Offense
Major Players
Mike Dyer – 13 carries, 48 yards; Clint Moseley -- 11-of-18 for 62 yards, INT; Philip Lutzenkirchen -- 2 catches, 20 yards; Kiehl Frazier -- 8 rushes, 28 yards, 0-for-2 passing

The Good
One drive. After going down 35-21, Auburn took it to the Alabama 10, going 50 yards on 11 plays. That left 90 yards on 44 plays for the rest of the game. That drive included a nice mix of Dyer, Frazier, Onterio McCalebb and, yes, even Tre Mason on the ground to soften Alabama up for the Tigers' longest pass play of the night: a 15-yarder down the sideline to Lutzenkirchen that ended in a huge, end-over-end hit from Dee Milliner. But Moseley got sacked by Courtney Upshaw then tried to scramble for the score on 4th and goal from the 11. That did not go well.

The Bad
140 yards. The worst output by an Auburn team in the past 15 years. The worst total by an Auburn team in an Iron Bowl since 1992. The worst outing under Gus Malzahn. The only time the team's gone without an offensive touchdown under Malzahn. Last time that happened was the 36-0 loss in the 2008 Iron Bowl. It was all bad Saturday. Granted, Alabama's got the best defense in the country. Not that good. Auburn had zero solutions all around, from playcalling to execution and everything in between. When that happens, you gain 2.2 yards a rush, 3.1 yards a pass and 2.5 yards a play. You gain 44 yards through three quarters of football and never even threaten on offense. Yes, it's the fact that Auburn's a young team. Yes, it's the fact that Alabama's a great defense. It's also the fact that -- after three years at Auburn and four in the SEC -- it appears as if the good conference defenses know exactly what Malzahn's got and what to do about it. If this truly was his last game as Auburn's offensive coordinator, it's not exactly the best way to go out.

The Ugly
Earlier in the third quarter, Auburn decides to punt on 4th and 1 from the Alabama 47 -- then calls a timeout and decides to go for it. When the Tigers come back out, they do a no-frills handoff to Dyer over right guard for 5 yards. Later in the quarter, same exact scenario, same exact yardline, even down to the timeout to figure out if they want to go for it. Coming out of the timeout, however, Auburn has to rush onto the field with about 15 on the play clock because of some confusion and they run the DyerCat, which hasn't worked all year. And it didn't work Saturday. Go figure.

The Beautiful
Nothing. At all. Though it was kind of sweet that Lutzenkirchen took a brutal hit after the aforementioned 15-yard gain and came back after just sitting out one play. He's a trooper.

Defense
Major Players
Daren Bates – 10 tackles, 1.5 TFL; Corey Lemonier -- 4 tackles, sack, FF; Kenneth Carter -- FR in end zone; Neiko Thorpe -- 9 tackles

The Good
The Tigers' first touchdown of the game came off of some inspired defense. First, Moseley -- who used to punt at Leroy -- socked Alabama deep with a 39-yard quick kick to the 10-yard line. On the first play, AJ McCarron waited just a second too long for a deep hitch-and-go to develop, and Lemonier got to him from behind, popping the ball out. Bates and an Alabama lineman each appeared to have a shot at it, but Carter made it count. That's the kind of play that can sometimes turn a rivalry game, like Antoine Carter's punch and Demond Washington's recovery last year. Not so much this year.

The Bad
The pass defense and the pass rush -- save for the play mentioned above -- were non-existent. McCarron basically did anything he wanted through the air, completing 18-of-23 passes for 184 yards and three touchdowns. Seen this play before? Like with Tajh Boyd, Aaron Murray, Tyler Wilson and even Jarrett Lee. Auburn is 48th nationally in pass yards against per game at 211.0. Not too shabby, right? The Tigers are 85th in efficiency against (137.0) and 83rd in touchdowns against (21). Teams don't throw much against Auburn because they don't have to. When they do, though, they torch the Tigers. Witness: the 41-yard flea flicker touchdown from McCarron to Kenny Bell, one in which Chris Davis was utterly fooled and trailed by like 7 yards. Witness: the McCarron play fake that so throughly froze all of the Tigers' linebackers and safeties so as to leave Brad Smelley wide open -- I mean, wide open -- for a 35-yard touchdown. Rough stuff.

The Ugly
Trent Richardson rushed for 75 yards in two years against Auburn entering Saturday. He rushed 27 times for 203 yards this year. Auburn nearly cost Mark Ingram his Heisman two years ago. It may have just won Richardson his Heisman this year. Most of Richardson's yards came methodically: the tough 4- and 5-yarders that have endeared Dyer to the Auburn fan base. Then there was his second signature run of the year -- to go along with that one against Ole Miss. This one went a little something like this: start over left guard, break for home sideline, slap Thorpe in the side of the head and dodge Davis, Jawara White and Eltoro Freeman, break for visitors sideline, smack Jonathon Mincy away from you and finally get brought down by a trailing Demetruce McNeal for a 57-yard gain. That's more than half the defense with a shot at Richardson. Or, more accurately, no shot.

The Beautiful
The first drive was good. Alabama got the opening kickoff and went three-and-out, with Carter, Mincy and Jermaine Whitehead all making nice stops. Then things got a little out of control.

Special Teams
Major Players
McCalebb -- 83-yard KO return for a TD; Steven Clark -- 42.2 punt average, despite a 10-yard shank; Cody Parkey -- 3 kickoffs, 3 touchbacks

The Good
Parkey kicked about as well as he has all season. He only got three opportunities, but all of them were no-doubters for touchbacks. He's put together a very fine year, and he's only a sophomore. Speaking of sophomores, Clark had another strong punting game, despite a 10-yarder off the side of his foot. But look at it this way: He averaged 50.3 yards a punt on his other four.

The Bad
Remember that 10-yard punt I mentioned? So bad. Just totally went off the side of Clark's foot and fluttered out of bounds. It was one of those plays where you watch the official keep walking up the sideline for the spot and wonder if he'll ever stop walking. That punt set up Alabama at the Auburn 35. One play later, it was 14-0 Tide.

The Ugly
A week after looking confident and assured on returns, Quan Bray looked decidedly less so against Alabama. He fell over on a fair catch. He waited until the last second to decide on Alabama's two touchbacks, before finally letting them go. And he returned twice for 39 yards. Not groundbreaking stuff. So, a step back. But we've seen he has potential.

The Beautiful
Man, McCalebb is fast. He took a kickoff on the left sideline at the 17-yard line, broke two arm tackles, got a sealing block on the kicker from Brandon Fulse and he was off to the races. The only one who had a chance was reserve safety John Fulton. And he was soon left in the dust. An 83-yard kick return for a score on the opening kickoff of the second half, Auburn's only kickoff return for a touchdown in the history of the Iron Bowl. That score brought Auburn within 24-14 right out of the gate and gave some glimmer of hope for a comeback. But we all know how that turned out.