3 takeaways from Auburn football’s Iron Bowl season finale

Even in a year of wide-ranging changes in college football, where conferences flip and some rivalries die, the Iron Bowl remains the biggest game of the year in the state of Alabama.

Alabama won the 2024 edition of the rivalry, defeating Auburn 28-14

Here are three takeaways from Auburn’s Iron Bowl loss.

Missed opportunities

Auburn found offensive success early and often against Alabama.

In the first half alone, he had drives of 52, 56 and 72 yards, but only scored on one of those drives and came up short on a 37-yard field goal.

Worst of all, Auburn forced a fumble at the Alabama 35-yard line, but was again held to three points even after running three plays at the Alabama two-yard line.

Auburn was consistently successful between the 20-yard lines, but its inability to turn those drives into points put the Tigers in a hole early in the game.

Despite forcing three turnovers and gaining 204 yards of total offense, Auburn trailed 14-6 at halftime, a hole that could have easily been avoided.

When Alabama put together two easy touchdown drives early in the second half, Auburn could sense it had squandered its best opportunity.

Even when the Tigers had one last shot to stay in the game, a Jalen Milroe fumble was followed by an interception thrown by Jarquez Hunter on a double pass.

Jalen Milroe, tight ends hurt Auburn

Despite some issues with turnovers, Milroe has consistently shown the ability to hurt the Auburn defense, especially with his feet.

He rushed for three touchdowns and over 100 yards, keeping plays alive with scrambles but also finding success with runs designed by the quarterback.

While most of the attention in Alabama’s passing offense is often on Ryan Williams and the Crimson Tide’s other wide receivers, the tight ends played a big role Saturday and the pain did most of the damage in the first half.

Josh Cuevas, Robbie Ouzts and CJ Dippre combined for five catches and 63 yards in the first half, overwhelming Alabama’s wide receivers.

That offensive scheme found success early, creating tough matchups for Auburn’s linebackers and safeties, but also taking advantage of weaknesses in coverage when Auburn collapsed into zone defenses.

I couldn’t support her

Auburn seemed to have a lot of juice in this game.

There was trash talking, early offensive success and enough fire on defense to force three innings of business. But as the missed opportunities piled up, that juice disappeared.

After Auburn settled for a field goal to end the first half after three plays at the Alabama two-yard line, the momentum shifted once the two teams returned to the field.

Alabama put together two easy touchdown drives to start the second half, with Auburn stringing together an unfortunate three-and-out between the two scores. A 14-6 halftime deficit quickly turned into a 28-6 deficit early in the third quarter, Auburn’s largest of the season.

The only fight that was shown in the half for Auburn was a scuffle that started between KeAndre Lambert-Smith and Alabama’s DeVonta Smith.

Only Smith and Alabama’s Malachi Moore were flagged in the dust up, though, so you could argue Alabama was the aggressor there, too.

The most notable trash talk came from Auburn linebacker Demarcus Riddickwho claimed he was faster than Milroe and that Milroe “won’t be pulling out of that box this week”.

Alabama’s first touchdown came on a 19-yard run by Milroe, a play that Riddick reached but was unable to put the Alabama quarterback on the ground.

That’s the kind of day it was for Auburn, getting close but not finishing and ultimately unable to make the cut.

Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow X at @peter_rauterkus or email them at [email protected]m