Alabama survives Iron Bowl scare

Pushed to the limit and outplayed most of the game, No. 2 Alabama found its championship form in the nick of time.

The Tide stayed perfect with an imperfect 26-21 victory Friday over Auburn in Auburn, Ala., taking the lead with a drive that was capped by Greg McElroy’s 4-yard touchdown pass to Roy Upchurch with 1:24 left.

The Crimson Tide (12-0, 8-0) completed a second straight perfect regular season in the Iron Bowl.

Alabama did it the hard way, falling behind 14-0 in the opening minutes, but ultimately did its part to set up a 1 versus 2 showdown with top-ranked Florida in the SEC championship game.

Forget the national and conference championships, the state title almost slipped away.

“The strong do survive but the strong do get their (butts) kicked,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said.

Auburn (7-5, 3-5) pushed the ball to the Alabama 37 on the final drive, wasting lots of time and gaining not nearly enough yards. Chris Todd’s final pass to the end zone was batted down by Rolando McClain.

“I just told them (the Tigers) that we’re not walking out of here with heads down,” first-year coach Gene Chizik said. “They fought for 60 minutes in that game. I’m not disappointed with anybody on our team. Nobody.”

West Virginia 19, No. 8 Pittsburgh 16: Noel Devine rushed for 134 yards and Tyler Bitancurt kicked four field goals, including a 43-yarder as time expired to lift the Mountaineers over the Panthers in Morgantown, W.Va.

West Virginia (8-3, 4-2 Big East) halted Pittsburgh’s five-game winning streak. The Panthers (9-2, 5-1) can still earn the conference’s Bowl Championship Series berth with a win at home next week against No. 5 Cincinnati.

Pittsburgh was held out of the end zone on five drives inside the West Virginia 30 until Bill Stull found Jonathan Baldwin with a 50-yard TD toss with 2:54 left to tie the score at 16.

That gave Jarrett Brown enough time to move West Virginia 42 yards into position for the winning field goal.

No. 5 Cincinnati 49, Illinois 36: Tony Pike returned from an injury to his non-throwing arm and had a record day, passing for six touchdowns in a victory over the visiting Illini that left the Bearcats unbeaten and back to full strength.

The senior quarterback started for the first time since Oct. 15 and broke the school record for touchdown passes. Two of them went to Mardy Gilyard, who also ran back a kickoff for a score.

Cincinnati (11-0) remained one of six unbeaten Bowl Subdivision teams.

The Illini (3-8) couldn’t handle a spread offense that’s different from anything they’d see in the Big Ten. Cincinnati had 35 points in the first half alone – as many as the Illini allowed in any full Big Ten game.

Nebraska 28, Colorado 20: The Cornhuskers struggled on offense, but thanks to touchdowns on a punt return and an interception, Nebraska held off the Buffaloes on an unseasonably warm afternoon in Boulder, Colo. Up next is the conference championship against No. 3 Texas, which had its hands full against Texas A&M on Thanksgiving before winning 49-39 to keep its national championship hopes alive.