Alabama led 17-0 before the first quarter was over and lost. The game that followed convinced Bear Bryant to change how Alabama played football.
The comeback
Johnny Musso ran 14 yards for a touchdown, Scott Hunter threw 31 yards to David Bailey, and Richard Ciemny kicked a 26-yard field goal: 17-0 before the first quarter was out. Pat Sullivan ran one in from a yard and Gardner Jett kicked a 26-yard field goal to make it 17-10 at half-time. Sullivan levelled it at 17-17 with a seven-yard run in the third.
The fourth quarter went back and forth. Alabama led 20-17 on a field goal; Auburn scored to lead 27-20; Hunter threw 54 yards to George Ranager and Alabama converted the two-point attempt to go 28-27 ahead. Wallace Clark then ran in from three yards with 3:56 left, and Auburn won 33-28.
Sullivan’s afternoon
Sullivan completed 22 of 38 passes for 317 yards, threw two touchdown passes and ran for two more. It was the performance that made him a Heisman candidate for the following season, and Bryant’s assessment of it afterwards was that Sullivan “did everything but take up tickets.”
The consequence
Alabama finished 6-5-1 and drew 24-24 with Oklahoma in the Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl. It was the second consecutive losing-calibre season and the second consecutive Iron Bowl defeat, and Bryant spent the following spring in Texas studying the wishbone. Alabama ran it for the first time in September 1971 and won 11 consecutive games with it.
Auburn finished 9-2 and tenth in the final Associated Press poll, beating Ole Miss 35-28 in the Gator Bowl.