AUBURN, Ala. — They were ready. Ready to stream down the concrete aisles and over the aluminum benches of Jordan-Hare Stadium, ready to leap over — and, for some, fall into — the four-foot-wide hedges encircling the field. Auburn — unranked, unheralded Auburn — was 43 seconds away from knocking off mighty Alabama, and that always demands a celebration.
But this game is one of the most cursed and chaotic in college football, one where no team can feel comfortable for very long. Earlier in the evening, Auburn had celebrated the Kick Six, the most famous play in college football history, a miraculous victory yanked out of the ether on this very field, 10 years ago almost to the day. This would be a perfect capstone to that victory, and all Auburn had to do was stop Alabama on fourth-and-31. Orange lights flashed, “Zombie Nation” thundered across the stadium, and Auburn fans prepared to celebrate in a way they hadn’t in a decade.
But in their delirium, they forgot the essential truth of the Iron Bowl: until the clock reads 0:00, don’t ever get comfortable.
AUBURN, ALABAMA – NOVEMBER 25: Auburn Tigers fans react after their 27-24 loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide at Jordan-Hare Stadium on November 25, 2023 in Auburn, Alabama. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) (Kevin C. Cox via Getty Images)
Alabama’s Jalen Milroe found Isaiah Bond in the corner of the end zone — mere yards from where Auburn’s Chris Davis had raced into history 109 yards 10 years before — and Alabama turned a humiliating defeat into one of the most memorable victories in Iron Bowl history. Auburn had one more possession, but the miracles were over.
Tens of thousands of stunned Tiger fans filed out of Jordan-Hare Stadium, thousand-yard stares on their faces. A few Alabama fans in the crowd grinned and “Roll Tide”ed one another,…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/i-want-to-cry-auburn-fans-try-to-make-sense-of-incomprehensible-iron-bowl-loss-021950214.html
Author : Yahoo Sports
Publish date : 2023-11-26 02:19:50
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