Unless you are a supporter of Nick Saban and the fourth-ranked University of Alabama Crimson Tide, one thing every football fanatic could be thankful for was last Saturday's 2013 Iron Bowl.
The annual rivalry game between the Crimson Tide and their Western SEC conference-mates, the Auburn University Tigers resulted in a 34-28 victory in Auburn's favor.
Not only did the Tigers pull the upset against the two-time national champions, the fashion in which they did it will forever be remembered in college football history.
The 34-28 score was decided on the final play of the game, a 109-yard missed field-goal return by senior corner Chris Davis, ironically a native of Birmingham, Ala. The 59-second play has almost one million views on YouTube, and has been considered the greatest play ever in college history.
Never mind the fact that Davis, who came in from Woodlawn High School running a 40-yard dash in 4.45 seconds, was essentially off to the races against back-up linemen and tight-ends of Alabama's kicking unit, typically the slower players on a team roster. Davis proved that fans should never undermine the importance of special teams.
After all, despite Alabama's 495 total yards on offense, a century-mark more than the Tigers, the last ball was in the hands of Davis and the rest of Auburn's special teams unit to hand Alabama their first loss since Nov. 10 of last year.
In fact, even prior to the Iron Bowl's final snap, the special teams units of both the Tigers and the Crimson Tide were the determining factors of the game's outcome. The Crimson Tide missed three field goals before its 57-yard attempt in the final seconds. At fairly manageable ranges of 33 and two at 44 yards, kicker Cade Foster missed two, and had one blocked. Had he made just one of those three, the game would've ended as predicted, with Alabama continuing their reign.
If the average college fan didn't know the weight of a kicker on a football team, fans of the Crimson Tide felt it on Saturday afternoon. In fact, CBS Atlanta reported that Foster received multiple death threats from fans of the Rolling Tide following the team's loss.
As much as blame as Foster got handed for his failure to perform, the Tigers special teams unit should be given equal credit for their efforts. Auburn had a second-half punt that was downed inside Alabama's one-yard line. Entering the game on Saturday, they allowed only 16 punt return yards for the entire season.
In the fourth quarter, with the chances of a win looking bleak for the Tigers, their special teams unit again provided hope, blocking and recovering Foster's field goal attempt. That set up the Tigers offense for a touchdown that would tie the game with 32 seconds left.
These crucial plays by the Tigers special teams, combined with the lapses of Alabama's unit, is what caused the game that was predicted strongly in favor of Alabama to be tied with less than a minute in the fourth quarter.
The last play was only the stamp of approval that special teams determined the 2013 Iron Bowl. We will hear of Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron and his pretty touchdown passes. There will be articles about coach Nick Saban, and how he deals with not being able to compete for the BCS title, an unfamiliar fate for Forbes magazine's '08 "Most Powerful Coach in Sports." I am here to tell you the instant classic we witnessed in the 2013 Iron Bowl lived and died with the undervalued special teams unit of the Auburn Tigers.
It's just too bad ESPN wouldn't mention that in their College GameDay analysis.
-St. Bermard is a junior majoring in English literature and communications from Brooklyn.