Some people may love themselves The Game, but there is nothing quite like the Iron Bowl between Alabama and Auburn. It is the definitive in-state rivalry in the sport of college football. It is truly a house divided event among those who at one point in their life called the Yellowhammer State home. Just when you thought the rivalry had gone stale, we got something totally bonkers from Saturday.
Jalen Milroe's go-ahead touchdown on a fourth-and-goal from the Auburn 31-yard line has to be right up there with the craziest moments in college football history. Nothing may ever eclipse Kick Six that happened a decade ago, but what occurred on The Plains Saturday night cannot be made up. Just when we thought Milroe could not possibly get any dumber, he then totally redeemed himself!
His 31-yard touchdown strike to Isaiah Bond at the back of the Auburn end zone after having thrown an illegal pass the play prior is just par for the course in college football's greatest rivarly. Auburn somehow found a way to rip defeat away from the jaws of victory with one of the worst displays of prevent defense I have ever seen in my 34-plus years on Earth. The win also saved Alabama's season.
Even though he was calling the Sunshine Showdown between Florida State and Florida alongside Chris Fowler for ESPN, Kirk Herbstreit was just like every guy in America in the aftermath of the game.
Herbstreit has played a lot of football and called a ton of games, but his reaction to Milroe's game-winning touchdown pass to Bond is absolutely priceless. He even play-punched Fowler in the booth.
Kirk Herbstreit's reaction to Alabama's game-winning TD was priceless
What you have to like about Herbstreit's reaction to Alabama's game-winning touchdown was that it was purely genuine. Auburn had the Crimson Tide dead to rights, on the precipice of getting Hugh Freeze his first signature victory as the face of the Tigers program. A loss for Alabama in the Iron Bowl would have given the Crimson Tide two on the year and would have eliminated them from the playoff.
Even though the Crimson Tide had already clinched an SEC West title, a two-loss Power Five champion would not have been good enough to make the College Football Playoff this season. This is because every Power Five league has at least one team still alive to make the four-team field, including the SEC, which has both Alabama and the Georgia Bulldogs, who have not lost a game yet.
Overall, this moment we all just saw happen in the Iron Bowl is the Alabama equivalent of Auburn's Kick Six. To win like that on the road to keep your national title hopes alive is the stuff of legend. That is why nothing compares to beating your bitter enemy on rivalry weekend. The stakes are never higher than they are over Thanksgiving Weekend. Alabama has hope, while Auburn has to pick up the pieces.
Just when college football was starting to get predictable, this kind of madness rears its goofy head.
