What we learned: Bryce Young has his Heisman moment in game-tying drive

AUBURN, Ala. — In the midst of one of his worst collegiate games Bryce Young stood behind center, a storm of blue and orange erupting around him and a sea of green grass separating his offense from salvation.

He was excited.

Trailing Auburn by a touchdown with 1:35 remaining, No. 3 Alabama put the ball in Young’s hands, calling for him to orchestrate a game-tying drive from his own 3-yard line while breathing life into a listless offense. The quarterback did just that, keeping the Tide’s playoff hopes alive while providing what could be the defining moment in his Heisman Trophy campaign.

“A situation like that, it’s such a great opportunity for us as a team,” Young said. “I had all the faith in the world in our guys. When we kinda got put in that situation, I kinda got a little excited just knowing what we’re capable of, knowing what we can do. … In a situation like that, there’s no one I’d rather be with than all the guys I had out there. Going into that, it was just a good opportunity for us. I had all the confidence in the world.”

Young played a part in all of Alabama’s 97 yards on the drive, completing 4 of 10 passes for 85 yards and a touchdown while adding the remaining 12 yards with his feet. Like his overall performance on the night, he wasn’t perfect but rather chose his moments, coming up big when the Tide needed him most.

After beginning the drive with back-to-back incompletions, Young avoided defenders in the end zone before stepping up to find John Metchie III for a 22-yard completion on third-and-10.

Five plays later, he found himself in a make-or-break position as Alabama faced a fourth-and-7 from the Auburn 42-yard line with 43 seconds remaining. The sophomore once again stood tall, waiting in the pocket before delivering a 14-yard strike to Jahleel Billingsley to keep the Tide alive.

Following a pair of incompletions, Young unleashed his signature throw of the day, dropping in a perfectly-placed pass to receiver Ja’Corey Brooks for a 28-yard touchdown to help the Tide tie the game with 24 seconds remaining. From there, Young tossed another touchdown in overtime before converting on two 2-point tries, including the game-winner to Metchie to seal Alabama’s 24-22 victory in the fourth extra period.

Young finished the game 25 of 51 for 317 yards and two touchdowns while throwing a rare interception. While those numbers didn’t match his record-breaking performance from the previous week’s game against Arkansas, the comeback moved him back to pole position in the Heisman Trophy race as fellow contender C.J. Stroud and No. 2 Ohio State suffered an upset to No. 5 Michigan earlier in the day.

“I think he’s got a lot of mental toughness,” head coach Nick Saban said of Young following the game. “He’s got a lot of grit about him. He’s kind of quiet in his demeanor and the way he goes about things, but he kept telling the offense, ‘We’re gonna get this right. We’re gonna be alright.’ And I think the players really believe in him. When we started making a couple plays, I think we got a little confidence and I think that helped not only him but the players around him play better, which enabled him to make a lot of plays that we needed him to make. And he was pretty outstanding in the second half.”

Young will have a chance to lock up the Heisman Trophy next week as Alabama takes on No. 1 Georgia and its top-ranked defense in the SEC Championship Game. The Bulldogs lead the nation, allowing opponents just 6.91 points and 229.5 yards per game.

On the verge of another upset victory inside of Jordan-Hare Stadium, Auburn was feeling itself. Not only were the Tigers frustrating Alabama’s offense, they also rubbed their success in the Tide’s face, ripping off its signature Karate Kid celebration on several occasions.

Auburn receiver Kobe Hudson struck the pose after putting the Tigers up 7-0 with a 15-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter. Defensive lineman T.D. Moultry also took part in the mockery as did defensive back Smoke Monday and linebacker Zakoby McClain. Even punter Oscar Chapman joined in on the fun.

The antics did not go unnoticed by Alabama on the opposite sideline.

“Yeah, that was noted,” Young said. “We saw it.”

Ultimately, the Tide had the last laugh as Metchie flashed the celebrate to Auburn’s student section after scoring his game-winning two-point conversion.

“I guess all I’ll say is Roll Tide,” Metchie said with a smile when asked about the celebration antics after the game. “We won.”

A week ago the roles were reversed. Struggling to stop Arkansas’ offense, Alabama relied on its own attack to avoid an upset inside Bryant-Denny Stadium. With the Crimson Tide’s offense stagnant for the majority of the game Saturday, it was the defense’s turn to answer the call.

Alabama held Auburn to 159 total yards and provided a crucial three-and-out late in the fourth quarter to set up Young’s game-tying drive. The Tide held Auburn running back Tank Bigsby to 63 yards on 29 carries, a season-low 2.2 yards per attempt. It also sacked Tigers quarterback T.J. Finley six times on the night.

"We knew it was going to be a dogfight,” Alabama outside linebacker Will Anderson Jr. said. “You know sometimes, the offense, they have our back and it just happened this game [that] we had to have their back. We had to go out there and everybody had to execute, everybody had to be on the same page because we knew what type of game this was going to be.

"This is the Iron Bowl. This is a rivalry. We knew it wasn't going to be easy, so we knew what was expected to happen and we went out there and played."

Anderson added to his stellar season, recording seven tackles, including three stops for a loss and a sack. The five-star edge rusher now has a team-high 14.5 sacks and 29.5 tackles for a loss through 12 games.

Auburn’s defense also did a good job of getting in the backfield, sacking Young seven times in the game. Five of those took place in the first half, as the Tigers took a 7-0 lead into the break.

Knowing he needed to make changes, Saban shuffled his offensive line to start the third quarter, replacing sophomore Damieon George with sixth-year senior Chris Owens at right tackle and junior Darrian Dalcourt with sophomore Seth McLaughlin at center.

“We were struggling in pass protection at right tackle, so we thought Chris would do a little better job, a little more experienced,” Saban said. “He did do a good job. Chris couldn’t play center and right tackle at the same time. I thought Seth did a really good job.

“Darrian is just fighting this ankle injury, and I think it was hampering him a little bit in the first half and bothering him a little bit, so I pulled him. I said, ‘Look, I know you wanna play, but you’ve gotta be honest. If you can’t do your job well – nobody questions how tough you are.’ We finally replaced him, and I think that Seth did a good job.”

The changes eventually worked as Young was allowed more time to operate. The quarterback finished the game completing four of his final six passes for 52 yards and two touchdowns before tossing completions on each of Alabama’s two 2-point conversions in the final two overtime periods.