In the aftermath of a thrilling Iron Bowl, Auburn finds itself grappling with what could have been in a 27-24 loss to No. 8 Alabama.

Auburn put itself in a position to win this game, and then it all slip away.

Here’s how we graded the heartbreaking loss.

Offense: B-

This was a rare loss for Auburn that was not the fault of its offense. The game plan was executed perfectly. Just like Auburn did against Georgia, the plan was to run the ball and run it a lot.

Auburn ran it 42 times for 244 yards. Adjust that total for sacks and it jumps to 272.

The idea was to control the ball and bleed clock. To keep the game low scoring and give Alabama has few chances as possible.

Though Auburn also benefited from a couple of big plays both on the ground and the air. A 56-yard Damari Alston rush and a 42-yard Jarquez Hunter rush both set up touchdowns. Ja’Varrius Johnson had a 37-yard third quarter catch to set up his 27-yard touchdown on the same drive.

Auburn may have only gotten a field goal with a 16-play, 72-yard third quarter drive that stretched into the fourth, but it took eight minutes off the clock. It was the offense that gave Auburn most of its momentum, especially after a slow start.

Auburn threw the ball poorly, completing 6-17 passes as a team for 93 yards, but in large part that was due to Auburn’s ground-game focus. Quarterback Robby Ashford had a role in this game after Auburn went away from its two quarterback system, but Ashford was totally ineffective and was quickly taken back out to rely on Payton Thorne. Over the course of this season and again against Alabama, Thorne has proven to have the best understanding of the offense Auburn wants to run.

Defense: C-

For so much of this game, Auburn’s defense followed its typical bend, don’t break model. It forced Alabama into two field goals instead of touchdowns when in the redzone. When Auburn forced a stop at its own 24-yard line, just outside the redzone, Alabama kicker Will Reichard missed the ensuing field goal.

Bending also means Auburn again allowed a ton of yards, 451 to be exact.

But then, on the biggest play of the game, the defense broke.

Forcing Alabama into fourth-and-goal from the 31-yard line seemed like the defense was going to come up clutch after a special teams blunder (more on that below).

And then, somehow, Alabama’s Jalen Milroe found wide receiver Isaiah Bond for a 31-yard score. It was a miracle, it was stunning.

It was a breakdown.

Special Teams: D

Alex McPherson finished off a perfect regular season and Oscar Chapman had another great game punting.

But this grade is entirely on the Koy Moore muffed punt. It set up the game winning touchdown. It was just a brutal, back breaking play at the worst time.

Coaching: D+

There’s two ways I’m looking at this.

On one hand, coaching led a fantastic response to the New Mexico State lost and devised a game plan that had Auburn not just competing, but on the verge of winning the Iron Bowl. Auburn played inspired football and exactly the type of weird, ugly game that it takes to beat a team like Alabama that greatly over matches Auburn.

On the other hand, there were two absolutely brutal mistakes in the final five minutes that cost Auburn the game.

First, the whole Keionte Scott-Koy Moore punt situation. Freeze should not be finding out from reporters after the game that it was not Scott returning the punt but instead Moore. Scott is Auburn’s best punt returner and should have been the guy on the field. Until there is a full explanation of exactly what happened there, that remains a massive coaching blunder to mishandle the special teams personnel.

Moore is certainly capable of returning punts, but his muff set up the game-winning Alabama touchdown.

Then there was that fourth-and-goal, 31-yard game winning touchdown itself. That cannot happen. What seemed curious is during a timeout, Auburn had a chance before the 4th down snap to prepare for that play. It just had to give up anything but a touchdown and the game was over.

And Auburn gave up a touchdown.

Auburn dropped eight back in coverage and left a spy on Jalen Milroe instead of dropping another player back, which doesn’t make sense. Freeze said after the game there were nine players in coverage. There weren’t. Two costly mistakes and Freeze seemed not fully aware of either of them. There was a lot of great coaching that went into the preparation for this game.

The management at the end of it was poor.

Overall: C

Auburn put itself in position to win the Iron Bowl. But this doesn’t feel like the type of moral victory Auburn took away from Georgia. Auburn had this game. It just had to get a stop on what was essentially fourth-and-31. It couldn’t.

Auburn choked this game away. Simple as that. It did so in brutal fashion.

That isn’t to discount how well Auburn played in parts of this game to put itself in a position to win the Iron Bowl. Given the talent gap, that’s an improvement and it was especially a step forward after the New Mexico State loss.

But the way this game ended is going to live on in Auburn has a nightmare for years, decades to come.

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]