Jones makes his Iron Bowl mark

AUBURN - Coming on late in an otherwise frustrating year, Julio Jones made his mark on the Iron Bowl late in Friday's game.

The sophomore receiver caught four passes for 33 yards on the Crimson Tide's game-winning 15-play, 79-yard touchdown.

Jones overcame a few dropped passes, including a poorly thrown ball into the end zone on a trick play from Mark Ingram, and finished with a career-high nine catches for 83 yards.

Six of those catches came with Alabama trailing in the second half. But none were greater to coach Nick Saban than those on the game-clinching drive, two of which converted third-down plays.

"I think Julio probably played his best game today because he made big plays in critical points in the game," Saban said. "Not big plays for big yards, but big catches that kept drives alive. He blocked and was very competitive in the game. He's played better and better the last three or four games. He's playing fast. He's healthy now, and I think he's playing with a little more confidence. Hopefully, we can get him the ball down the field more and he can make some big plays."

Arenas sets SEC record

Javier Arenas gave Alabama some breathing room, set up a much-needed field goal and rewrote the SEC record book with his 56-yard punt return in the third quarter.

Setting up a 27-yard field goal that cut Auburn's lead to 21-17, the return gave Arenas the SEC record for career punt return yardage.

Saban saw other value in the history-making return.

"The biggest thing it did was flip the field position," Saban said. "We were struggling with field position. We were backed up. That gave us good position. We actually had our best opportunities (for big returns) when we pressured (the punter). We pressured them on that play, beat one guy and ended up disrupting their line."

Arenas returned two punts for 67 yards in the game, giving him 1,725 career yards. Vanderbilt's Lee Nalley set the previous record of 1,695 from 1947-49.

Arenas trails only Texas Tech's Wes Welker on the NCAA career list. Welker rolled up 1,761 punt return yards from 2000-03.

Ingram Absent

A telling sign of the kind of game Mark Ingram had was his absence during Alabama's game-winning touchdown drive.

The Heisman hopeful running back suffered what Saban called a hip-pointer during the fourth quarter, and Alabama relied on freshman Trent Richardson and senior Roy Upchurch, who caught the game-winning touchdown.

Auburn loaded the box with eight players much of the game and stymied Ingram, holding the sophomore to a season-low 30 yards on 16 carries, including a long of 8 yards. Ingram managed 19 yards on 10 carries in the first half.

Richardson ran for a touchdown and 51 of Alabama's season-low 73 yards rushing.

Needing 1 yard to gain with Alabama trailing 21-14 in the third quarter, Ingram was stopped for no gain on consecutive plays, resulting in a turnover on downs.

Ingram also missed Julio Jones in the end zone on a halfback option pass during the third quarter.

"Their defense did a great job," Ingram said. "They were keying on me, not letting me have a big day. We had other aspects of our game, other players step up. Julio (Jones) had a good day. Trent ran the ball good. When they are keying on me it's important that I have teammates step up."

Ingram's performance comes on the heels of a big performance by Texas' Heisman hopeful quarterback Colt McCoy, who passed for 304 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for 175 yards and a touchdown in the Longhorns' win over Texas A&M on Thursday.

With 1,429 rushing yards this season, Ingram trails Bobby Ingram (1986) by 42 yards on Alabama's single-season rushing list.

Season-worst start for Bama D

Alabama's defense came into Friday's Iron Bowl with quite a reputation, but Auburn's offense made the Crimson Tide look pedestrian for the first quarter.

The Tigers offense put up 149 yards and 14 points in the first quarter alone, both of which were season-worst marks for Alabama's vaunted defense.

Coming into Jordan Hare Stadium, the Crimson Tide defense hadn't allowed more than two touchdowns in an SEC game (Kentucky, LSU).

Alabama's defense had given up six touchdowns in its previous seven SEC games, including three games in which it didn't allow an opposing offense reach the end zone, and had held five of seven conference opponents to single digits.

Auburn scored on its opening possession, driving 80 yards, the bulk of which came on a 67-yard touchdown run on a reverse by Terrell Zachery.

The touchdown drive was the second-longest of the season yielded by Alabama's defense. LSU went 91 yards for a touchdown in its loss at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Auburn recovered an onside kick on the ensuing kickoff and scored on a 12-play, 58-yard drive.

Alabama came into Friday's game boasting the nation's best total defense, second in scoring defense and rushing defense an fifth in passing defense.

Auburn rushed for 119 yards in the first quarter, which was more than more than six of Alabama's previous seven SEC opponents had in an entire game against the Tide. Only Kentucky (133) had more rushing yards.

Alabama kicker Leigh Tiffin broke yet another record with his third-quarter field goal. With the 27-yarder that cut Auburn's lead to 21-17, the Muscle Shoals native set the school record for field goals in a season and a career.

With 26 field goals this season, Tiffin surpassed his mark of 25 set in 2007. Tiffin's 79 career field goals puts him one ahead of Philip Doyle (1987-90)

Tiffin could have broken the record in the first half and put Alabama ahead 17-14 heading into halftime, but he missed a 42-yard attempt that was partially blocked. It was Tiffin's first miss in 11 attempts.

The senior also kicked a 31-yarder that cut Auburn's lead to 21-20 late in the third quarter.

Tiffin, a Lou Groza Award finalist, is second all-time in the SEC and nationally behind Georgia's Billy Bennett (87). Earlier this season, Tiffin became Alabama's all-time leading scorer.

Bryan App can be reached at 740-5730 or bryan.app@TimesDaily.com.