You don’t want to read it, I don’t want to write it, but it’s the last review of the 2024 football season so we’re going to power through. Outside of one stat, the 2024 Iron Bowl was a microcosm of Auburn’s season.
For pretty much the whole of the season, Auburn moved the ball against each opponent they faced. In many cases they were within 50 yards of their opponent, even surpassing the opponent in total yards in a handful of losses.
But they couldn’t get in the endzone nearly as much as the offense should’ve been able to given their ability to move the ball between the 20s. You can blame 100 different things, I choose to blame bad luck. It’s my choice and you have to respect it.
How many times did the opposing punter pin Auburn inside the 5-yard line this year? It felt like more than any team in history, right? Bad luck, I tell you.
Anyway, back to the offense. Alabama outgained Auburn by 60 yards for the game. Auburn had more passing yards than the Tide. Auburn got in the redzone one more time than Alabama, but the Tide scored four touchdowns to Auburn’s one.
The only stat that was different than most of the season was turnovers. Auburn had cleaned up the turnover issue the last few games, but they still ranked last in the SEC while Alabama ranked first. Yet in this game, Alabama turned the ball over four times to Auburn’s two, and Auburn’s two came on a halfback pass and when the game was pretty much over.
Despite getting the ball away from Alabama FOUR times, Auburn only scored six points off of them. Yeah, more bad luck.
Auburn’s defense was okay. They forced the aforementioned turnovers, but Alabama seemed to score every other drive. The drive to start the 2nd half looked like they had already packed it in.
When it comes down to it, it was just another boring Iron Bowl in Tuscaloosa. Auburn didn’t play bad. Alabama didn’t play great, but they did just enough to win. At the end of the game, it just felt “ok whatever.”
A disappointing season that saw more records broken in a losing season ever is over. Some guys move on, but a lot of freshmen return. The defense should be the best defense of all time by the time they are seniors in three years. The rest of the Freeze Five will surely get more playing time next year to catch up with Cam Coleman and Malcolm Simmons.
It was just one of those seasons. One to build from and flip the scoreboard next season. All in all, the future looks bright and sometimes you have to go through what we just went through to get what we want.
Now it’s time for Signing Day, which may be the biggest and best in Auburn history.
