Alabama Mars Dye Farewell : College football: No. 2 Crimson Tide beats Auburn, 17-0, in coach’s final game with the Tigers.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. —  Pat Dye’s career at Auburn is over. No. 2 Alabama still has unfinished business.

Alabama defeated Auburn, 17-0, on Thursday and moved a step closer to a national championship showdown with top-ranked Miami.

It was the final game for Dye, who announced his resignation Wednesday night after 12 seasons with the Tigers.

“This is not exactly the way I would have preferred to go out,” said Dye, who stepped down amid allegations that Auburn violated NCAA rules and who is troubled by health problems.

“The competitive spirit in me . . . is to stay and fight,” he said. But “the destruction would far outweigh the other. I did not want to split the Auburn family. I didn’t want to leave Auburn on any kind of bad terms.”

He left on a losing note. Antonio Langham returned an interception 61 yards for a touchdown to break a scoreless tie in the third quarter.

It was another dominating performance by an Alabama defense that leads the nation in all categories and held Auburn to 20 yards rushing and 139 yards overall.

“They are a great football team,” Dye said. “If I had to vote for someone No. 1 in the nation, they would get my vote.”

Alabama, 11-0 overall and 8-0 in the Southeastern Conference, will play Florida on Dec. 5 in the first league championship game for the chance to meet Miami in the Sugar Bowl. Auburn (5-5-1, 2-5-1) closed out the Dye era with its second consecutive season without a winning record.

Dye’s players were hoping to send their coach into retirement with his 100th victory at Auburn.

But Dye will have to be content with four SEC titles and a 99-39-4 record at Auburn. Any emotional advantage for the Tigers was canceled by a superior Alabama team.

“Coach Dye’s announcement (Wednesday) motivated us,” tackle Chris Gray said. “But Alabama’s just a great team.”

After Auburn took the second-half kickoff and drove to the Alabama 39, quarterback Stan White threw a quick pass along the left sideline. Langham tipped the ball, and it came down in his hands. He scored untouched.

Michael Proctor added a 47-yard field goal to make it 10-0. Third-string tailback Sherman Williams iced the victory on a 15-yard touchdown run.

All Dye could do was walk slowly across the field with his hands in his pockets. Several Tide players intercepted him to shake hands with the coach who wound up 6-6 against his intrastate rival.

Dye finally reached Alabama Coach Gene Stallings, who has three consecutive victories over Auburn.

Said Stallings: “You can’t imagine how excited I am winning this game. At the same time, I’m sad that we’re losing Pat Dye in this conference. He’s meant a lot to the SEC and a lot to college football.”

Dye, who began his coaching career as an assistant at Alabama, has a record of 153-62-5 in 19 seasons as a head coach at East Carolina, Wyoming and Auburn.

Pat Dye’s Coaching Record

YEAR, TEAM W L T 1974 East Carolina 7 4 0 1975 East Carolina 8 3 0 1976 East Carolina 9 2 0 1977 East Carolina 8 3 0 1978 East Carolina 9 3 0 1979 East Carolina 7 3 1 1980 Wyoming 6 5 0 1981 Auburn 5 6 0 1982 Auburn 9 3 0 1983 Auburn 11 1 0 1984 Auburn 9 4 0 1985 Auburn 8 4 0 1986 Auburn 10 2 0 1987 Auburn 9 1 2 1988 Auburn 10 2 0 1989 Auburn 10 2 0 1990 Auburn 8 3 1 1991 Auburn 5 6 0 1992 Auburn 5 5 1 Totals 153 62 5

Bowl Record: 7-2-1