subject: Alabama and Auburn - Game of the week [print this page] Alabama and Auburn - Game of the week Alabama and Auburn - Game of the week
Nick Saban's Alabama Crimson Tide will not repeat as national champions this year. They will not even repeat their SEC championship feat.
But they can do the next best thing. On the day after Thanksgiving, they can make their in-state rival Auburn Tigers very unthankful for having to play in the Iron Bowl. A victory in one of college football's most heated rivalries, followed by a win over Steve Spurrier's South Carolina Gamecocks in the first weekend of December will put the Auburn Tigers in the national championship game.
"The culmination of your season sort of gets judged by how you do in a game like this," Saban said this week.
More than a measuring stick for judging, this game will actually define what happens with Auburn's season.
A loss against Alabama Friday in the 75th Iron Bowl will not keep the Tigers out of the SEC title game in Atlanta. That is locked down. But it would undoubtedly knock them out of the national title picture. A Tide win also gives Saban an outside shot at another BCS bow game this time as an at-large team.
Friday's game will mark the first time both teams have entered the game ranked in the Top 10 since 1994, when the fourth-ranked Tide beat number six Auburn.
"We're very thrilled and excited to have the opportunity to play Auburn with them having the success that they've had," Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy said.
While the senior McElroy has lost only two games in his career, throwing 34 touchdowns to only 9 interceptions over the past two years as a starter, its his quarterbacking counterpart who has garnered most of the headlines this year.
The first half of the season was all about the comeback story of Auburn's Cam Newton and his amazing ability to dominate SEC teams with his legs and arms, but most of the ink over the past week has focused on the pay-for-play scandal that has enveloped Newton and the Tigers.
While Gene Chizik and the Tigers administration has danced around Newton's participation a few times over the past month, the quarterback has been on the field for every game, even has questions about his eligibility have arisen after his father was accused of allegedly asking for $180,000 from Mississippi State.
While neither Newton nor Alabama seems to want to talk about the quarterback's potential NCAA violations, the issue has to be weighing on the Tigers.
"The focus this week is on the Alabama-Auburn game, it's not about anything that's going on outside," Saban said. "It's not about what happened last year. None of that really matters. It's about this week, this time, this game.
Saban's focus on this game could not be good news for the Tigers. Saban has ostensibly had two weeks to prepare for this game. All apologies to Georgia State, but I don't think the coach spent many hours fretting about that game.
If you believe in Saban, and at this point it seems everyone should, two weeks of preparation is a scary thing. Saban's defenses are notoriously stingy, and that holds true this year. They have given up more than 20 points only twice this year their two losses and they are very effective at shutting down the run.
Nobody has been effective at stuffing the box and making Newton consistently beat them with his arm. If anyone can do that, it's Saban's Tide. If Newton is not able to explode through the middle as he has done all year, he is going to have to rely on his trio of backs -- Onterio McCalebb, Mario Fannin and Michael Dyer to beat the Tide outside. But the Tide's linebacking corps is not likely to get beat on the ends.
If they are able to get outside, though, they will have downfield blocking help in the form of their wide receivers, who block as well as anyone in the country at that position. But the Tide have proven adept at stopping the spread-option, so expect them to rely on their nickel formations to provide help with the outside contain.
McElroy will have his chance to remind the nation why he is one of the most NFL-ready quarterbacks in the game, and he is likely savoring the opportunity to end his days in Tuscaloosa with a statement game.
People have been able to throw against the Tigers all year, and McElroy will be the best they've faced thus far.
The Tigers have looked great this season, but they may finally get exposed against the most talented team they've faced all year. Saban with two weeks to prepare. McElroy looking to go out on top. A Tide crowd thirsting to spoil Auburn's title hopes. Newton with the weight of a guilty conscience. It seems like an upset is brewing down south.
