No. 10 Alabama 27, Auburn 20: Upon Further Review

In order to seal a spot in the SEC Championship Game, No. 10 Alabama football needed to get past Auburn in a road environment Saturday. The Crimson Tide initially seemed well on its way to doing just that, starting hot and getting out to a 17-0 lead, but the Iron Bowl is rarely a blowout in Auburn, and the Tigers tied things up at 20 points apiece in the fourth quarter.

A late six-yard touchdown pass from Ty Simpson to Isaiah Horton with under four minutes to play proved to be the game-winning score in the first Iron Bowl with a nighttime kickoff in 11 years. The Crimson Tide opted to keep its offense on the field on fourth down for that play, with six yards separating the visiting offense from paydirt. Alabama won the game 27-20.

"I just couldn't be more proud of these guys," Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer said after his first Iron Bowl inside Jordan-Hare Stadium. "I think a lot of the things that are a part of our identity stuck out tonight. So, I think tonight is just a small piece of what this team is all about when it comes to our full season and even over the last two years."

Once again, the Crimson Tide (10-2, 7-1 SEC) maintained its position at the No. 10 spot in both the AP Top 25 and the US LBM Coaches Poll. Auburn's loss prevented it from reaching bowl eligibility, concluding the Tigers' season at 5-7 (1-7 SEC). The program hired Alex Golesh away from South Florida on Sunday to be its new full-time head coach.

Alabama earned its place in the SEC title game with the rivalry triumph, its sixth straight in the series and third straight in Auburn. The Crimson Tide's rematch with No. 4 Georgia will kick off Dec. 6 at 3 p.m. CT on ABC. The Bulldogs (11-1, 7-1 SEC) lost to Alabama in Athens on Sept. 27 by a final score of 24-21.

Player of the Game: When Alabama got Horton out of the transfer portal from Miami (Fla.) after last season, it envisioned him as a vital complement to Germie Bernard, Ryan Williams and the other members of the receiving corps. In the Iron Bowl, Horton was the main attraction. He caught all three of Simpson's touchdown passes, making impressive catches in pressure situations. Horton accounted for 29 percent of Simpson's 122 passing yards on the night, logging the most receptions he has had in a game since that contest against Georgia in September.

Play of the Game: For all of the criticism he has received this season, Crimson Tide placekicker Conor Talty connected on both of his field goals in hostile territory over the weekend, including one from 45 yards out. Alabama could have turned to him with the ball on Auburn's six-yard line, facing fourth down with two yards to go and 3:54 remaining on the clock. Instead, DeBoer stuck with the offense, and Simpson connected with Horton in the end zone for the latter's third touchdown of the game. A seven-point lead as opposed to three makes a substantial difference. Thanks in part to the Alabama defense, that bold fourth-down decision was ultimately enough for the Crimson Tide to win the game.

Stat of the Game: Alabama's running game has been one of its main offensive difficulties throughout the 2025 campaign. The team has tried multiple different options in the backfield, and Tuscaloosa County High School product Kevin Riley was out on Saturday. Senior starter Jam Miller racked up 83 yards, his third-most in a game this season, before a fourth-quarter injury as the Crimson Tide outgained Auburn on the ground 158-152. The Tigers more than doubled up the Crimson Tide in passing yards; the ground game came through in a win-or-die spot for Alabama.

10 things you may not have noticed...

1. The Iron Bowl was Isaiah Horton's first multi-touchdown game in an Alabama uniform.

Big games are won when key players step up at crucial times, often more than once. Alabama needed every bit of what it got out of Horton to stave off elimination from the conference title picture and, thus, the College Football Playoff. Horton had one touchdown in five of the Crimson Tide's games this season, but the Iron Bowl was his first time with multiple scores, bringing his season total to eight.

2. Tigers quarterback Ashton Daniels outgained the entire Alabama team.

With 367 total yards, 259 passing and 108 rushing, Auburn signal caller Ashton Daniels outgained the Tigers' in-state rival by 87 yards. Meanwhile, the quarterback who eliminated 2024 Alabama from College Football Playoff contention sat on the bench; Jackson Arnold began the season as the Auburn starter after transferring from Oklahoma but did not play in the 2025 Iron Bowl. Daniels completed 18 passes and had 23 rushing attempts.

3. Ty Simpson set a new low for single-game passing yardage this year in the win over the Tigers.

The redshirt junior Crimson Tide quarterback only played in the first half against Eastern Illinois on Nov. 22, so a season-low in pass yardage wasn't a tremendous surprise. While playing all four quarters on Saturday, Simpson threw for 25 fewer yards than he did against the Panthers (147 to 122). That number also comes with eight more completions opposite the Tigers (19) than he notched while facing Eastern Illinois.

4. Alabama has not scored 10-plus points in a second-half quarter since beating South Carolina.

Kalen DeBoer. — Nov 29, 2025; Auburn, Alabama, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Kalen Deboer talks to referees during the first half against the Auburn Tigers at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Reed-Imagn Images | John Reed-Imagn Images

The Crimson Tide went into the locker room up 17-6 on the Tigers, and put up 10 points in the second half en route to its win. However, second-half offense remains a concern. DeBoer's team has not scored a double-digit number of points in the third quarter or the fourth quarter since the 15-point rally that won the South Carolina game in late October. Against Auburn, Alabama scored three points in the third quarter and seven in the fourth.

5. Ryan Williams appeared on more than half of Alabama's snaps despite not having any targets.

Sophomore wide receiver Ryan Williams' absence from the Iron Bowl stat sheet is one of the postgame storylines. DeBoer said Sunday that it was nothing to read into. Williams was on the field for 38 of a possible 73 plays against Auburn, meaning he was still a presence strictly from an on-field perspective.

6. The teams combined for 12 punts, but only Alabama's Blake Doud crossed the 50-yard threshold.

Auburn's Hudson Kaak had five punts Saturday, and Alabama's Blake Doud had seven. Those boots varied in effectiveness, but only one went a distance of 50 yards or greater: Doud's final punt of the second quarter. A 53-yard punt was returned by wide receiver Malcolm Simmons to the Auburn 27; the Tigers later kicked a field goal at the end of the half. Doud averaged 38 yards per punt, while Kaak narrowly edged him with an average of 40 yards.

7. Malcolm Simmons had nearly as many yards after his catches as Alabama had total receiving yards.

Simmons broke off two 60-plus yard receptions in Saturday's game, one of which was a third-quarter touchdown only seconds into the half that cut the Alabama lead to 17-13 after 64 yards. His second such catch came in the fourth quarter and went for 66 yards, all the way down to the Alabama four-yard line. His 101 yards after his catches (he had three for 143 yards to lead all receivers) were 21 fewer than the Crimson Tide's receiving total.

8. In their first FBS game without Josh Cuevas, Alabama's other tight ends only combined for three catches.

Jay Lindsey. — Aug. 19, 2025, Tuscaloosa, AL; Tight end Jay Lindsey makes a catch during practice for the Alabama Crimson Tide. | Gary Cosby Jr. / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Veteran Alabama starting tight end Josh Cuevas got hurt in practice prior to the Eastern Illinois game and wound up missing the rest of the regular season as a result. He had 10 catches in the two games preceding this incident, and Jay Lindsey and Kaleb Edwards had three catches between them against Auburn for a total of seven yards. Lindsey recorded his first reception of the year but has yet to get into positive yardage. DeBoer does not expect Cuevas to play in the SEC Championship Game.

9. Jam Miller's productive day included his second-most yards per carry against an FBS team.

Miller left the game in the fourth quarter and ended up on crutches, but before being hit with another injury in a year full of them, he had gotten up to 5.6 yards per carry on 15 rushes. That trails only Vanderbilt (6.2 yards per carry on 22 attempts) for his most successful per-play output against an FBS opponent in 2025. Miller was more than just a role-player in this iteration of the Iron Bowl.

10. Deontae Lawson has seven total tackles or more in three of Alabama's last four FBS games.

Deontae Lawson is not one of Alabama's defensive captains without good reason. He has been a consistent source of production since his recovery from a torn ACL in November of 2024. He had seven total tackles (five solo) against Auburn and recovered Bray Hubbard's forced fumble with less than one minute on the clock in the fourth quarter that practically won Alabama the game. Safety Keon Sabb joined Lawson during the Iron Bowl in the five-solo-tackles club. Lawson recorded nine tackles against LSU and seven against South Carolina. The redshirt senior went the entire regular season without getting a sack, but he's also not an edge rusher akin to a player like LT Overton. DeBoer highlighted Lawson's performance on Saturday and said he's improved over the course of the season after not taking many live reps during camp.