Whatâs in a name? How Alabamaâs Iron Bowl-winning pass will be remembered
The Kick Six. Rocky Block. 2nd-and-26.
In the world of Alabama football, legendary plays get nicknames. Saturday in the Iron Bowl, the Crimson Tide had one of those, a hail mary on 4th-and-goal from the Auburn 31 with 32 seconds left, a heave from Jalen Milroe to Isaiah Bond that won the game 27-24.
It’s a play Nick Saban’s team rehearses every Friday.
“If the play had a name, I wouldn’t tell you what it was,” the Alabama head coach said afterward.
He clearly hadn’t communicated the secrecy to Bond, who told reporters it’s called “Gravedigger” in the Alabama playbook. The reason is pretty simple.
“We’ll put them in the grave after that game,” Bond said. “It’s normally at the end of the game, Gravedigger, put them to sleep.”
Gravedigger is a strong option. It certainly buried the upset hopes of the Tigers, keeping Alabama’s College Football Playoff hopes alive entering the SEC championship against Georgia.
But there’s others. Bond himself didn’t have much of an opinion on the matter, but did advocate for his James Bond-related nickname and reaction to be remembered.
“I got a little 007 celebration, where I sit back and do this,” Bond said as he repeated the pose, wearing a massive chain emblazoned with the “007 I want everybody to know that’s me right there. That’s the 007 pose so if they wanna use that, I did it first.”
Milroe, who had all day to throw the pass and found Bond over Auburn cornerback DJ James in the back of the end zone, was asked what the play was called after the game. He kept it simple.
“Win,” Milroe said, though he admitted he liked the Gravedigger option.
Safety Malachi Moore liked “4th-and-31″ as an option. That’d remind of the play at the end of the national title game following the 2017 season, where Tua Tagovailoa found Devonta Smith on another hail mary.
“4th-and-31, 007, whatever you want to call it,” Moore said.
Regardless of the name, it worked. Alabama finished its regular season 11-1, 8-0 in SEC play.
And in the process, the Crimson Tide provided a moment that will go down in Iron Bowl history.
“I’ll never forget this play,” Milroe said. “I’ll never forget this game, ever in my life.”