College Football Old School Game of the Week: By An Inch, Alabama Ends Auburn's 21-Game Undefeated Streak

 

One of the biggest cliches in football is that it is a game of inches.

That cliche could be used to describe the ending of the 1994 Iron Bowl as the Auburn Tigers faced with the Alabama Crimson Tide in the annual meeting between the two schools that divide the state of Alabama.

For only the second time in the history of the rivalry, both teams came into the game without a loss as Alabama entered the game with a 10-0 record while Auburn came into the game with a 9-0-1 record.

The Crimson Tide were led by head coach Gene Stallings, who was in his fifth season as the Alabama head coach as he had led the Tide to the 1992 national championship, the school's first since 1979.

On the field, the Tide were led by quarterback Jay Barker, who had complied a 33-1-1 record during his time at Alabama, plus running back Sherman Williams, who had rushed for over 1,000 yards during the season and a stout defense, while not as good as the one in 1992, was still strong having given up an average of 13.5 points per game.

Alabama had already clinched a spot in the SEC Championship Game where they would face the Florida Gators in two weeks but first they had to defeat their arch rival in the Iron Bowl.

Auburn was led by head coach Terry Bowden, son of Florida State Seminoles head coach Bobby Bowden, who took after Pat Dye stepped down as head coach following a NCAA investigation that put Auburn on probabation and banned them from postseason play in 1993 and 1994.

Bowden would lead Auburn to a shocking 11-0 season in 1993 which included a 22-14 win over the Tide in the 1993 Iron Bowl which was only the second time the game was played at Auburn's Jordan-Hare Stadium.

In 1994, the Tigers had pulled out dramatic victories over LSU and Florida(To read about those games, click on the links which are highlighted here: https://oldschoolsportsblog.blogspot.com/2017/10/college-football-old-school-game-of_11.html and https://oldschoolsportsblog.blogspot.com/2019/10/college-football-old-school-game-of.html) to extend their winning streak to 20 until a shocking 23-23 tie against the Georgia Bulldogs one week prior to the Iron Bowl handed Bowden his first non-win since becoming the Auburn head coach.

Bowden and the Tigers hoped to rebound from the tie with another win over Alabama as the two teams faced off in Legion Field in Birmingham for the 1994 Iron Bowl.

  After Auburn went three-and-out to start the game, Alabama would get the ball at their 22-yard-line to as a 26-yard run by Williams on the first play of the drive followed by a 25-yard run by fullback Tarrant Lynch help lead the Tide to the Auburn 19-yard-line to set up a 36-yard field goal attempt by Michael Proctor.

However, Proctor's kick would side wide right to keep the game scoreless as the two teams would exchange punts on their next possessions until the Crimson Tide defense forced a turnover when linebacker Michael Rogers knocked the ball loose from running back Stephen Davis which was recovered by Alabama strong safety Sam Shade to give the Tide the ball at the Auburn 47-yard-line.

From there, the Tide would drive 47 yards in eight plays as Barker would complete passes on two straight 3rd down conversions, first finding Curtis Brown for 11 yards on 3rd & 7, followed by a 13-yard screen pass to Lynch on 3rd & 9, to set up Williams' 13-yard touchdown run to give Alabama a 7-0 lead with 2:38 left in the first quarter.

Following an Auburn three-and-out, the Tide got the ball back at their 31-yard-line as a holding penalty would negate a five-yard run by Williams and push Bama back to its 26-yard-line where they would face a 1st & 15 situation.

That is when Barker fired a pass over the middle for Toderick Malone, who made the catch at the Alabama 45-yard-line, then outran the Auburn defense for a 74-yard touchdown on the final play of the first quarter to extend the Crimson Tide's lead to 14-0.

The Tigers would begin their next possession at their 20-yard-line as quarterback Patrick Nix would complete a 27-yard pass to Thomas Bailey to give Auburn a 1st down at their 47-yard-line as they would drive into Alabama territory before punting the ball back to the Tide who would take over at their 13-yard-line.

It would take the Tide six plays to get back into the end zone as Barker would throw a 49-yard touchdown pass to Marcell West to increase Alabama's lead to 21-0 with 10:25 left in the second quarter.

The Auburn defense try to converge on running back Sherman Williams(20) who would run for 164 yards on 27 carries.

Auburn would start its next drive at their 20-yard-line as they nearly avoided disaster when on 3rd & 9, Nix was intercepted by Alabama cornerback Deshea Townsend, only to have the play be nullified by offsetting penalties, which meant Alabama would not take over in Auburn territory with a chance to make it 28-0.

Following the negated pick, the two teams would trade punts for the rest of the first half as the Tide would go into the locker room ahead 21-0 after a first half in which they complied 278 yards of total offense compared to 76 by the Tigers.

Alabama would get the ball to start the second half as they would drive from their 38-yard-line to the Auburn 19-yard-line until Barker fumbled the football following a quarterback sack which was recovered by Tigers defensive tackle Mike Pelton to give Auburn the football at their 28-yard-line.

The drive would begin with a 19-yard run by Davis followed by two straight running plays for six yards to set up 3rd & 4 when Nix completed a six-yard pass to Bailey to give the Tigers their first 3rd down conversion of the game and a fresh set of downs at the Alabama 41-yard-line

Two plays later on 3rd & 10, Nix would complete a 20-yard screen pass to running back Fred Beasley to give Auburn a 1st down at the Alabama 21-yard-line as Nix would find Bailey for nine yards on 1st down, then scramble for four yards on 2nd down to give Auburn a 1st & goal at the Crimson Tide eight-yard-line.

A three-yard run by running back Harold Morrow followed by an incomplete pass set up 3rd & goal from the Alabama five-yard-line when Nix completed a four-yard pass to Hicks Poor to put Auburn at the one-yard-line where they were faced with a 4th & goal.

Bowden would go for the touchdown which he got as Nix sneaked in for the one-yard touchdown to complete the 13-play, 72-yard drive and cut Alabama's lead to 21-7 with 5:03 remaining in the third quarter.

The Tide would hold the ball for the rest of the third quarter as they would drive 71 yards in 19 plays only to come away with zero points as Barker would be intercepted in the end zone by Auburn strong safety Brian Robinson, as he ran it out of the end zone before being knocked out of bounds at his 19-yard-line.

On the next play from scrimmage, Nix would throw a bomb for Bailey, who made the catch for a 48-yard gain to put Auburn at the Alabama 33-yard-line as the Tigers would drive to the Crimson Tide 18-yard-line, poised to make it an one-score game.

However, Crimson Tide defensive end Dameain Jeffries would deflect a Nix pass to make the interception to end the Tigers scoring threat and give Alabama the ball back at their 30-yard-line midway through the fourth quarter.

Alabama would run the ball five straight times before punting the ball back to the Tigers who would take over at their 26-yard-line with 4:02 remaining in the game and needing two touchdowns.

A six-yard scramble by Nix would start the drive as an incomplete pass would bring up 3rd & 4 where Nix hit Poor for five yards to give Auburn a 1st down at their 37-yard-line.

Following two incomplete passes, Nix would complete a 16-yard screen pass to Beasley to put the Tigers in Alabama territory as Nix would find Poor for eight yards, then Sanders for nine yards to give Auburn a 1st down at the Alabama 30-yard-line.

A two-yard pass to Beasley would get 15 yards added on to it as the Tide were called for 12 men on the field to put the Tigers at the Alabama 13-yard-line as Nix would find Sanders for 12 yards to make it 1st & goal at the one-yard-line when Nix snuck it in for the touchdown to end the 12-play, 74-yard drive and cut the Crimson Tide lead to 21-14 with 2:23 to go in the game.

Auburn quarterback Patrick Nix would complete 23 of 42 passes for 247 yards and run for two touchdowns.

The Tigers would attempt an onside kick but Lynch would recover it to give the Tide the ball at the Auburn 46-yard-line with a chance to pick up a 1st down to run out the clock and secure the victory for Alabama.

However, the Tide could not pick up a 1st down as the Tigers spend all three timeouts before Bryne Diehl would come on to punt the ball back to the Tigers as Alabama would down the punt at the one-yard-line with 1:47 to go in the game.

Needing to go 99 yards for a touchdown, the Tigers' drive began with an incomplete pass which was followed by two straight passes from Nix to Beasley that totaled 26 yards to move Auburn to its 27-yard-line.

Nix would then hit Sanders for nine yards which was followed by a 15-yard scramble by the quarterback to put Auburn at the Alabama 49-yard-line.

Two straight incomplete passes would force a 3rd down when Nix completed a seven-yard pass to Beasley to set up a do-or-die 4th & 3 from the Alabama 42-yard-line.

That is when Nix completed a short pass across the middle for Sanders who was hit immediately by Shade close to the 1st down marker as both sides celebrated as the Tide thought that Shade had stopped Sanders short of the 1st down while the Tigers thought that Sanders had picked up the 1st down.

The chain gang would come onto the field to measure it and at first it looked like the Tigers had made the 1st down but when the referees bent down to see if the ball had touched the marker, they signaled that Sanders had not made the 1st down and the ball would go back to Alabama at their 40-yard-line.

Barker would take a knee to run out the clock as the Crimson Tide handed Bowden his first loss as Auburn head coach with Alabama winning the game 21-14.

The Tigers would end the season with a 9-1-1 record as they would finish ranked #9 in the final AP poll as Bowden would remain the Auburn head coach until midway through the 1998 season when he resigned following a 1-5 start to the '98 season.

As for the Tide, their chances at a second national title in three years were dashed in the SEC Championship Game as they fell to the Florida Gators 24-23 as Alabama would finish the season playing Ohio State in the Citrus Bowl where a 24-17 victory over the Buckeyes would earn the Tide a top 5 ranking in both the final AP and coaches polls.