First things first - this is my 100th blog post! I feel like it should rain confetti over your screen when you open it or something, but I'm not tech-savvy enough to actually make that happen, so just use your imagination.
Next - the Iron Bowl. Well, we lost. Honestly, neither team can expect to win this game every year, but it still sucks to lose to your biggest rival. It's ridiculous that you can rack up 630 yards of offense on what is supposedly one of the best defenses in the country, score 44 points, and still lose by 11 points! It was such a back-and-forth game. We rallied from fumbling a lateral pass on our first play and getting caught in a 14-3 deficit to leading by 12 at the end of the third quarter, but I think our defense just couldn't hold things together throughout the whole game. There were definitely some bright spots and good stops by the defense, but they kind of got torched in the fourth quarter. Offensively, we had five red zone trips that only resulted in field goals, and Bama got touchdowns on all of their red zone trips. Obviously, that hurt us. Alabama had 539 yards to our 630 yards, but they were more effective in the red zone. I'm not sure where Roc Thomas was in this game. He only had one rushing attempt, which resulted in the fumbled lateral pass on the very first play, so maybe he was punished by not being able to return to the game. I can't help but feel that his speed may have helped us, but who am I to judge? I trust Gus and his game plan.
One thing that impressed me is that we were down by 19 near the end of the game, but the guys never gave up, scoring a final touchdown and two-point conversion with 20 seconds left in the game. They tried an onsides kick to be able to score again, but Alabama recovered it. If we have to lose, I at least want to see the team give everything they have until the final whistle to see if they can salvage the game. The attitude was much better than I saw in the Georgia game.
I had to laugh every time the announcers said, "Alabama will be glad to win this game so they can forget about the Kick Six that happened last year." Well, I hate to tell them, but while this game might give you bragging rights for the next year, you're never going to forget the Kick Six. That game was an instant classic and will be replayed multiple times a year from here to eternity. This year's game? Well, it was an offensive shootout, and it was a decent game, but I doubt anyone (except fans of the two teams) is going to remember how it ended five years from now. When people think Iron Bowl, they're always going to think of the Kick Six and what an awesome game that was. So at least there's that.
Now on to Weagles. Nick Marshall. What can I say? He was on FIRE. He was 27-43 for 456 passing yards and 3 touchdowns. 456 yards! That's a school record. So he gets two Weagles. Sammie Coates gets a Weagle for having 206 receiving yards on just FIVE catches. Sammie and Nick were masters of the long ball. Duuuuuuke Williams gets a Weagle for his 121 receiving yards. Corey Grant gets a Weagle for his 118 all-purpose yards (34 rushing, 14 receiving, and 70 return) and going over 1,000 rushing yards for the season. Daniel Carlson gets a Weagle for his five field goals (the most by an Auburn kicker in a game since 1996). Quan Bray gets a Weagle for his 111 all-purpose yards (21 rushing, 74 receiving, 16 return). Defensive Weagles go to Johnathan Ford (9 tackles and an interception), Jonathan Jones (5 tackles, including one for loss, and an interception), and Jermaine Whitehead (4 tackles and an interception).
Now we'll just have to see where the bowl game will take us and get ready to bounce back to send these Seniors out right.
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