Derrick Henry leads Alabama past Auburn in Iron Bowl with Heisman-clinching performance

The Auburn Tigers put up a fight against the Alabama Crimson Tide for a few quarters, but in the fourth quarter Alabama pulled away to win the SEC West.

The Iron Bowl wasn’t pretty in the first half with both Alabama and Auburn trading field goals as Alabama took a 12-6 lead at halftime.

But the second half was all Alabama as running back Derrick Henry put the team on his back and led the Crimson Tide to a 29-13 victory to clinch the SEC West and will play the Florida Gators in the SEC Championship Game.

This performance may have clinched the Heisman for Henry after he broke the Alabama single-season rushing record previously held by Trent Richardson as he looks to join Mark Ingram as the only players from Alabama to win the Trophy.

While Henry and kicker Adam Griffith were the primary players of the game, don’t overlook quarterback Jake Coker who threw for 179 yards and a touchdown and made some key plays on third downs to keep drives alive for Alabama.

There were few bright spots for Auburn against this dominant Crimson Tide defense, but the Tigers did get a highlight-reel play from wide receiver Jayson Smith who bobbled a pass while running full speed but was able to hang onto it and race 77 yards for a touchdown.

That would be it for Auburn as Alabama scored the remaining 10 points of the game to run away with the 29-13 victory.

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The demise of the Alabama dynasty was greatly exaggerated after the Tide were written off my many after losing to Ole Miss early in the year, but behind the efforts of Henry, who may be the greatest running back in Alabama history, the Crimson Tide are one win away from another SEC Championship under Nick Saban and a return to the College Football Playoff.