On a night filled with moments of people seeing and somehow disbelieving, Dallas Turner had one of his own midway through the Iron Bowl.

Auburn quarterback Payton Thorne had just burst upfield for a 19-yard run, diving near the logo in the middle of Jordan-Hare Stadium. It was happening again, the Alabama defense was getting gashed on the ground due to defensive miscues, just like the Tigers did a year ago in Bryant-Denny. Turner couldn’t believe it, holding his hands up in the air as the referees signaled for a first down.

The Tide would win the night after a thrilling final five minutes, stealing a 27-24 victory, but as Nick Saban told the team postgame, they had just survived a “reality check.”

The offense sputtered in the red zone. Will Reichard missed a kick. Season-long issues reemerged: Two touchdowns were taken off the board due to penalties and a snap forced Jalen Milroe and Isaiah Bond’s heroics. And defensively, a unit that’s flirted with elite play continued to have inconsistencies stopping the run.

Three different Auburn (6-6, 3-5 SEC) rushers, including Thorne, had at least 50 rushing yards. They totaled 244 total for 42 carries, a season-worst for Alabama (11-1, 8-0) and the most allowed since Auburn put up 318 last November.

“We allowed them, by our inability to stop the run on defense to get back into the game, early on, when we should have had the game well in hand,” Nick Saban said postgame. “Part of the strategy in the game is that we wanted to get ahead so that they couldn’t just run the ball.

“Everybody needs to have a reality check and build on the good things that we did, and there were a lot of good things in this game. But also we’ve got to fix the things we need to fix because we’re going to play a really good team next week in the SEC Championship.”

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Entering Saturday, Georgia ranked 40th nationally with 178.6 yards per game coming via the run. Alabama has yielded that much three times this season and twice in the last month. South Florida (177 yards) and LSU (206) benefited from mobile quarterbacks. Tennessee (133) came into BDS with schematic hype. The Tigers, the 19th-best ground game nationally, had the benefits of both.

Auburn and Hugh Freeze broke out “eye candy” as defensive back Malachi Moore put it. The Tigers ran naked bootlegs, reverses and used constant motion. Alabama was cited for more penalties (eight) than Thorne had completed passes (5-for-16).

Led by Jarquez Hunter, 14 carries for 93 yards, Auburn scored two touchdowns on the ground and its third, a play-action throw, was set up by a long gain on the ground. Moore said UA was “gapped out,” or not in position, on Auburn’s split zone runs. He chalked it up to execution.

“We was getting outnumbered on motion and the formation they was in,” linebacker Deontae Lawson said. “We ought to get back Monday and see what we can do to fix it.”

Nick Alvarez is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nick_a_alvarez or email him at [email protected].