By Collin Allison

The 2013 Iron Bowl between rivals Alabama and Auburn will go down as an instant classic.

As number four Auburn defeated their rivals, number one Alabama 34 to 28 and ruined Alabama’s hope of winning a third straight NCAA championship, and perhaps gave themselves an opportunity to win one.

In this game Auburn definitely showed us why they have the second best running game in college football, racking up 296 combined yards on the ground. Although Alabama clearly out passed them, 277 yards to 97, this game was pretty even in most aspects.

Alabama had a slight time of possession advantage 30 minutes and 54 seconds compared to Auburn’s 29 minutes and 6 seconds.

A big reason for the Crimson tides loss was missing four combined field goals, three from Foster and the one controversial 57 yard fourth one by Griffith. The fourth field goal attempt was well short and returned by Chris Davis for a 100 yard game winning touchdown, it was nothing short of amazing.

Alabama coach Nick Saban is beginning to take some criticism on the decision to have his freshman kicker, kick a 57 yard field goal.

Many people are wondering why Saban didn’t just decide to throw the Hail Mary pass with one second remaining in regulation and let the winner be decided in over time, it surely would have been a better option than kicking a nearly impossible 57 yard field goal, and allowing Auburn to return it for the win.

Now Auburns win most likely means that if Ohio state wins there Big Ten championship game next week that they’ll square off against Florida State in the NCAA Championship.

Now although Ohio State has won 24 straight games, and has gone undefeated this season, I believe the NCAA may just decide to put the winner of the SEC championship game ahead of Ohio State, even if Ohio State does win against Michigan State.

The reasoning for this is that Ohio State has had a very easy schedule this season only playing two ranked teams, and neither Wisconsin, nor Northwestern is ranked in the top ten. If you look at Auburn they have defeated four out of the five ranked teams they’ve played, only losing to LSU back in week four, and not to mention they just beat one of the most dominate college football teams in history, and Ohio State barely beat there unranked rivals Michigan, only winning by one point on a controversial failed two point attempt by Michigan.

So although Ohio State will most likely be ranked number two tomorrow, behind Florida State, I think even if they beat Michigan State next week that there is a very good chance that the Auburn Tiger will be in the NCAA championship. In my opinion this is rightfully so, due to a much tougher schedule compared to Ohio State.