AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn overcame a 17-point deficit to tie the 90th Iron Bowl in the fourth quarter before falling to No. 10 Alabama 27-20 Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
“When you get these experiences, you bank them and you learn from it,” Auburn interim coach DJ Durkin said. “We’ve gone through some adversity but now those are things you can build on moving forward.”
Tied 20-20 late in the fourth quarter on fourth-and-2 from Auburn’s 6-yard line, Alabama’s Ty Simpson threw his third touchdown pass to Isiaah Horton to give the Crimson Tide a seven-point lead with 3:50 to play.
“We were there, we just lost our eyes for a second, and that’s all it takes,” Durkin said. “He made a good throw in that moment. Credit to them but there were two critical fourth downs on that drive that we had chances to stop them and did not do it.”
With a chance to tie, Auburn drove to Alabama’s 20-yard line in the final minutes before a fumble ended the Tigers’ opportunity.
“We put ourselves in position to go win,” Durkin said. “Critical mistakes – turnovers and penalties – cost us. You’ve got to take care of the football better than we did.”
Trailing 17-6 at the half, Auburn struck quickly in the third quarter when Ashton Daniels scrambled to his right and hit Malcolm Simmons down the sideline for a 64-yard touchdown to pull the Tigers within four points.
“It was electric in the whole stadium,” said Daniels, who completed 18 of 39 passes for 259 yards and a touchdown while rushing 23 times for 108 yards. “The atmosphere all night was electric. Scoring that touchdown, you could feel the energy and the juice, not only on our sidelines but in the whole stadium. We fed off that.”
Two Auburn penalties gave Alabama first downs on a 13-play drive that ended with a 29-yard field goal, giving the Crimson Tide a 20-13 lead midway through the third quarter. Auburn was penalized 10 times for 84 yards while Alabama had eight penalties for 87 yards.
Needing a touchdown to tie, Daniels converted three third downs with completions, driving 51 yards to Alabama’s 28-yard line before the Crimson Tide’s Bray Hubbard returned a deflected interception 34 yards to midfield.
Xavier Atkins put Alabama behind the chains with a sack for a 9-yard loss on the next play, leading to a punt that pinned the Tigers on their 12-yard line early in the fourth quarter.
On third-and-9 from Auburn’s 30, Daniels found Simmons again for a 66-yard gain to Alabama’s 4-yard line. Simmons led Auburn with 143 receiving yards on three catches.
Jeremiah Cobb tied the game at 20-20 one play later with a 2-yard touchdown run with 11:43 to play.
Alabama drove 75 yards in 15 plays on the game-winning drive, twice benefiting from third-down penalties on Auburn after incomplete passes, before eschewing a short field goal attempt on fourth down, a gamble that paid off with Simpson’s game-winning touchdown pass.
After the teams traded punts to start the game, Alabama capitalized on advantageous field position and took a 3-0 lead with a 45-yard field goal midway through the first quarter.
After Auburn’s offense opened the game with three straight three-and-outs, Alabama scored touchdowns on back-to-back possessions, with Simpson twice passing to Horton for touchdowns, a 6-yarder late in the first quarter and a 3-yarder early in the second quarter to give the visitors a 17-0 lead.
Auburn’s defense turned up the heat late in the half, forcing two straight three-and-outs. The Tigers held Simpson to 122 yards passing.
“He’s a really good quarterback,” Durkin said. “I thought our guys executed the plan really well.”
The Tigers’ offense cashed in both times with 10-play scoring drives late in the half, getting six points from a pair of Alex McPherson field goals, a 26-yarder and a 43-yarder, his 13th and 14th consecutive successful attempts.
Auburn (5-7-1-7) outgained Alabama (10-2, 7-1) 411-280 but two turnovers proved costly in the season-ending defeat.
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on X: @jeff_shearer