Iron Bowl Wrap Up

Wow, what a great game!  I've had a couple of hours to digest the results, a couple of hours to restart my heart after the multiple heart attacks I had, and a couple of hours to begin my preparations for the SEC Title Game!

Raise your hand if you thought Auburn might jump out to an early two touchdown lead the way they did?

*crickets*

Yea, that's what I thought.  It was a nail-biter up until the very end.

Great job by the Alabama offense today, one of the better performances when it was needed this season.  Especially when Heisman contender Mark Ingram was ineffective at best, and just downright awful at worst.

Ingram:  The best running back in the nation.  Today, third best on the team behind Trent Richardson and Roy Upchurch.  Richardson shows the nation that he will be a force to be reckoned with in the future.  As for Upchurch, what a moment for him to cap off his Alabama career (at least regular season) scoring the winning touchdown late in the game.

In my opinion, best Iron Bowl since 1996 - another late win for Alabama.  2004 was good too but Auburn really pulled away in the second half of that ballgame.

Team Stat Comparison
1st Downs	17	15
Total Yards	291	332
Passing	218	181
Rushing	73	151
Penalties	4-26	8-68
3rd Down Conversions	5-14	4-12
4th Down Conversions	0-1	0-0
Turnovers	0	2
Possession	33:47	26:13

Neither team hit their season average in yardage.  For Auburn, I expected that.  For Alabama, I expected a MUCH better running game than we got this afternoon.  Alabama gave up more than 100 yards over their average, and gave up 11 more points than their average of just under 10.

Bottom line:  A win is a win.  If you take out that one big 67 yard touchdown on the reverse run by Zachery, and and numbers begin to normalize a little bit more.  I have not seen a Bama defense give up big plays like this at all this season, and I don't like it.  This game was a formula for an upset,  but Alabama overcame that:

1.  On the road
2.  Rivalry
3.  Opponent coming off a bye
4.  Opponent with nothing to lose
5.  SI Cover Jinx (though it may have jinxed Ingram)

There is a reason Vegas sets the odds and I do not.  I would have bet the house, the farm, the car, and whatever else that Alabama would cover the spread this afternoon - and they did not.

I fear that maybe, MAYBE Ingram was starting to believe the hype.  He has been getting it from the media for weeks, he was on the Sports Illustrated cover this week, his boys back in Michigan created a song for his Heisman campaign, and back in Flint Michigan, today was Mark Ingram Day.  If he was gonna have a bad game, I would rather it had been today than next week against Florida.

On a more positive note, how about the play of Greg McElroy today!  Oft criticized as the offensive weak link, McElroy showed me just how valuable a leader he is tonight.   21/31 218 yards and 2 touchdowns.  Efficient and quality stats.  But to me, it is THE DRIVE that sets his day apart.

Alabama gets the ball down by one with 8:27 on the clock and 80 yards to go.  McElroy started the drive with an incompletion, but after that first play he went 7-for-7 for 63 yards and the critical 3rd down touchdown pass to Roy Upchurch.

McElroy has not lost a game as a starting quarterback since Middle School - AT LEAST!!! - I wasn't able to find his middle school stats.

Before today, people were comparing you to John Parker Wilson.  After today, calls of Jay Barker should begin to ring.

So bottom line:  it is a win.  Alabama will play in Atlanta, and they will play in a BCS game regardless of the outcome of the title game.  Will it be in Pasadena or in New Orleans is all that remains to be seen on that.  Ingram's injury does not appear to be serious, so he should be back.  His Heisman campaign took a serious hit today, but voters should not cast those ballots until they see what happens next Saturday night in the Georgia Dome.

Roll Tide!