November 26, 2016 Week 13 · Regular Season Belt defended

Alabama defends the belt, 30–12, at home over Auburn.

Home · Defending Holder

AlabamaAP No. 1 30

Away · Challenger

AuburnAP No. 16 12

AP poll, week 13: Auburn No. 16 at Alabama No. 1 · No. 1 that week: Florida. The belt vs. the polls →

Belt context

Where this game sits in the lineage

Alabama came in 35 days into reign #297, which began with a win over Texas A&M, with 3 defenses already behind it; this was its 4th defense. Alabama went on to defend it 2 more times before Clemson took it on January 9, 2017, 79 days after the reign began.

For Auburn this was its 14th shot at the belt; it had held the belt 7 times before.

It was the 6th of 7 belt games between the two; going in, Alabama led the belt series 3–2; all-time Alabama leads 5–2. Every meeting →

AI-Written

Recap

Alabama's defense dominated Auburn throughout this Iron Bowl matchup, forcing two interceptions and three fumbles while holding the Tigers to just 182 total yards and 12 points. Auburn struck first with a Daniel Carlson field goal in the first quarter, but Alabama answered with a quick touchdown drive capped by Damien Harris's 17-yard TD reception from Jalen Hurts. The Crimson Tide pulled away in the second half, with Jalen Hurts scoring on a 4-yard run in the third quarter and ArDarius Stewart hauling in a 38-yard touchdown pass moments later to put the game out of reach. Auburn managed only field goals throughout, with Carlson connecting on four attempts, as Alabama's ground game consistently moved the ball while controlling the clock with 40 minutes and 29 seconds of possession.

Damien Harris 17-yard TD reception in Q1 gave Alabama early momentum after Auburn's opening field goal
Jalen Hurts' two interceptions to Daniel Thomas in Q2 kept Auburn within striking distance despite Alabama's dominance
Jalen Hurts 4-yard TD run in Q3 extended Alabama's lead and shifted momentum decisively in the Crimson Tide's favor
ArDarius Stewart's 38-yard TD reception in Q3 effectively ended the game as Alabama pulled away for the belt-retaining victory

Written by Claude from the box score and play-by-play on this page — a plain-English recap of the numbers below, not a substitute for them.

Full Box Score

Team stats

CFBD box score

AlabamaAuburn

Total yards501182

Rushing yards20366

Passing yards298116

First downs267

3rd down conv.8/162/12

Turnovers21

Penalties–yards4–284–19

Time of possession40:2919:31

Full team box score from CFBD’s /games/teams data. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have team-level stats that far back.

Play By Play

Key plays

CFBD play-by-play

When	Team	Yards	Play
Q1 13:29	Alabama	+58 yd	JK Scott punt for 36 yds , Stephen Roberts returns for 58 yds to the Alab 21
Q1 15:00	Auburn	+25 yd	Daniel Carlson kickoff for 65 yds , Gehrig Dieter return for 25 yds to the Alab 25
Q1 12:31	Auburn	+42 yd	Daniel Carlson 42 Yd Field Goal
Q1 8:45	Alabama	-2 yd	Jalen Hurts run for a loss of 2 yards to the Aub 30 Jalen Hurts fumbled, recovered by Alab Jalen Hurts
Q1 5:40	Alabama	+29 yd	Adam Griffith 29 Yd Field Goal
Q1 5:40	Alabama	+20 yd	Adam Griffith kickoff for 62 yds , Jason Smith return for 20 yds to the Aub 23
Q1 3:17	Alabama	+39 yd	Jalen Hurts pass complete to ArDarius Stewart for 39 yds to the Aub 17 for a 1ST down
Q1 2:49	Alabama	+17 yd	Damien Harris 17 Yd pass from Jalen Hurts (Adam Griffith Kick)
Q2 14:54	Alabama	+0 yd	Jalen Hurts pass intercepted Daniel Thomas return for no gain to the Alab 41
Q1 0:45	Alabama	+12 yd	Damien Harris run for 12 yds to the Alab 32 Damien Harris fumbled, recovered by Alab Damien Harris for a 1ST down
Q2 13:38	Auburn	+52 yd	Daniel Carlson 52 Yd Field Goal
Q2 13:38	Auburn	+21 yd	Daniel Carlson kickoff for 65 yds , ArDarius Stewart return for 21 yds to the Alab 21
Q2 6:26	Alabama	-29 yd	Jalen Hurts pass intercepted Daniel Thomas return for 29 yds to the Alab 41
Q2 7:30	Alabama	+20 yd	Damien Harris run for 20 yds to the Aub 37 for a 1ST down
Q2 9:53	Alabama	+4 yd	Jalen Hurts run for 4 yds to the Alab 23 Jalen Hurts fumbled, recovered by Alab Jonah Williams
Q2 3:30	Auburn	+39 yd	Daniel Carlson 39 Yd Field Goal
Q2 2:12	Alabama	+25 yd	Jalen Hurts pass complete to Calvin Ridley for 25 yds to the Aub 39 for a 1ST down
Q2 0:16	Alabama	+25 yd	Adam Griffith 25 Yd Field Goal
Q3 13:00	Alabama	+20 yd	Bo Scarbrough run for 20 yds to the Aub 36 for a 1ST down
Q3 9:58	Alabama	+4 yd	Jalen Hurts 4 Yd Run (Adam Griffith Kick)
Q3 9:50	Auburn	+27 yd	Jeremy Johnson pass complete to Will Hastings for 27 yds to the Alab 48 for a 1ST down
Q3 8:20	Auburn	+52 yd	Daniel Carlson 52 yd FG MISSED
Q3 5:16	Alabama	+38 yd	ArDarius Stewart 38 Yd pass from Jalen Hurts (Adam Griffith Kick)
Q3 3:14	Auburn	+55 yd	John Franklin III pass complete to Eli Stove for 55 yds to the Alab 12 for a 1ST down
Q3 2:11	Auburn	+27 yd	Daniel Carlson 27 Yd Field Goal
Q4 14:28	Alabama	+30 yd	Jalen Hurts pass complete to Joshua Jacobs for 30 yds to the Aub 14 for a 1ST down
Q4 12:46	Alabama	+34 yd	Adam Griffith 34 Yd Field Goal
Q4 14:45	Alabama	+26 yd	Joshua Jacobs run for 26 yds to the Aub 44 for a 1ST down
Q4 12:35	Auburn	+30 yd	John Franklin III pass complete to Eli Stove for 30 yds to the Alab 45 for a 1ST down
Q4 9:00	Auburn	+0 yd	Chandler Cox pass intercepted Shaun Dion Hamilton return for no gain to the Alab 5

Scoring plays, turnovers, and gains of 20+ yards, pulled from CFBD’s play-by-play. This section only appears for belt games with play-by-play on file (2003 onward).

Box Score

Player stats

CFBD player stats

Passing

Alabama

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Jalen Hurts	27/36	286	7.9	2	2	52.0
ArDarius Stewart	1/1	12	12.0	0	0	97.7

Auburn

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	INT	QBR
John Franklin III	2/4	85	21.3	0	92.2
Jeremy Johnson	4/13	34	2.6	0	3.3
Chandler Cox	1/2	-3	-1.5	1	1.3

Rushing

Alabama

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Bo Scarbrough	17	90	5.3	0	20
Damien Harris	9	47	5.2	0	20
Jalen Hurts	12	37	3.1	1	17
Josh Jacobs	5	32	6.4	0	26
Team	1	-3	-3.0	0	0

Auburn

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	LONG
Kerryon Johnson	8	39	4.9	13
Kamryn Pettway	12	17	1.4	5
John Franklin III	3	14	4.7	10
Jeremy Johnson	2	-1	-0.5	4
Team	1	-3	-3.0	0

Receiving

Alabama

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
ArDarius Stewart	10	127	12.7	1	39
O.J. Howard	5	45	9.0	0	14
Calvin Ridley	5	44	8.8	0	25
Josh Jacobs	1	30	30.0	0	30
Damien Harris	3	22	7.3	1	17
Gehrig Dieter	1	12	12.0	0	12
Trevon Diggs	2	10	5.0	0	7
Cam Sims	1	8	8.0	0	8

Auburn

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	LONG
Eli Stove	4	87	21.8	55
Will Hastings	1	27	27.0	27
Jason Smith	1	5	5.0	5
John Franklin III	1	-3	-3.0	0

Show more stats (7 more categories)

Defense

Alabama

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD	QB HUR
Reuben Foster	8	2	0	0.5	0	4
Shaun Dion Hamilton	8	2	0	0.5	0	0
Ryan Anderson	6	5	1	2	0	1
Jonathan Allen	6	2	0	2	0	0
Minkah Fitzpatrick	4	3	0	0	1	0
Dalvin Tomlinson	4	0	0	0	1	1
Ronnie Harrison	3	3	0	0	0	0
Anthony Averett	2	2	0	0	1	0
Levi Wallace	2	0	0	0	0	0
Da'Ron Payne	2	0	0	0	0	0
Gehrig Dieter	1	1	0	0	0	0
Tim Williams	1	1	0	1	1	1
Marlon Humphrey	1	1	0	1	0	0
JK Scott	1	1	0	0	0	0
Hootie Jones	0	0	0	0	1	0

Auburn

Player	TOT	SOLO	TFL	PD	QB HUR
Deshaun Davis	10	7	4	0	1
Tre' Williams	10	7	0	0	1
T.J. Neal	8	6	0	0	0
Stephen Roberts	8	6	0	0	0
Javaris Davis	6	5	3	0	0
Daniel Thomas	6	5	0	0	0
Tray Matthews	6	3	0	1	0
Carlton Davis	5	5	0	0	0
Montravius Adams	4	3	0	0	0
Carl Lawson	3	2	0	0	1
Darrell Williams	3	2	1	0	0
Marshall Taylor	2	2	0	0	0
Rudy Ford	2	2	1	0	0
Marlon Davidson	2	2	0	0	0
Nick Ruffin	1	1	0	0	0
Maurice Swain	1	1	0	0	0
Montavious Atkinson	1	1	0	0	0
Eli Stove	1	1	0	0	0
Andrew Williams	1	0	0	0	0
Derrick Brown	1	0	0	0	0
Dontavius Russell	0	0	0	0	1

Fumbles

Alabama

Player	FUM	LOST	REC
Jalen Hurts	2	0	0
Damien Harris	1	0	0
Trevon Diggs	1	0	0

Auburn

No recorded stats in this category.

Interceptions

Alabama

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Shaun Dion Hamilton	1	0	0

Auburn

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Daniel Thomas	2	29	0

Kick Returns

Alabama

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
ArDarius Stewart	2	37	18.5	21	0
Gehrig Dieter	1	25	25.0	25	0

Auburn

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Jason Smith	1	20	20.0	20	0
Kerryon Johnson	1	14	14.0	14	0

Kicking

Alabama

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Adam Griffith	3/3	100.0	34	3/3	12

Auburn

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Daniel Carlson	4/5	80.0	52	0/0	12

Punt Returns

Alabama

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Trevon Diggs	2	0	0.0	8	0

Auburn

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Stephen Roberts	1	58	58.0	58	0

Punting

Alabama

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
JK Scott	2	79	39.5	0	0	43

Auburn

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Kevin Phillips	4	157	39.3	0	0	41

Full player stats from CFBD’s /games/players data, split out by team. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have player-level stats that far back. Linked player names go to that player’s stat line in every other belt game they’ve appeared in.

Sources Box score at ESPN · Game record: College Football Data (id 400869068) · This game in the downloadable dataset

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