{"id":83134,"date":"2025-11-28T15:01:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T20:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=83134"},"modified":"2025-11-28T15:01:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T20:01:08","slug":"auburn-looks-to-play-spoiler-in-90th-iron-bowl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/11\/28\/auburn-looks-to-play-spoiler-in-90th-iron-bowl\/","title":{"rendered":"Auburn Looks To Play Spoiler in 90th Iron Bowl"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2025 season comes to a head tomorrow night for Auburn, as they host rival Alabama in the 90th rendition of the Iron Bowl. The 9-2 Crimson Tide ranks tenth in the nation and in the playoff picture coming off a shutout 56-0 victory over Eastern Illinois.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Tigers are also coming off a blowout FCS victory, having taken down SoCon champion Mercer 62-17 last weekend. In that game, fans got to see what the future could look like under quarterback Deuce Knight, but they\u2019ll have to wait to see him again. Interim head coach D.J. Durkin announced that the team will be starting veteran quarterback Ashton Daniels against Alabama. It shouldn\u2019t come as a shock, especially after Daniels\u2019 performance vs Vanderbilt on Nov 15.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Can Daniels-led offense Resume Success<\/h3>\n

In one of the most shocking performances of the season, Auburn\u2019s offense took Vanderbilt to the wire in week 11. Quarterback Ashton Daniels threw for 353 yards and two touchdowns, Cam Coleman caught 10 passes for 143 yards, and the offense scored 38 points. It was the first game after the firing of Hugh Freeze, and the first game offensive coordinator Derrick Nix had full playcalling duties. With Daniels returning after sitting out vs. Mercer to maintain a redshirt year, he finds himself facing another tough defense this week.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Alabama\u2019s defense struggled to start the season, but quickly became one of the nation\u2019s elite. Their defensive line, while still very good, is their weakness. The Tide ranks 37th in the country in total rushing defense, allowing 132 yards a game. Alabama also ranks in the middle of FBS in finishing sacks, having only sacked the quarterback 23 times to this point in the season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Exploiting a weaker defensive line will be paramount for Nix\u2019s offense, as Alabama\u2019s pass defense is among the best in the country. So far this season the Tide have only allowed 161 passing yards a game, fourth-best in the nation. Their secondary more than makes up for their faults up front, and has the defense ranked 12th in the country in total yardage. Auburn will need to get their lead back, Jeremiah Cobb going, and also continue to sprinkle in designed runs for Daniels. Establishing the run and getting the short passing game going will still be tough, but it gives Auburn a chance to open the door for downfield shots.<\/span><\/p>\n

Auburn\u2019s DL Can Swing the Game<\/h3>\n

Waiting for the Tide\u2019s offensive line at the end of a long season is arguably the best defensive line they\u2019ve faced all year. Auburn\u2019s line, led by Keldric Faulk and Keyron Crawford, allowed only 94 yards a game on the ground, placing them just outside the top 10 rushing defenses. Playing into their strength will be an Alabama rushing attack that ranks in the bottom 20 in FBS. Led by Jam Miller, the Tide only records an average of 109 rushing yards per game.<\/span><\/p>\n

Opposite of Alabama\u2019s defense, the Tigers\u2019 secondary has struggled this season while the line has thrived. Auburn\u2019s secondary allows just under 240 yards a game, which could spell trouble if the line can\u2019t generate pressure. Looking to be the benefactor of a struggling secondary is Ty Simpson, who established himself as a future NFL draft pick in his first season leading Alabama\u2019s offense. Simpson has thrown for 2934 yards, 22 touchdowns, and only four interceptions this season, and was a leading Heisman candidate prior to the loss to Oklahoma.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If Auburn\u2019s defensive line and a sold-out Jordan-Hare crowd can rattle Simpson, though, the Tide are in trouble.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Auburn Can Play Spoiler<\/h3>\n

In a rivalry as fierce as this, an opponent\u2019s failure can feel just as good as your own success. With a win on Saturday, Auburn can get to .500 and become bowl-eligible. What will likely be just as satisfying is their opportunity to knock Alabama out of the playoff picture, however. After their week one loss to Florida State, the Tide looked dominant and found themselves in the top four teams in the country before their loss to Oklahoma. Now ranked number ten, a loss to a 5-6 conference opponent would take them out of the picture entirely.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Directly benefiting Auburn, though, would be a bowl appearance. This season has been a disappointment; there\u2019s no way around it. Playing an extra game, likely led by Deuce Knight<\/a>, who would be starting against his first FBS opponent, would send the Tigers<\/a> off on a high note heading into 2026.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The 90th Iron Bowl kicks off at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday and will be broadcast on ABC.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Main Image: John Reed-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 2025 season comes to a head tomorrow night for Auburn, as they host rival Alabama in the 90th rendition of the Iron Bowl. The 9-2 Crimson Tide ranks tenth in the nation and in the playoff picture coming off a shutout 56-0 victory over Eastern Illinois. The Tigers are also coming off a blowout […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5666,"featured_media":83140,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,35574,35583,17,3],"tags":[35780,3921,8115],"class_list":["post-83134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-alabama-crimson-tide","category-auburn-tigers","category-news","category-sec","tag-ashton-daniels","tag-dj-durkin","tag-kalen-deboer"],"modified_by":"Tony Siracusa, CFB Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5666"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83134"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83142,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83134\/revisions\/83142"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}