AUBURN — A historic day from Heisman Trophy candidate Derrick Henry helped No. 2 Alabama (11-1) survive a scare from rival Auburn (6-6) in Saturday’s Iron Bowl.

The physical Henry had a record setting day, running the ball an Alabama record 46 times for 271 yards, including a score in the final minute that put the finishing touches on a 29-13 victory. Henry finished with the most rushing yards in Iron Bowl history and the third highest single game total in Alabama history.

“We’d really like somebody else to run the ball, but it got tough to take him out,” said Alabama head coach Nick Saban. “He seemed to even get stronger as the game goes along, so it’s hard to take him out at the end. He didn’t want to come out, he said was good and he certainly finished the game like we needed to.”

Henry ran the ball 14 times in a row to end the game and fittingly turned his final touch into a 25-yard score to clinch the game and the SEC West for Alabama, which needed a win or a loss by Ole Miss to play in Atlanta next week. Alabama will meet Florida next week for the title, with a college football playoff spot likely on the line for the winner.

Alabama needed just about every yard in a game that looked like it might go without a touchdown from either side for a while.

Alabama kicker Adam Griffith had a career day too.  Griffith kicked five field goals, with four of those coming in the first half to give the Crimson Tide a 12-6 lead at the break.

“He made some really big kicks today,” Saban said. “I’m really proud of him for hanging in there and gaining his confidence back and for doing the things that this team needs him to do. He’s done a fantastic job, especially these last three or four weeks.”

It was a bit of redemption for Griffith, who had his 57 yard attempt returned for a touchdown by Auburn’s Chris Davis in the last Iron Bowl at Jordan Hare Stadium. The play is now famously known as the Kick-6, one of the most memorable in college football history.

Alabama made sure it didn’t come down to one play this time around.

Auburn’s Daniel Carlson made field goals from 24 and 44 yards in the first quarter to give the Tigers a 6-3 lead. Griffith made three second quarter field goals from 40, 26 and 50 yards out to put the Crimson Tide up six at the break.

Griffith also made a 26-yard field goal in the first quarter.

In the third quarter, Alabama quarterback Jake Coker turned two plays that appeared to be going nowhere into game changers. He turned what looked to be a sure sack into an 8-yard gain, which put Alabama in a situation where the Crimson Tide could go for it on fourth-and-1.

Henry ran for two yards on the next play to give Alabama a new set of downs.

Two plays later Coker avoided another sack and connected with ArDarius Stewart for a 34 yard touchdown in the corner of the end zone to put Alabama up 19-6 with 5:14 left in the third quarter.

Auburn answered with the type of play that has become very familiar on The Plains.

On a third-and-12, Tigers’ quarterback Jeremy Johnson threw deep down the middle to receiver Jason Smith, who tipped the ball three times before bringing it in and running free for a 77-yard touchdown.

The score, which resembled the Prayer at Jordan Hare play made by Ricardo Louis against Georgia in 2013, pulled Auburn with 19-13 with 4:27 left in the third quarter.

Neither team scored on its next drive. Alabama got moving again thanks to two Auburn penalties on the same play. Jonathan Ford was called for a late hit on Coker when the quarterback ran out of bounds on a 1-yard rush. To make matters worse, the Auburn bench was also called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the same play, resulting in 30 yards in penalties on the Tigers.

The infractions moved the ball to the Alabama 34-yard line, which set up a Griffith 47-yard field goal to put Alabama up 22-13 with 10:04 left to play.

The Auburn offense had a lot of success running the ball in the first half, but the Tigers found little running room in the third and fourth quarters.

Tigers’ quarterback Jeremy Johnson got the start over Sean White, but wasn’t very effective.

He was sacked three times and finished the game 10-of-23 passing for 169 yards and the one touchdown to Smith.

Down nine in the second half, Auburn couldn’t get much going.

The Tigers gained only 11 yards on their next drive before punting, but then stopped Henry short on fourth-and-1 to get another the ball back. Auburn again failed to move the ball as Johnson threw three straight completions, although two of those passes were dropped.

Henry put the game away by turning his 14th consecutive carry into a 25-yard touchdown to put Alabama up 29-13 with 26 seconds left.

The loss sent the Tigers, who were among the preseason favorites to win the SEC and national championship, to 6-6 on the year. Auburn had hoped to spoil Alabama’s season and get some momentum going into whichever bowl the Tigers play in.

Instead, it was another defeat in a season full of them.

“There’s a lot of different things right now on my mind that we’ve got to do to get better and we will,” said Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn.

“This was our last regular season game and we’ll get a plan and we’ll get better. I guarantee that.”