re: Saban was right. BAMA lost because of the refs

With 1:17 remaining, Auburn lined up to punt on its own 26-yard line and gave Alabama one last chance to either tie or win the game. The Auburn coaches desperately wanted to keep the ball out of the hands of Alabama star Jaylen Waddle, who had already burst to near the front of 2020 Heisman Trophy lists with a transcendent four-touchdown performance.

So Auburn left quarterback Bo Nix in the game and also substituted in punter Arryn Siposs, the Trojan horse who lined up at wide receiver. The plan was to sneak him in the game and then motion him over to punt, which in theory would have kept Waddle off the field.

Instead, chaos ensued on the Alabama sideline. The coaches sent Waddle in the game to return the punt the moment they identified Siposs on the field. But then Saban sent in the defense when he saw Nix still in the game. Word didn’t get to Waddle quick enough on the other end of the field, where he awaited the punt. The penalty for having too many men on the field, Alabama’s 13th of the day, turned the fourth-and-4 punt play into a first down and Auburn victory formation. “We caught them,” said defensive back Smoke Monday.

After the game, Saban looked the part of a hoodwinked coach who’d guzzled a gallon of sour milk. “I really feel it was a pretty unfair play at the end of the game.”