Crimson Collapse: An Iron Bowl Loss That Will Haunt Alabama for Years to Come

Black Friday.

No, not that Black Friday.

This Black Friday signaled the death of Alabama's identity.

An identity of dominating the Crimson Tide's opponents and making them quit.

An identity built on finishing.

It's dead and Auburn finished it off.

A long and disappointing 2010 campaign for the Alabama Crimson Tide came to a soul-crushing, agonizingly painful end yesterday in the biggest collapse in Alabama football history.

Yeah, sure, there will be a bowl game ahead, most likely the Capital One Bowl against the likes of Michigan State, and Alabama fans will tune in purely out of reflex, but nothing can really salvage what happened.  Despair was launched in Bryant Denny Stadium on Friday.

It's cliche, but this game was really a summary of the Tide's season.

A season of almost.

It was amazing to watch how Alabama started. To see the offense look as explosive and precise as we all expected it to look back before the season started and to watch a defense just come out and shutdown the best player in college football this year, but there it was.

Almost.

Alabama almost went up 28-0 except Mark Ingram had the ball popped out from behind and the football teased the capacity crowd with its dance along the sideline, ultimately ending in an Auburn touchback.

Alabama almost went up 31-7 except Trent Richardson let a sure touchdown reception trickle to the ground.  In another chance to at least go up 27-7 at the half, Alabama watched the interior of its line implode in Greg McElroy's face, causing a fumble.

Opportunities lost, chances blown. That's 2010 Alabama football.

As much as I'd like to only give Alabama credit for the loss, one must note that the Auburn Tigers did just as much in the second half to dismantle the Tide as Alabama had done to them in the first half.

To call the halves opposites of one another would be an understatement.

All the plays that needed to made in the third and fourth quarter were made by Auburn in an environment and situation like no other they had come close to facing all year.

You have to tip your cap to them, for as much as Alabama may hate Auburn, you have to respect what they have done this season.

So where does Alabama go from here? It starts with a bowl game. The Crimson Tide must dig deep and find the toughness the team lost along the way.

The ability to run the football has all but disappeared at the Capstone and let's face it, no matter how good Julio Jones is, or how solid Alabama's passing game is, Alabama is nothing without its ground game.

Whatever bowl game Alabama steps into will ultimately be meaningless in the annals of Tide football history, but it will be the last chance this season, a chance for this team to take its first step to towards new life for an identity that has been shattered in 2010.