The 89th edition of the Iron Bowl will be the first time in nearly 15 years that the highly anticipated matchup between Alabama and Auburn will not have SEC championship implications.
Alabama’s loss to Oklahoma and Auburn’s victory over Texas A&M in overtime have reshaped this year’s showdown.
“The prequels to this Iron Bowl threw a few twists into an already non-lineal plot line that went straight to the shredder after the sun set Saturday,” AL.com columnist Michael Casagrande wrote.
The Crimson Tide and the Tigers have had disappointing seasons, but this year’s meeting between bitter rivals has different variables that could spice things up.
Alabama’s College Football Playoff hopes
Despite losing to the Oklahoma Sooners, Alabama’s playoff hopes are still alive because of the new 12-team format and the potential havoc that could ensue in Week 14.
Since the Crimson Tide has three conference losses, the path to the College Football Playoff that involves winning the SEC championship is eliminated. Alabama’s only feasible playoff route is to earn the 11th seed in the bracket because the 12th seed will go to the fifth-highest-ranked conference champion. The first step is to take down Auburn.
“Gonna be an awesome environment. Great to have that game at home and have a chance to finish off the season undefeated [in home games],” Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer said Monday morning.
Auburn last defeated Alabama in Bryant-Denny Stadium in 2010, thanks to the comeback efforts of former Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton.
Auburn’s current quarterback, Payton Thorne, is nothing like Newton, but he led the Tigers to a 43-41 win in an overtime thriller against the Aggies.
If Alabama defeats Auburn, the Crimson Tide will need a few upsets to maneuver into the 11th seed.
It starts with South Carolina giving Clemson its third loss of the season. The Tigers are ranked ahead of Alabama, so the Gamecocks could bump them out of the Crimson Tide’s way.
A case could be made that South Carolina should leapfrog Alabama after upsetting Clemson, but the CFP committee has a history of honoring head-to-head victories. The Crimson Tide downed the Gamecocks 27-25 in October, which could haunt the Gamecocks on selection day.
After that, Alabama will need more SEC chaos in Nashville as Vanderbilt hosts Tennessee. The phrase “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” has never been truer for the Crimson Tide.
If the unranked Commodores beat the Volunteers convincingly, the playoff committee may drop Tennessee out of the top 12. The tricky part of the equation is Tennessee’s head-to-head victory over Alabama in Neyland Stadium this year, so the committee will have some difficult conversations in the meeting room.
Even if one of these upsets does not happen, one more thing could get Alabama into the playoff.
As things stand, the Miami Hurricanes will face off with the SMU Mustangs in the ACC championship game, and both teams are currently in the playoff bracket. If either team gets blown out by a significant margin, the playoff committee may drop the loser out of playoff contention, clearing the way for Alabama to sneak in.
There are many “what if” scenarios that could unfold, but none of these scenarios matter if the Crimson Tide loses the Iron Bowl.
Auburn’s bowl game chances
A team must win six games in the regular season to become bowl-eligible.
Auburn finished 3-1 in non-conference games this season, but SEC teams have not been too kind to the Tigers. They opened SEC play by losing four games in a row but turned things around with a road win against the Kentucky Wildcats. A week later, Auburn suffered the same fate against Vanderbilt that Alabama did.
The Tigers went into their final bye week with three wins, which put them in a win-out situation. Auburn cleaned up a few problems on offense, like quarterback and wide receiver communication, and bludgeoned Louisiana-Monroe the following week.
Last Saturday, Texas A&M encountered the magic in Jordan-Hare Stadium at night. The Tigers took the Aggies to four overtimes and won the game to improve to 5-6.
Now, the task is simple: Beat Alabama to become bowl-eligible.
Auburn rectifying last season’s “Milroe Miracle”
No matter how bad an SEC team’s record is, the chance of making a bowl game and ruining someone else’s season in the process is enough to call for all hands on deck, especially when it is against an in-state rival who won the last meeting by converting a fourth-and-31.
“There’s no bigger game on the schedule,” Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze said on Monday morning. “To sit in this seat and lose like the one we did last year still doesn’t sit right.”
Last season, Alabama defeated Auburn with a miracle, so the Tigers are looking to flush this bad taste out of their mouths.
“We want to change that feeling in this building and for our great fan base in this state. That’s a tall task. That roster is deeper, but it was deeper last year too, and we had a shot to win it,” Freeze said.
State supremacy
This year’s Iron Bowl will mark the first meeting since 2006 that neither team’s head coach has a national championship in the trophy case.
Seven-time national champion Nick Saban, who owned the state of Alabama for nearly two decades, will be viewing this game as a spectator for the first time. Hence, DeBoer and Freeze have the opportunity to capture the Yellowhammer State on Saturday.
This game’s outcome can impact the commitment of several high school recruits, especially the Alabama natives.
Recruiting is one aspect of why this game is so important, but some believe that pride is the only motivation the Crimson Tide needs.
Crimson Tide Sports Network sportscaster Chris Stewart said that this game should mean a lot to the first-year Alabama coaching staff.
“There is a lot on the line. But it doesn’t need any more than the fact that it’s Alabama-Auburn. That stands alone,” Stewart said.
DeBoer’s first Iron Bowl will be at Bryant-Denny Stadium on ABC this Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT.
