Bye Bye Bama

Wow what a finish, and so long Alabama as the dominant power in college football. As a fan of college football I get much pleasure in writing this.

Alabama has won the last two BCS Championships and was well on their way to win a third, until the unbelievable happened. Auburn had scored two straight touchdowns to tie the game at 21-21, and then Bama took the lead at 28-21. Then with :32 left Auburn tied it up at 28-28. So the game was destined to go into overtime. But the almighty Nick Saban decided to try to get into field goal position, and did with hardly any of a second left on the clock. He faced a tough decision whether to kick a 57 yard field goal, or to attempt a hail mary. He decided to kick, and could not have imagined the outcome. The kicker left it a few yards short, and Auburn sent a returner to field it if this happened. Then the unbelievable happened. It was returned for 108 yards and a touchdown to win it all.

With the top 3 teams playing in heavy hearted rivalry games, something crazy was going to happen. Earlier that day, the #2 Florida State Seminoles took care of their instate rival Florida without any issue. But it wasn't as easy for the #3 Ohio State Buckeyes. They played the Michigan Wolverines in what is arguably the longest and biggest rivalry in college athletics. Michigan, who had been having a very disappointing season, showed up for their last regular season game as the team we thought we would see this season. They led for a good part of the game, and came back from a two touchdown deficit late in the fourth to leave an extra point to tie it. Or an extra two to win. And they put it all on the line, win or loss, on one three yard play. They were not successful, and lost to the bitter rivaled Buckeyes 42-41. So after that excitement, all the anticipation led up to Auburn-Alabama, the Iron Bowl.

Rivalry Week proved it's name and worth in 2013. When it comes to rivalries all you can hope for are upsets and a little excitement, we were not disappointed. With the win, Auburn gets to play in the SEC championship, and potentially a chance to play in the National Championship. They will play #5 Missouri Saturday. Ohio State faces the number one defense in the #10 Michigan State Spartans in the Big Ten Championship. And finally, the #1 Florida State Seminoles face #20 Duke in the ACC Championship. Whoever plays in the National Championship will be decided by these three games. After rivalry week it will be hard to improve on the level of excitement, but it is set up to answer the call.


Box Score and Stats of the Iron Bowl can be found at: http://espn.go.com/ncf/boxscore?gameId=333340002