Or should I say state of Auburn? Of course the Tigers have bragging rights for the next year, but they also have 2019 SEC Freshman of the Year, quarterback Bo Nix for the next three years. So that in of itself spells trouble for the Tide. Especially if Tua Tagovailoa enters the NFL Draft as most expect. If that happens, I’m confident Auburn will have a more successful 2020 than Saban’s Tide.

In fact, we could be witnessing something very similar to what happened when Bear Bryant was at the end of his Alabama coaching career in the 80’s while a hard-nosed coach on the other side of the state was building Auburn into a national power.

If Bryant’s Tide was the state’s premier program in the 1970’s then you better believe Pat Dye’s Auburn Tigers took over that role in the 1980’s.

And it’s most certainly safe to say that Saban’s program has been the premier college football team in the state of Alabama in the 2010’s, but could Malzahn pull a Pat Dye and take over the throne in the 2020’s?

Many call Saban the greatest coach in college football history, but Malzahn has beaten him two out of the last three Iron Bowl’s.

In fact, Alabama Football under Nick Saban has long developed a reputation as dominating its competition, but the sharpest thorn in the side of Saban’s coaching career, are good Auburn teams.

Nick Saban is now 0-8 versus Auburn teams who finish the season with at least nine wins.

And Auburn’s 48 points against the Tide were the most Alabama has ever surrendered during his thirteen years as a head coach in Tuscaloosa.

If you need further proof that Saban’s dynasty at Bama is over and he’s on the downside of his career, look no further than the last three games his team has faced Top 25 opponents which dates back to the 2019 CFB Playoff National Championship.

1/7/19: Clemson 44 Alabama 16

11/9/19: LSU 46 Alabama 41

11/30/19: Auburn 48 Alabama 45

Once thought as a defensive mastermind, Saban’s Bama defenses have surrendered 44, 46, and 48 points, respectively, in Bama’s last three games against ranked opponents, all Tide losses.

Put it this way, if Saban wrote a country song, it’d probably sound something like this – “I ain’t as a good as I once was, I got a few years on me now, but there was a time, way back in my prime, when I could really coach some ball, so if you need a dub tonight, just makes sure it’s not against a ranked team, cause I ain’t as good as I once was, but Im as good once, as I ever was.”

And while Saban is kicking his dog and cursing the sky, Malzahn is probably singing along to The Cars, his favorite band, “Let the good times roll…let the good times roll…let the good times roll.”

At the end of it all, it was the Tide who got rolled in the Iron Bowl proceeded by Toomer’s Corner, naturally.

And all it took was a ‘second’ to turn the tide in favor of the Tigers for the foreseeable future.

With a win over (10-2) Minnesota in the Outback Bowl, Gus Malzahn will become the first head coach in Auburn Football history to win 10+ games, three times in his first seven years on the job.

All thanks to a ‘second.’