The Auburn Tigers will have their toughest test this season against the No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide, who have yet to lose and lead all NCAA teams with the best odds to win the 2019 College Football Championship. Will the Tigers pull off an upset to possibly derail the Crimson Tide’s ride to the College Football Playoff? Or will Alabama crush its bitter rival? Since 1893, the Crimson Tide and Tigers have played 82 times, with Alabama leading the Iron Bowl series 45–36–1.
Betting on the Auburn Tigers (7-4 Overall / 3-4 Conference)
After falling prey to the Georgia Bulldogs in the previous week, the Tigers took advantage of a lowly opponent to pick their confidence up, destroying the Liberty Flames at home to the tune of a 53-0 score on Sunday. Quarterback Jarrett Stidham went 12-of-18 for 178 passing yards and a pair of touchdowns, while Kam Martin took advantage of spacious gaps on the Flames’ defense and its poor tackling to end the day with 116 rushing yards on 17 carries. Unfortunately for the Tigers, they can’t face Liberty every week, and their next opponents are the No. 1 team in the nation. If the Tigers are going to at least keep in step with Alabama, they need their pass rush unit to be at its absolute top form. Auburn is capable of invading its opponents’ pockets and have success taking down opposing quarterbacks, as they are second in the SEC with 31 sacks entering Week 12 of the season. Against Liberty, the Tigers had three quarterback takedowns to go with three quarterback hurries. The Tigers are allowing just 19.3 points per game, 15th fewest in the FBS.
The under is 3-0 in Auburn’s last three games away from home. In addition, the Tigers are both 1-2 straight up (SU) and against the spread (ATS) on the road.
Betting on the Alabama Crimson Tide (11-0 Overall / 7-0 Conference)
Despite being the overwhelming favorites, Alabama still opted to start quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who unloaded 340 passing yards to go with three touchdowns with zero interceptions on 18-of-22 completions during a landslide 50-17 win over The Citadel Bulldog at home. It’s a glorified exhibition game for the Crimson Tide, but it also served as a nice warm up for their rivalry game against Auburn this coming weekend. Alabama also drew plenty of support from its backfield with Damien Harris pacing the team with 83 rushing yards. All told, the Crimson Tide had 190 rushing yards and two touchdowns on the ground. Alabama has barely looked mortal this season. It has weathered hyped opponents and handled them with ease and in a merciless fashion in almost all of their games, and it’s capable of administering the same unforgiving style on a relatively weaker version of Auburn. Alabama has the third-best scoring offense in the league with 48.6 points per game and is also tops with just 12.7 points surrendered per contest.
Alabama is 3-0 and 2-1 ATS in its last three home games against the Tigers. On the season thus far, the Crimson Tide are 4-3 ATS when playing at Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Writer’s Prediction
Alabama wins, 36-17, extending its Iron Bowl record to 46–36–1. Maybe next year Auburn…maybe.
