TUSCALOOSA, Ala. _ Poor quarterback play plagued the early portion of the 81st Iron Bowl Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Alabama recovered with a more consistent effort in the second half leaving Auburn in its rear-view mirror on the way to the SEC title game in Atlanta with a 30-12 win.
Auburn only threatened to score once in the second half as Alabama found the end zone on its opening two possessions of the third quarter.
Wide receiver ArDarius Stewart used his his speed to blow the game open for Alabama with 5:16 left in the third quarter.
Quarterback Jalen Hurts found Stewart cutting to the sideline on a fourth-and-three. Stewart turned the conversion into a 38-yard touchdown run to make it 27-9.
Hurts targeted the junior on 14 of his 36 pass attempts Saturday night. Stewart finished the game with 10 catches for 127 yards with the touchdown.
Auburn's defense could only do its best impression of the top-ranked Alabama group for so long.
A 2:1 time of possession disparity in Alabama's favor put the Tigers at a significant disadvantage.
Auburn dusted of the failed offensive game plan they used against Clemson going with a rotation of backup quarterbacks Jeremy Johnson and John Franklin III to replace an injured Sean White.
The results weren't any better the second time around.
Auburn extended its streak without a first down against an SEC opponent _ the offense didn't have a first down in the second half against Georgia _ until midway through the second quarter.
Running back Kerryon Johnson broke a 13-yard run late in the half doubling his team's offensive production at that point.
Auburn went into halftime 0-for-6 on third downs with only a single attempt coming from less than 7 yards to go.
Six of the 20 plays Auburn ran in the first half ended in a loss of yardage killing three drives that started on Alabama's side of the field. Daniel Carlson hit field goals from 42, 52 and 39 yards out to keep it a one-possession game.
Each quarterback completed a deep throw in the second half _ Franklin hit Eli Stove for a 57-yard gain; Johnson completed a 27-yard pass to Will Hastings _ but as a group finished 7-of-16 for 119 yards.
Fullback Chandler Cox also attempted a pass out of the wildcat formation that was intercepted in the fourth quarter.
Injured running back Kamryn Pettway started for Auburn, but was a non-factor. He carried the ball 12 times for 17 yards.
Hurts' turnovers in the first half overshadowed his production. The freshman quarterback had 200-plus total yards at the half, but threw a pair of interceptions and had a fumble reversed on replay.
Hurts' interceptions both went to freshman safety Daniel Thomas, who was the only player in the vicinity on the throws.
Alabama had to settle field goals on a pair of long first half long drives. The Crimson Tide's lone touchdown of the half came on a short swing pass from Hurts to Damien Harris with 2:49 to go in the first quarter.
Harris weaved his way down Alabama's sideline for the 17-yard score. Harris received the bulk of the first half snaps for starting Alabama running back Bo Scarbrough, who is dealing with an injury.
