OTGs - Auburn 26, Alabama 14

Hey, #WeBeatBama yesterday. We didn’t just beat them, either. We forced a Nick Saban team to look as silly as possible. They were out of sync, bumbly, and only put together one coherent Alabama-esque drive. After we did it to Georgia, it was chalked up to a bunch of Bulldog mistakes. Now, it’s Auburn imposing its will on the opposition.

PLAY OF THE GAME

There are a few that you can put here — mainly, Kerryon’s jump pass to Nate Craig-Myers for the opening touchdown, Stidham’s touchdown run, and even some lesser-recognized, but equally important plays on the defensive side. It would’ve been a much closer game without Stephen Roberts taking down the bull moose that it Bo Scarbrough on that third down swing pass, or Jordyn Peters breaking up the long pass to Calvin Ridley, or the gang-tackling effort on Robert Foster on 4th and three.

However, we’re giving the honor tonight to our rock, the guy who gave up everything he had to help Auburn win last night.

With about three minutes left in the third quarter, Auburn trailed 14-13 and faced a 3rd and one at the Alabama three. A score gives Auburn the lead. Kerryon Johnson ran out of the Wildcat and headed for the right corner of the south endzone. As he stretched out the ball to try and tap the pylon, Ronnie Harrison came in and rocked him on the left shoulder. Grimacing visibly, but having earned the first down, Johnson lined right back up in the backfield and took the ensuing handoff right into the Alabama line for the touchdown that gave Auburn a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.

That play alone showed us what kind of a damn hero we have at tailback. Kerryon ran for 104 hard-earned yards on 30 rough carries, to go along with three catches for 21 yards, and a three-yard passing touchdown early in the game. He left late with a shoulder injury, the extent of which we’re not sure, but he was a warrior on the field and it was all exemplified in that one touchdown run to give the Tigers the lead.

OFFENSIVE PLAYER(S) OF THE GAME

Just look above and you can see Kerryon’s impact on the game, but there were a couple of other guys that also had huge days against the top-ranked Tide. We’re going to straddle the fence and dole out the honor thrice here, as there are three guys that flat-out deserve it.

Aside from KJ, our unflappable quarterback was a gigantic reason that we won the game. Jarrett Stidham faced up the Alabama defense and led the Auburn offense like you’d expect from such a highly-anticipated player.

He put us in good situations all night long, and the lone mistake he had was the fumble that squashed a scoring opportunity near the goal line. Imagine if we punch that one in and lead 14-0. It could’ve been a straight-up blowout.

Overall, his line was 21-28 for 237 yards, to go along with 51 rushing yards and a touchdown on twelve carries. Of those 21 completions, eleven went to Ryan Davis, who’s our third offensive player being recognized. Davis set the Auburn single-season reception record in the win, catching eleven passes for 139 yards.

He did that to Minkah Fitzpatrick quite a bit yesterday.

DEFENSIVE PLAYER(S) OF THE GAME

What did we say going into the game about defending Alabama? Spy Hurts, and don’t let Ridley kill you. Done and done.

As far as Hurts went, he got his carries, and a solid rushing day came from it. However, he never had the big run, and never got loose for more than a few yards. Auburn was patient with him, didn’t go for the big play, and made him decide how he was going to try and beat us. It ended up with him either throwing the ball away, trying to force it to a covered receiver, or inexplicably running out of bounds for a loss.

There were some reasons he did that. Namely guys like Deshaun Davis and Nick Coe. Davis finished with seven tackles and a sack, Nick Coe also had a sack and five tackles. Each applied pressure late when Bama was trying to throw to catch up, and they didn’t let the Tide score after the first drive of the third quarter.

Elsewhere, Calvin Ridley was neutralized. Three catches for 38 yards. Why?

Carlton Davis. He played smart yesterday and we were able to put multiple guys on Ridley a lot of the time to prevent him from running wild.

You know who else out of the defensive backfield really helped key Auburn to a huge defensive day?

Stephen Roberts, whose big tackle of Bo Scarbrough might have been the play of the day on defense. Seriously, it came right after the drive where they scored, and Roberts went one-on-one with the Bama bruiser in the open field, diving and taking his legs out a yard short of the first down. It was yet another key third-down stop in the game, and you could tell it frustrated Bama with the way Scarbrough spiked the ball after getting stopped.

BEST SWAG SURF OF THE GAME

Okay, cheap category. There was only one. But it was so awesome.

SICK BURN OF THE GAME

TWEET OF THE GAME

And finally, we leave you with this. The Auburn film guys sure have gotten a bunch of wry smiles from Jarrett Stidham this season. Here’s one more.

#WeBeatBama

Now, on to Georgia, again. War Eagle.