#2 Alabama were 10-0 and #9 Auburn were 8-1 when they met at Legion Field on 2 December 1972. Alabama were fourteen-point favourites and a win would have sent them to the Cotton Bowl to play Texas for the national championship. With ten minutes left they led 16-3 and neither of those things was in doubt.
Twice in five minutes
Auburn’s Bill Newton came through and blocked a Greg Gantt punt. David Langner picked the ball up and ran 25 yards with it: 16-10.
Alabama got the ball back, could not move it, and had to punt again. Newton blocked that one too. Langner picked that one up too, and ran that one in too. Gardner Jett kicked the extra point and Auburn led 17-16.
Alabama had time to answer. Langner intercepted a pass to end it.
Why it is the one Auburn people tell
Two blocked punts, by the same man, returned by the same man, inside the last ten minutes, to turn a two-score deficit into a one-point win over an unbeaten team that was on its way to play for the title. Nothing else in the series has that shape. “Punt Bama Punt” is what Auburn have called it ever since, and the two plays are the reason.
The seasons
Auburn finished 10-1. Alabama finished 10-2 after losing the Cotton Bowl to Texas.
The effect on the rivalry was the opposite of what a result like this usually produces. Alabama won the next nine.