AUBURN, Ala. — Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer is trying to simplify things for his football team in the Iron Bowl.
He wants his players to handle the crowd noise at Jordan-Hare Stadium and the emotions that come with playing a rival on the road. Everything else, he believes, will work out.
It sounds easy. It hasn’t been that way for the Crimson Tide in their past three trips to Auburn.
No. 10 Alabama has a berth in the Southeastern Conference title game and likely a first-round bye in the 12-team College Football Playoff at stake when the Crimson Tide travel to play the Tigers on Saturday night.
“We understand it’s going to be a great experience there, and it’ll be one where we’re facing a team that wants to knock us off our goals and our hopes and all that,” DeBoer said.
The Crimson Tide (9-2, 6-1 SEC) control their destiny in the SEC and the CFP. A loss, however, complicates the picture with No. 3 Texas A&M, No. 4 Georgia and No. 6 Ole Miss all alive for a spot in the SEC title game. The Tide hold tiebreakers over Georgia and Ole Miss.
Auburn (5-6, 1-6), meanwhile, is trying to become bowl eligible under interim coach DJ Durkin and will honor its seniors in the home finale. The Tigers have lost six of their past eight games this season.
Alabama has won five straight in the series, but the past 10 games at Jordan-Hare have been split evenly. The last three were decided by three points or less, with Alabama winning 27-24 in 2023 and 24-22 in 2021. Auburn’s last win in the series came in 2019, with the Tigers eking out a 48-45 victory.
This one could be a low-scoring affair because of Auburn’s defense, which gave the Tigers a chance in home games against Georgia, Missouri and Kentucky.
The Tide are six-point favorites, according to BetMGM Sportsbook. The line is close partly because Auburn’s offense has improved under Durkin, having scored 30 or more points in three of the past four games.
“It’s the greatest rivalry in college football,” Durkin said. “It’s a game that means a lot to a lot of people down here and certainly to our team and coaching staff. … We look forward to the challenge of the test. They’re a really good football team. They’re well coached in all three phases. They have playmakers at all spots. I think their numbers, their stats, their record all speak to that.”
Auburn has utilized three quarterbacks this season, with Jackson Arnold starting the first eight games before getting benched for Ashton Daniels. And then Daniels struggled some as well, managing just three points in a loss to Kentucky, before exploding for 442 yards and four scores in an overtime setback at Vanderbilt, which was ranked 16th at the time and is currently 12th.
Daniels sat out last week’s game against Football Championship Subdivision foe Mercer to preserve a year of eligibility. He is expected to reclaim his starting spot against the Tide, but freshman Deuce Knight stated his case for more playing time by accounting for 401 yards and six touchdowns in his first start with Daniels on the sideline.
Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack is preparing for all three quarterbacks.
“When you look at it structurally, I think they’re doing the same thing,” Wommack said. “I think they have an identity of what they do and how they do it, and I don’t think that changes from one quarterback to the next. But you certainly want to be mindful of what each quarterback does well.”
Whether the Tigers make another great Iron Bowl memory for themselves remains to be seen, but the program will take time to celebrate a treasured player of the past.
Auburn will honor 1985 Heisman Trophy winner Bo Jackson during the game in recognition of the 40th anniversary of the running back’s historic season.
Jackson ran for 1,786 yards and 17 touchdowns on his way to winning the award. His No. 34 is one of four numbers formally retired at Auburn, along with quarterbacks Cam Newton (No. 2) and Pat Sullivan (No. 7) and receiver Terry Beasley (No. 88).