One Second To Kill Yourself

  Last night #4 Auburn played the game of the year and beat #1 Alabama. And they did it in 1 second.
  The game had gone back and forth for 4 quarters. Auburn scored first going up 7-0 to end the 1st quarter. But this woke the sleeping giant and in the 2nd quarter Alabama outscored Auburn 21-7 to lead 21-14 at halftime. In the 3rd quarter Auburn repeated the scoring from the 1st quarter and outscored Alabama 7-0 to tie Alabama 21-21. And so they battled in the 4th quarter neck and neck, both gaining a touchdown. Throughout the game Cade Foster for Alabama missed 3 attempted field goals, knocking as much as 9 points off the scoreboard, unusual for their kicker.
  The game was tied 28-28 near the end and with 7 seconds to go Alabama had the ball, T.J. Yeldon drove down the field and was knocked out of bounds at Auburn's 38 with 1 second left on the clock. What to do?
  Alabama had several choices. Take a knee & go into overtime. Throw a long bomb pass for a TD to try & win the game. Or do what they did & attempt a field goal to win. Obviously they'd lost faith in Cade Foster's ability to kick, so they brought out redshirt freshman kicker Adam Griffith to make the 57 yard kick. Doom.
  The choice, though not absurd, was frought with danger. Although seemingly invisible to Alabama, not so to Gus Malzahn and his crew. For, as everyone lined up for the kick one Auburn defender, Chris Davis, instead of staying on the line to try and block the kick, ran back to the end zone to wait and catch it--assuming it would fall short. The kick was up and it did fall short & he caught it. Chris Davis then ran 100+ yards past all of the Alabama players and scored one of the most remarkable touchdowns to win the game in Ironbowl history.
  And so another regular season is over. Auburn heads to the SEC Championship instead of Alabama. And Alabama's hopes for a 3rd consecutive national championship are most probably dashed. And Alabama should have seen it coming.
  With big fat slow offensive linemen on the field Alabama had little chance to catch the speedy Chris Davis when they kicked the ball with only 1 second left. Couldn't they have foreseen this happening? Well, Auburn obviously did. Otherwise Chris Davis would not have been where he was. Nick Saban always talks about giving your team the opportunity to win. But in this Ironbowl game he gave Alabama the opportunity to lose.