AUBURN, Ala. — A football dynasty died Saturday, or at least went comatose.
Barreling down on a shot at its fourth national title in five years, top-ranked Alabama was ambushed by Auburn, 34-28, in the teams' closeout to the regular season on an almost unimaginable play: a last-second, length-of-the-field runback on the Crimson Tide's fourth misfired field-goal attempt of the game. The Tide, on the verge of checking off the West division title of the Southeastern Conference on its to-do list, yielded two touchdowns in the closing 32 seconds.
Now No. 4 Auburn, the lone program other than Alabama this decade to corral a Bowl Championship Series title, might have a chance to keep the crystal trophy in-state. By taking the Southeastern Conference championship game next Saturday in Atlanta, with help from a fortunate outcome in the Atlantic Coast Conference or Big Ten finales, the Tigers could surface in the B.C.S. title game.
"I told our team that this is like March Madness coming into the game and you've got to keep winning in the tournament to keep playing," Alabama Coach Nick Saban said.
The game certainly provided strong doses of November nuttiness. In retrospect, Cade Foster's unsuccessful field-goal attempt of 44 yards that scuttled the Tide's opening series proved a harbinger.
Early in the fourth quarter, Foster was sent out to break a 21-21 tie from 33 yards. The ball veered left, just as it did on his first attempt.
All of that was a mere prelude to the play that occurred at the end of regulation, when Auburn's Chris Davis cradled a desperation field-goal attempt by Adam Griffith, Alabama's backup kicker, about a yard inside the back line of his team's end zone.
Noticing that Crimson Tide players toward the sideline on his left had relaxed, Davis gained speed and wound up sailing down the sideline, practically untouched, for a touchdown return of more than 100 yards that triggered euphoria here in Jordan-Hare Stadium.
"First time I've lost a game that way," said Saban, who added that Alabama practices for such situations. "First time I've ever seen a game lost that way."
Davis originally was not stationed deep on the play. His coach, Gus Malzahn, was granted a timeout and sent him back. Just in case.
"I knew, when I caught the ball, I would have room to run," Davis said, "and I knew we had bigger guys on the field to protect."
The Tide had taken a 28-21 lead earlier in the fourth quarter on a 99-yard touchdown pass from A J McCarron to Amari Cooper.
The Tide was poised to push its lead to 10 points, but Saban ordered a run on fourth-and-short from the Auburn 27. "We had missed from the same spot," he said. "You can't take it for granted we would have made it."
T. J. Yeldon was halted for no gain, and Auburn had a chance. Minutes later, when Foster's 44-yard attempt was blocked, the Tigers stormed back for the tying touchdown. The oft-brilliant quarterback Nick Marshall stopped just short of the line of scrimmage on a rollout and lobbed a 39-yarder to Sammie Coates for the touchdown that tied the score, 28-28.
Marshall, expertly operating Auburn's avant-garde, rush-oriented, rarely huddling offense, confounded Alabama with 99 rushing yards and coaxed 197 more out of his backs while mixing in the occasional pass.
"You've got to have tremendous discipline to play against this offense," said Saban, who judged his defense as lacking.
Overtime loomed, even as Yeldon barely beat the clock on a 24-yard dash out of bounds to the Auburn 38. Figuring there was nothing to lose, Saban dispatched the field-goal brigade, this time with Griffith handling the kick from 57 yards. The coach noted that Griffith was effective from 60 yards in practice and the wind was blowing in a favorable direction.
What could go wrong?
Davis's touchdown ended a contest that McCarron said was "almost like a video game."
McCarron had started a low-key Heisman Trophy campaign based largely around the Tide's phenomenal run of success while he was the team's quarterback. Alabama was a heavy favorite to win a third straight national title, an honor that McCarron said was "the main reason I came back."
As for Saban, his teams were 73-3 after entering the second half with a lead, and Alabama was ahead, 21-14, at the break. This lead was one forged on three consecutive touchdowns, two on McCarron passes, sandwiched between two scores by Auburn.
But Even when trailing by two scores, Malzahn, Auburn's first-year coach, stayed with his ground-oriented approach.
"They are a great run defense," said Malzahn, who was the offensive coordinator for Auburn's championship run three seasons ago. "But we felt like to win it, we had to run the ball. That's what got us here."
That the Tigers were there with a division title at stake was shocking enough. They had scrounged out only three wins in the two prior seasons, and a team accustomed to losing might have been knocked out by the 99-yard score that put Alabama ahead in the fourth quarter.
"You look your guys in the eye and say, 'Let's go down and score,' " said Malzahn, whose team won its previous game on a desperation tipped pass for an implausible touchdown against Georgia. "There was no panic on the sideline. Just weather the storm."
After the game, Auburn supporters swarmed the field to celebrate Davis's coast-to-coast run, and they lingered for as long as half an hour. Next stop for all parties: Atlanta, and a conference title matchup against Missouri or South Carolina.
"Man, we worked hard for this," said running back Tre Mason, who pounded out 164 rushing yards. "And we can't wait to get there."
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