Nick Saban insists Alabama practices play that resulted in go-ahead TD vs. Auburn: 'You have to be a little lucky'

While Nick Saban was tight lipped about the name of the play that won Alabama the Iron Bowl, the player on the receiving end of the go-ahead touchdown on 4th and goal from beyond the 25 with :32 remaining was less circumspect. Speaking with reporters after the game, wideout Isaiah Bond shared the name of the play he scored an improbable touchdown on: “Gravedigger.”

Revealing play names aside, Saban made clear with reporters after the game that Alabama does, in fact, practice trying to score in a do-or-die situation from beyond the 10. It just so happened to pay off against Auburn, with College Football Playoff hopes on the line.

“Believe it or not, we actually practice that play, every Friday when we do walkthrough and we do special situations. We get in that formation, everybody runs down the field and runs varying routes in the end zone. And Jalen [Milroe] made a great throw, but IB really kind of got himself in position where there was some room to throw it. He pushed inside and the DB was inside of him and then he came back out and Jalen threw it back out to him and it was a great catch. It was a great throw,” Saban said.

The coaching point for Milroe on the play, Saban said, is to be patient with what is likely a light pass rush and pick out the target he feels has a viable chance to make the catch.

So with seconds left in the game and Alabama trailing, 24-20, it was one final chance for the grave to be dug for Auburn and not the Crimson Tide. And after several seconds of Milroe idling in the pocket, Bond broke away from his man and created just enough cushion in the back left corner of the end zone to haul in a season-saving touchdown for Alabama.

“You tell them they’re only going to rush three guys, sometimes two and he’s reading the guys down the field and they’re doing things to try to get open and he’s gotta pick the guy that — he’s going to have plenty of time, he’s gotta pick the guy that he thinks has got the best chance to catch it,” Saban said. “And IB got position on the guy and Jalen did a good job of recognizing it and throwing it,”

Even with practicing the play and being ready to meet the moment, Saban did admit that for something like that to actually work, it wasn’t purely preparation winning out.

“But that is a play that we actually work on. And I must admit that I think you have to be a little lucky for it to work, but I’ll take it,” Saban said.