In the third quarter of the Iron Bowl, Alabama was on the ropes. Auburn was making big plays on both sides of the ball and led the Tide 36-27 with about three minutes to go in the 3Q. But then Blake Sims hit Amari Cooper on a 75 yard TD pass and Auburn seemingly ran out of gas after that play. Bama outscored Auburn 28-8 to close the game for a final score of 55-44. 

Along those lines, if you look at the final stats of SEC Championship game, it looks like Bama blew out Missouri - but that's a bit misleading. To be more precise, Bama blew out Mizz in the fourth quarter.

When Mizz kicked a FG to pull within 21-13 late in the 3Q, the two teams were actually pretty close statistically. By that point in the game, Bama had converted 17 first downs and gained 269 total yards of offense. Mizz had converted only 9 first downs, but thanks to several big passing plays to Jimmie Hunt, they had 253 yards offense - just 16 yards less than Bama. But then Bama overpowered Mizz the rest of the way, racking up an additional 11 first downs and 235 yards, while Mizz sputtered down the stretch, converting only one additional first down.

What's the moral of the story?