This is an opinion column

Six seconds.

That’s how long Jalen Milroe bounced in the pocket Saturday night as the world crumbled — surveying the field on the verge of utter disaster. For some reason, Auburn only sent three uninspired pass rushers on fourth-and-goal from the 31 so Milroe had time to scan and process what was happening in the end zone.

Surly he wasn’t thinking about all the blunders that led up to this pickle. The pair of Alabama touchdowns called back by penalty, blown defensive assignments and the two passes he threw after crossing the line of scrimmage — the second of which came on the previous play.

No chance the context was hovering in his subconscious as he looked for an open man. Was he really about to take a cartoonish loss to the same Auburn team on the same Jordan-Hare Stadium turf that New Mexico State absolutely dominated a week ago? Seriously, they lost 31-10 to the paycheck cupcake and it wasn’t even that close.

Was the latest shotgun snap fiasco going to tumble the house of cards reconstructed after losing to Texas?

Six seconds doesn’t sound like a long time until you saw Milroe’s wheels turning between the 35- and 40-yard lines about to write his legacy. No way he thought about the fact Kick 6 hero Chris Davis and the rest of the 2013 Auburn team was watching.

Or the way Alabama’s generational talent 2019 team’s playoff dream died in a soul-crushing Iron Bowl loss.

Or the perfect drive and four overtimes it took to beat an incredibly flawed Auburn team, 24-22 two years ago. He was just a freshman when Bryce Young did his Houdini act.

And what about Isaiah Bond?

The speedy Alabama receiver is known as a big-play threat — one of those home run hitters when Milroe dials up a go-route. Though statistically longer than practically every fourth-and-goal play, Bond had a hard boundary at the back of the end zone and that’s exactly where he was.

Yet oxygen was in short supply with Auburn dumping 8 into the end zone.

Cornerback DJ James was draped in coverage so it’s unclear what Milroe actually saw when those six seconds expired and he launched one to the heavens.

It couldn’t have felt like Tua Tagovailoa’s legendary 2nd-and-26 moment for the ages but there were clearly some parallels. From pit-in-the-stomach despair following the premature shotgun snap like Tagovailoa’s overtime sack against Georgia in the 2018 national title game, Milroe didn’t exactly see Bond streaking wide open up the sideline for an undisturbed entry into college football lore.

Despite all that time in the pocket, there wasn’t much of a crease for Milroe to find and it certainly wasn’t going to a receiver in stride.

Each snowflake is different.

And this one came with an assist.

Like the 2021 Iron Bowl comeback, the Jordan-Hare voodoo turned on the hosts after setting the unlikely scenario in motion. Two years ago, it was Tank Bigsby inexplicably stepping out of bounds with Auburn up 10-3 in the closing minutes, giving Alabama an eyelash of hope after what had been an offensive embarrassment to that point. The Iron Bowl gods stepped in and denied Bryan Harsin a win in his only rivalry appearance, but how about Hugh Freeze?

A two-time Alabama beater from an Ole Miss tenure that ended poorly, Freeze made the Iron Bowl a talking point at his post-exile introductory news conference a year ago. Reflecting on his friendship with Nick and Terry Saban, Freeze said “I hope they’re a little nervous today.”

And he probably was Saturday afternoon with Payton Thorne doing his best Bo Wallace and Chad Kelly. Now Auburn’s lead was more a product of a big-play ground game but it was the Michigan State transfer who delivered the go-ahead score on a perfectly designed 27-yard touchdown pass. It put Auburn up 21-20 with 6:36 left in the third.

It was 24-20 when Alabama was circling the bowl with just under five minutes left. Consecutive three-and-out possessions left the SEC West champs in need of a break. Already needing a touchdown to win with Auburn about to get the ball back having already drained some serious clock, the first domino dropped.

Like Bigsby in 2021, this year’s Alabama’s Auburn angel was Keionte Scott. The JUCO transfer DB was back to field James Burnip’s punt when he slipped just as the tumbling pigskin arrived. The muff was instantly recovered by Alabama’s Jihaad Campbell right around … the 31-yard line.

Of course, predictable shenanigans, a gutsy fourth-down toss sweep and the comedy of errors led to Milroe bouncing around in the backfield looking for his DeVonta Smith.

The play call: Gravedigger.

Saban said they run this play in every Friday practice so it wasn’t complete improv out there. There’s also something to be said about the execution that spoke to the chemistry between Milroe and Bond because there really wasn’t much of a target with the cornerback James in coverage. That, however, is when the offseason work becomes a factor.

It’s when the QB-WR telepathy comes through.

And when all the nonsense that came before was washed away with a perfect throw marries a better catch and a moment for history is etched.

Milroe just launched that ball for the back corner of the end zone.

Bond found the only conceivable window.

The catch was clean, no need for a replay or controversy to mar the latest twist in this Tasmanian devil of a rivalry.

Alabama 27, Auburn 24.

History.

Only the future can sort out the context with Alabama’s reclamation tour headed to Atlanta for a shot at No. 1 Georgia in next week’s SEC title game. An upset there still doesn’t assure the Tide a playoff seat in this most unpredictable finale of the four-team bracket.

Crimson Tide fans love to jeer their Auburn contemporaries for celebrating the 2013 season with such nostalgia given the fact it ended short of a national title.

That was and continues to be shortsighted.

Because moments like that and Saturday night shouldn’t require the perfect January ending.

They’ll get nicknames, framed lithographs and probably to blame for a few fistfights.

This is the Iron Bowl.

And, for six long Saturday night seconds, Milroe stood at the crossroads of history.

It’ll be a place he’ll always share with Bond, his receiver lurking in the back of the end zone just as all hope appeared gone.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.