NCAA football preview: The Auburn Tigers and Alabama Crimson Tide face off with national implications
At the season’s outset, many wondered whether or not the 75th Iron Bowl would still be one of the premier contests in college football come rivalry weekend. And, although the No. 2 Auburn Tigers (11-0, 7-0 SEC) have a lot more at stake, the rivalry promises
to heat up once again as they travel to Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday 26 November to take on the No. 11 Alabama Crimson Tide (9-2, 5-2 SEC).
Alabama, who is still in the hunt for a BCS (Bowl Championship Series) bowl bid, could kill two birds with one stone this weekend. A win over the undefeated Tigers would surely knock Auburn out of the national championship discussion, simultaneously propelling
the Crimson Tide even higher in the rankings.
For both teams, this weekend’s contest means more than just in-state bragging rights for the next year. For the first time in five years, both teams hold a national ranking coming into the contest. “It says a lot for the football in this state to have two teams
of this calibre playing,” Alabama coach Nick Saban told the media Sunday.
The showdown also marks the first time in over a decade that both teams enter the contest ranked in the Top 10 nationally. The last such match-up occurred in 1994, when No. 4 Alabama defeat No. 6 Auburn, 24-14.
“Of course it goes up a notch,” Crimson Tide quarterback Greg McElroy said earlier this week. “There’s more riding on the game for both teams. I think everyone cares an awful lot about the outcome considering the impact it could have not only on the national
scene but also in the Southeastern Conference.”
As such, McElroy and the rest of his Alabama team-mates relish the chance to crush their rivals’ hopes for a BCS title. “We’re very thrilled and excited to have the opportunity to play Auburn with them having the success that they’ve had,” McElroy concluded.
Regardless of this weekend’s outcome, the Tigers will be playing the South Carolina Gamecocks for the Southeastern Conference (SEC) championship on Saturday 4 December. Still, they’d love to be in the midst of the national championship discussion by the time
that game rolls around, and they’ll need a win on hostile turf this weekend to do so.
The tables seem to be turned from last year’s contest, in which the pesky Tigers attempted to derail Alabama’s national championship aspirations. The Crimson Tide scored in the final minute of that game to win 26-21, and eventually beat the Texas Longhorns
to secure the BCS title. After that contest, then-head coach Tommy Tuberville resigned, prompting Auburn’s athletic director, Jay Jacobs, to replace him with Gene Chizik.
“It was a low point. It’s really amazing how far we have come in a short period of time,” Jacobs told reporters this week. “These players in ‘08, they won five games and they’ve won 11 this year, and that’s with the same guys. We’ve come a long way really at
a lot faster pace than I thought we could get here.”
Saban, meanwhile, knows how important this game is and has been urging his players to remain in the present. “The focus this week is on the Alabama-Auburn game, it’s not about anything that’s going on outside,” Saban said in a press conference. “It’s not about
what happened last year. None of that really matters. It’s about this week, this time, this game.”
“The culmination of your season sort of gets judged by how you do in a game like this,” he concluded.
Prediction: Auburn 31, Alabama 37
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