The game should not have come down to a 57 yard field goal. Bama should have won that game, but the play-calling was more than questionable.
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True - and that's on Saban.
But folks pretending that Saban lost the Auburn game because he was thinking about coaching Texas seriously need their heads examined. Is this projection because Franchione WAS thinking about coaching aTm during the 2002 Iron Bowl?
Let me give everyone a good example - remember the 2012 UGA game? Right after the Dix interception we were at the UGA 47-yard line with 1:15 left. (This all got lost in the hub-bub about Dial'***** on Aaron Murray). We had three timeouts and 1:15 to move 47 yards for a touchdown.
Yeldon ran for eight yards and then McCarron threw an incomplete. Then we ran the ball again. Then McCarron took off running on each of the next two plays and finally - FINALLY - we called timeout with five second left and settled for a field goal and a 10-7 halftime lead.
It was botched clock management along the lines of Les Miles, and Saban even blamed himself for it on the interview going in. Two timeouts passed into history never to be used and we had to fight and scrape to win the game.
And most of us probably yelled at him for the call for two in the third quarter that wound up making the difference in the game.
And let's not even comment upon that fake punt to start the 2010 BCSNCG against Texas. I'm sure in Saban's genius that was to set up the Colt McCoy injury, right?
So NO - Saban is NOT above criticism.
But trying to say the reason we lost the 2013 Iron Bowl was because of the Texas flirtation is laughably absurd on its face. Keep in mind that without the FIRST miracle at JHS two weeks earlier, even losing that game would not have made a difference.
I take that back - it sure would have because if we'd have beaten Mizzou and made the title game again, the stories about Brown and Saban that dominated the news that week would never have happened. And nobody would be making ridiculous suggestions like that.
In a related story, I now must confess that I knew Alabama was in trouble in the 1990 Sugar Bowl because Bill Curry was flirting with leaving us for Kentucky.