Alabama and Auburn will meet in the Iron Bowl for the 88th time on Saturday afternoon. The Crimson Tide must beat the Tigers then take care of Georgia in the SEC Championship on Dec. 2 for any shot of being in the top four when the final College Football Playoff rankings are released on Dec. 4.

It will be a who’s who of recruits in Jordan-Hare Stadium. Alabama commits Sterling Dixon (Spanish Fort, AL), Jeremiah Beaman (Birmingham, AL) and 2025 Ryan Williams (Saraland, AL) are part of a loaded group of visitors.

Players must have a short memory. What happened on the last play, good or bad, can’t affect the next play, which is the most important. Expand that. Both Alabama players and Auburn players need to forget last week. Alabama’s 66-10 win over Chattanooga was not so remarkable and is pretty much in the rearview mirror. The Tigers, however, were upset by New Mexico State, a 31-10 loss compounded in the national narrative because Auburn paid the Aggies a reported $1.8 million to be the warmup game for Bama.

Probably last week has been put aside by the participants. Other than that game, first-year Auburn Coach Hugh Freeze has done an excellent job in directing a program in despair to bowl eligibility.

Alabama leads the all-time series, 49-37-1, but except for Bama’s miraculous come-from-behind four-overtime victory in Jordan-Hare on the Crimson Tide’s last trip in 2021, most of the good memories belong to Auburn as the Tigers have a 10-6 record against Alabama in Auburn.

Eli Gold will be on the call on the Bama radio network, his first road game since returning this fall after his rehabilitation.

 

2 THOUGHTS ABOUT ALABAMA VS. AUBURN

  • For many years there were programs that would not go to Auburn for football games, most notably Georgia Tech, which played its Auburn “home” games in Columbus, Ga. The Alabama-Auburn game was played at a neutral site, Birmingham’s Legion Field, where there was a greater capacity, plus hotels, restaurants, etc., not available in Tuscaloosa or Auburn.

The first Alabama trip to Auburn was in 1989, a 30-20 Auburn win. Alabama continued to play the game in Birmingham until the 2000 season.

The on-campus games have benefited Auburn’s record against the Tide. In addition to the 10-6 advantage in Auburn, the Tigers won the first four games against Alabama in Tuscaloosa and Bama’s advantage in Bryant-Denny is only 11-9. Nick Saban is 11-5 against Auburn as Tide coach, but only 4-4 at Auburn.