Just Not Quite Enough

Let’s make no bones about it. When Auburn and Alabama took the field Saturday night, each was looking to make a statement.

Auburn was looking to prove to the nation that losses don’t define them. They are just as talented and capable as anyone in college football, and they wanted to put it on full display.

For Alabama, demonstrating that it is still one of the premier college football programs in the nation was the key focus. Last season’s shocking finish was not going to shake control of the state out of their grasp. At least not that easily.

In a way, each team got a strong message across to everyone watching.

Alabama got the last word, but Auburn still made its voice heard, even though the end result wasn’t what they wanted.

Despite another gut-wrenching loss, Auburn still made quite a statement.

Two weeks after getting blown out on the road against Georgia, three weeks after self-inflicted wounds led to home loss to Texas A&M, Auburn was looking like a longshot to win the 2014 Iron Bowl.

Projected as a potential playoff contender, Auburn’s 8-3 record entering the Iron Bowl was disappointing, to say the least.

Head-scratching penalties, untimely turnovers, and a general lack of discipline had led to Auburn’s downfall, leaving many to wonder how much fight they really had.

Was last season, particularly the 2013 Iron Bowl, just a fluke?

Auburn answered with a resounding “NO” as they walked into Tuscaloosa to face down a multitude of angry fans and players, and responded by controlling the game for two quarters while putting up the most points and yards ever allowed by a Saban-coached Alabama team.

The Tigers rolled up 44 points and 628 total yards on a Crimson Tide defense that had only been allowing 283.5 yards and 14.5 points per game heading into the contest.

Nick Marshall, Sammie Coates, and Duke Williams all had career days: Marshall threw for 456 yards and three touchdowns (and added 49 rushing yards to give him 505 total yards on the night), Coates caught five passes for 206 yards and two touchdowns, and Williams caught seven passes for 121 yards.

The Tigers also earned a hard-fought 172 rushing yards, converted 47 percent of their third downs, and made it to the red zone an astonishing eight times.

Auburn scored 13 unanswered points in the second quarter to recover from an early 14-3 deficit, and eventually led 26-21 at halftime. In the third quarter, they were up 33-21, the largest deficit Alabama has faced all season.

All of that, and Auburn still lost. How?

It looked like Auburn was running a 5K and Alabama was running a marathon. At the end, the Crimson Tide simply had more gas left in the tank.

They have more talent. They have more depth. And this year, they have more wins.

Once the fourth quarter hit, Auburn just couldn’t match Alabama’s energy, particularly on defense. This group of young men had been fighting back against a hostile crowd, a whole city’s revenge mentality, their own mistakes, and an extremely talented football team the whole game, and for a rather sizable span of it, they were winning.

But down the home stretch, the number one team in the nation flexed its muscle.

That’s where Nick Saban has made his living the past eight years: systematically breaking down opponents with superior talent and depth.

Auburn held off the attack as long as it could, but eventually they were just overwhelmed by a better team.

In the end, we in the Auburn family all had to yet again swallow an unpleasant truth: Alabama is simply better than Auburn.

But the gap is closing. Never has that been more evident than on Saturday night.

If I may, I’d like to reiterate that Auburn scored 44 points against Alabama on their own turf. If not for Amari Cooper’s ability to teleport across the field and better offensive execution in the red zone, Auburn may very well have won that game.

Auburn walked straight into the belly of the beast, and held off being swallowed longer than anyone else had all year, and put up quite a fight in doing so.

I dare say the Tigers left the Crimson Tide with more bruises than they were expecting.

Even though they lost, Auburn proved that last year was not a fluke. After losing two ugly games on the road and blowing a one at home, going 3-3 since a 5-0 start, Auburn could easily have trudged into Bryant-Denny Stadium, received the beating half the state thinks they deserve, limped back out, and started preparing for next year.

But that’s not what Gus Malzahn is about. That’s not what this team is about.

This team fought back. It will always fight back, especially when it isn’t supposed to.

But simply fighting back won’t always be enough, especially with the nation’s most powerful talent vacuum just miles down the road.

Auburn, despite all of its grit, resiliency, and offensive explosiveness, is still not quite where it wants to be.

The Tigers need more depth, especially on defense. They need to have more gas in the tank come fourth quarter of big games.

Last year was supposed to be a rebuilding year, but it turned out that Auburn was better than anyone expected them to be. Now that the secret was out, championship expectations were levied upon them this year.

And they might have been put on Auburn a little too early.

Don’t misunderstand me, Auburn is still an extremely talented team. They are easily a top program, just on the cusp of being elite.

But they aren’t quite there yet. They’re really good right now, just not quite great.

They’ve shown flashes of what they can be with a full deck (I’m looking at you, home blowout of LSU and road win against Ole Miss), but they want to be even better.

They want to be able to still take down premier competition without playing its absolute best game. And make no mistake, it would have taken a perfect game to beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

What’s funny is that Auburn got pretty darn close.

As long as Gus Malzahn is at the helm, Auburn’s offense will be able to score on anyone, and I mean anyone. If he can shore up the defensive issues and keep amassing depth on both sides of the ball, look out, college football.

Auburn plays with toughness, resiliency, and heart. Now imagine if they had an overall talent level to match it.

Saturday night, Auburn came up just short. The marathon proved to be just a few yards too long.

But remember this: Auburn can compete with anyone in the nation. Saturday night proved at least that, if nothing else, about the Tigers.