Auburn fights but comes up short in 79th Iron Bowl

November 29, 2014

Auburn Tigers
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
F
(15) Auburn Tigers
6
20
10
8
44
(2) Alabama Crimson Tide
14
7
13
21
55


Quick Stats
AU
Ala.
Total Plays
90
61
1st Downs
28
24
3rd down efficiency
9-19
5-9
4th down efficiency
2-3
2-2
Total Yards
630
539
Passing Yards
456
312
Comp-Att
27-43
20-27
Yards per pass
16.9
15.6
Rushing Yards
174
227
Rushing attempts
47
34
Yards per rush
3.7
6.7
Penalties-Yards
7-55
3-30
Turnovers
2
3
Fumbles lost
1
0
Interceptions thrown
1
3
Time of Possession
33:54
26:06

Stat Leaders
Passing
C-Att
Yds
TD
Int
AU - Marshall
27-43
456
3
1
Ala. - Sims
20-27
312
4
3
Rushing
Car
Yds
TD
Long
AU - Artis-Payne
25
77
0
15
Ala. - Yeldon
19
127
2
25
Receiving
Rec
Yds
TD
Long
AU - Coates
5
206
2
68
Ala. - Cooper
13
224
3
75

2014 Schedule
08/30
W
(6) Auburn 45, Arkansas 21
09/06
W
(5) Auburn 59, San Jose St 13
09/18
W
(5) Auburn 20, (20) K-State 14
09/27
W
(5) Auburn 45, La Tech 17
10/04
W
(5) Auburn 41, (15) LSU 7
10/11
L
(3) Miss St 38, (2) Auburn 23
10/25
W
(5) Auburn 42, S Carolina 35
11/01
W
(4) Auburn 35, (7) Ole Miss 31
11/08
L
Texas A&M 41, (3) Auburn 38
11/15
L
(16) Georgia 34, (9) Auburn 7
11/22
W
(16) Auburn 31, Samford 7
11/29
L
(2) Alabama 55, (15) Auburn 44

By Charles Goldberg
AuburnTigers.com

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- It didn't have the return to end all returns to win it, like Auburn had last year, but the latest edition of the Iron Bowl had just about everything else Saturday night in Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Alabama beat Auburn 55-44 in the highest-scoring game in the history of this rivalry, and leads were exchanged like handshakes.

All those points beat the previous high-scoring Iron Bowl of 1969 when Auburn won 49-26. The two teams that played Saturday night combined for more than 1,100 yards.

Auburn's Nick Marshall passed for more than 400 yards. And Sammie Coates had more than 200 yards receiving.

But it was also a game of some missed chances. Four Auburn drives inside the Alabama 10 ended with Daniel Carlson field goals. He kicked five of them.

Auburn led 36-34 after three quarters. But Alabama quarterback Blake Sims and receiver Amari Cooper did what Marshall and Coates had done, played some pitch and catch, and finished with more points.

Alabama finished the regular season 11-1 and will play Missouri in the SEC title game. Auburn is 8-4 and will learn its bowl fate a week from Sunday.

The game began slowly for Auburn. A pass on the first play was from scrimmage was ruled a lateral that Alabama recovered, and, before too long the Tide led 14-3. Auburn didn't flinch.

Auburn rallied from its early deficit to lead 26-21 at the half. Then it was 33-21 Auburn in the opening minutes of the second half when Marshall threw a 4-yard TD pass to Quan Bray.

Then it was 33-27 three minutes later when Sims and Cooper hooked up for a 39-yard touchdown pass.

You couldn't catch your breath.

Auburn went up 36-27 on Carlson's fifth field goal of the game with 3:30 left in the third quarter. Ten seconds later, Sims threw a 75-yard touchdown pass to Copper to make it 36-34.

The first half heated up for Auburn after three drives to at least the Tide 7 produced only field goals. But Auburn was also sending a message it could come back from that early first-quarter deficit.

And the Tigers also said Marshall was warming up his passing arm. Down 14-9, Marshall threw a 34-yard TD pass to Sammie Coates for Auburn's first lead, then 16-14 with 10:16 left in the second quarter.

Alabama regained the lead on a T.J. Yeldon fourth-down 1-yard TD run with 2:16 left in the first half. But things were just getting warmed up.

Marshall quickly threw a 68-yard touchdown pass to Coates with 54 seconds left in the half, and, after a Rudy Ford interception, Marshall threw a 40-yard pass to Coates to the 1.

With the clock running down, Carlson kicked his fourth field goal of the first half to make it 26-21.

Marshall and Coates already had a game full of passing stats by then. Marshall completed 11-of-18 passes for 255 yards in the first half. Coates was on the receiving end of most of it. He had four catches for 153 yards and two TDs.

Auburn hit halftime with 383 yards, including a surprising 255 passing, on 48 plays Alabama had 178 yards on only 28 plays.