By BJ Bennett
SouthernPigskin.com

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The end result was one of the most memorable finishes in sports history.

Every Iron Bowl is part of history, Some matchups between Alabama and Auburn, however, are moments in time.

As Chris Davis ran down the sidelines at Jordan-Hare Stadium in the 2013 Iron Bowl, our imaginations simply couldn’t keep up. The finish was more than one for the ages, it was one for the pages — of a comic, of a legend, of a script that would be scoffed at for being too improbable for real life. The finale was a distance-of-the-field return of a game-winning field goal try, with no time remaining, in college football’s biggest game, with a potential trip to the national championship on the line; you can’t even describe the setting without a handful of commas or a deep breath.

“God is good. That’s all I’ve got to say about that,” Chris Davis explained post-game.

The end result was one of the most memorable finishes in sports history. Though a play nobody could have predicted changed the college football landscape, the events leading up to the famed “kick six” shouldn’t be lost in the shuffle.

Even with as successful as both Alabama and Auburn have been over the years, this past year’s meeting was the first time ever that both teams were ranked in the national top five. The Crimson Tide, 11-0, were number one in the country, while the 10-1 Tigers came in at number four. On the line was a spot in the SEC title game, a proverbial play-in for Pasadena. With absolutely everything on the line, and folks from Madison to Mobile fired up and ready, Alabama and Auburn took the field for the 72nd time.

On an afternoon where one moment will stay on loop forever, there were countless big plays. Tiger quarterback Nick Marshall opened the scoring with a 45-yard touchdown scamper late in the first quarter. The Crimson Tide, with quarterback A.J. McCarron at his best, responded with three quick touchdowns of their own. Late in the second quarter, Alabama led 21-7 and, with a defense that had allowed just 50 total points in its last nine games, was in prime position on the Plains.

Though unheralded given how the game unfolded, an Auburn score on its last drive of the half helping change the dynamic of the day. Without throwing a single pass, the Tigers went 81 yards in seven plays as Tre Mason closed the margin to seven points with a key touchdown plunge from one yard out. With Auburn set to receive the second half kickoff, the difference between 21-7 and 21-14 felt immeasurable. Jordan-Hare Stadium had come alive.

As fate would have it, the Tigers found the endzone right after intermission. Marshall connected with tight end C.J. Uzomah for a 13-yard touchdown that tied the annual grudge match and sent the Plains into a frenzy. From there, the only separation heading into the game’s final moments was a play that, prior to the finish, was set to be a defining one in Iron Bowl lore.

Following a second punt from Steven Clark that was down at the 1-yard line, McCarron and the Crimson Tide were three feet away from their first deficit since their second game of the season; they were 300 away from paydirt. Even with the odds, and most of the 87,451 in the stands, stacked against them, the offense chose option number two. McCarron connected with receiver Amari Cooper on a 99-yard touchdown strike, his second long reception from near his team’s goaline, setting a new record for the longest pass ever at Alabama. Of McCarron’s 80 career scores, that one might have been his most impressive.

“That helps your average if you are a quarterback and it helps your opportunity to win three in a row if you’re Alabama,” CBS analyst Gary Danielson said on the call.

Up on that touchdown, the Crimson Tide took over after stuffing Marshall on a 4th-and-1 at Auburn’s 35-yard line. Five players later, Alabama found itself in a similar situation: 4th-and-1, though this time, in the redzone. The ball was given to star running back T.J. Yeldon, who, like Marshall minutes before him, was stopped right at the line of scrimmage. Collectively, the drives were another stunning sequence in a game filled with many.

Fast forward to a 3rd-and-2 near midfield for the Tigers with under one minute remaining, and McCarron and Cooper were on the verge of their names, their play, being etched in the minds of millions. Marshall, instead, threw a game-tying 39-yard touchdown pass to Sammie Coates with 32 seconds left to play. On the road, with one timeout, the Crimson Tide had enough time for a handful of plays. Alabama did call a timeout after an incompletion and a modest rush by Yeldon. What happened next sent the senses scrambling.

By calling a run play at their own 38-yard line with just seven seconds on the clock, it appeared as if the Crimson Tide were essentially settling for overtime. Yelden, however, darted 24 yards into deep field goal range right as time expired. It was announced over the stadium loudspeakers that regulation had come to a close. An official review, one that prompted much frustration from the orange and blue faithful, determined otherwise: there was just enough time for one more snap. Luck was seemingly on Alabama’s side.

Head coach Nick Saban, with starter Cade Foster having missed three kicks up to that point, turned to true freshman Adam Griffith for just his third college attempt: a game-winning try, from 57 yards out, in the biggest showdown of the season. The stadium shook in a mixture of anger and angst, dismay and disbelief. Atlanta, site of the SEC Championship Game, was 108 miles from where the game was being played; for Alabama, it was just a half-a-field away.

After a back-and-forth contest, one fit with countless highlights and key swings, a chance for Alabama to win one of college football’s most anticipated games ever suddenly turned into Auburn’s most remarkable play of all time.

Nearly crossing the back line, Davis fielded Griffith’s short attempt, then, almost-casually at first, took off. Davis had recently returned a punt 85 yards at Tennessee. He somehow went 109 yards for the game-winning touchdown, just the fourth time in NCAA history a missed kick had been brought back over the official length of play, for an unfathomable, incomparable ending to the season’s best game.

For those in orange and blue, Saturday might as well have been Christmas morning. Fans of the sport were given a gift, like Flutie to Phelan in 1984, nobody will soon forget.

“At first I had no idea that we had anyone back there, then coach called the timeout and we made the switch and I went back to receive. I knew when I caught the ball I would have room to run and I knew we had bigger guys on the field to protect and that was all after that,” Davis explained.

A shrewd reconsideration officially put the play into place.

“We thought about going with the block, but I knew I was going to call a timeout anyway. The wind was going in that direction and their kicker has a good leg. We just made the decision to put Chris back there,” head coach Gus Malzahn nodded. “We got some very good blocks, and made an unbelievable play at the end to win it.”

Davis’ return, with the incredible radio call from the late Rod Bramblett and memorable television call of Verne Lundquist, both of their voices getting lost in the chaos of the crowd, is now on loop. Every Iron Bowl that takes place will do so with the 2013 finish having a place somewhere in it.

“When that happened, I cried,” former UA All-American and two-time champion Don McNeal acknowledged on the Southern Pigskin Radio Network back in 2014. “I know that Coach Bear Bryant was up in heaven and he was mad about that.”

Auburn would go on to win the SEC Championship and play for a national title. Alabama would lose again in the Sugar Bowl, giving the Crimson Tide rare back-to-back losses.

The 2013 Iron Bowl is arguably college football’s greatest game ever. In a rivalry where the two sides have very little in common, the finish shares a distinction, at the very least, exactly the same. Given the setting and the stage and the sequence and script, how the contest ended will be the beginning of conversations for generations to come. It’s a story worth telling. It’s a story that will never end.