Iron Bowl stakes are simple for Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer, Auburn’s Hugh Freeze: Tense offseason awaits the loser

The national stakes are diminished for this year’s Iron Bowl but the pressure to win is real for both sides.

First-year Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer is already in charge of the worst Crimson Tide team since 2010 and really can’t afford an Iron Bowl loss to a six-loss Auburn team. No. 13 Alabama (8-3) still has a scant hope of making the College Football Playoff if chaos unfolds this weekend, but even taking that off the table, a four-loss first season would be disastrous for DeBoer and his ability to elicit long-term buy-in from a fanbase accustomed to competing for, and ideally winning, national championships each year. 

Losses to unranked Vanderbilt and Oklahoma shocked the system. The 24-3 loss to Oklahoma last weekend, which essentially knocked the Tide out of the playoff race, was Alabama’s largest loss to an unranked opponent since 1998 when Mike DuBose was head coach. This year’s Alabama team has delivered incredible highs like a thrilling home win over Georgia and a dominant road win inside Tiger Stadium, but opposing coaches have pointed to inconsistent intensity and approach as one reason for the Tide’s rollercoaster season. 

“They are not what they had been, but that’s the most talented team we played,” an opposing SEC coach said. “They are the most talented team we saw on tape; them beating Georgia was no fluke. If they would play with that intensity, that’s who they are.”

At Auburn, second-year coach Hugh Freeze is coming off a four-overtime win over Texas A&M, a rare highlight in a season that quickly went off the rails. Freeze’s stubbornness and ego to not pursue a transfer quarterback doomed the Tigers’ hopes this season, but it has still gone far worse than anyone could have imagined. Before the A&M win, Auburn…

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Author : John Talty

Publish date : 2024-11-29 18:21:00

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