Bama Central

The Good and Bad in Alabama's Swarm Defense: Things I Noticed In The Crimson Tide's Win Over Auburn

The Crimson Tide allowed over 400 yards of offense, but got stops in critical moments to keep the Auburn offense contained in Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Joe Gaither|
Nov 29, 2025; Auburn, Alabama, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide linebacker Deontae Lawson (0) reacts during the second half against the Auburn Tigers at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Reed-Imagn Images
Nov 29, 2025; Auburn, Alabama, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide linebacker Deontae Lawson (0) reacts during the second half against the Auburn Tigers at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Reed-Imagn Images | John Reed-Imagn Images

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Alabama Crimson Tide

No. 10 Alabama extended its winning streak over Auburn to six years, winning in Jordan-Hare Stadium 27-20 in another Iron Bowl classic. The Crimson Tide secured its road win behind a vintage Kane Wommack defensive performance as the "Swarm D" set the tone for the game early and sealed the victory late with the unit's classic characteristics.

Alabama's Defense Set the Tone in the Iron Bowl

Alabama's defense opened the game with its hair on fire, forcing three-straight three-and-outs, a turnover on downs, and a fourth three-and-out on Auburn's first five possessions. The Tigers amassed 18 yards and just one first down on their first 19 plays.

The Crimson Tide pursued the football on an Ashton Daniels quarterback run, saw James Smith get the team's only sack of the day, and nearly came up with a pick-six on the first three snaps, sending a message to the Tigers that they'd be aggressive all evening. That aggression created two errant throws and a drop on the next series as Auburn's offense adjusted to Alabama's team speed. The third series was more of the same, as Daniels couldn't find much room on a quarterback run, checked down on second down, and saw his third-down pass go through his receiver's hands.

Alabama's fast start defensively provided the Crimson Tide offense with strong field position to open the game. The Crimson Tide averaged starting its first five drives from their own 36.4-yard line and manufactured the field position and defensive start into a 17-0 lead.

Crimson Tide linebacker Qua Russaw stood out in the fifth series of the game on third-and-1 as the Auburn Tigers tried to run power off the left side for a first down. Russaw, who's making his return from a mid-season injury, squeezes the jumbo tight end and meets the fullback in the hole, stalemating him behind the line of scrimmage. His effort forces the Auburn running back outside, where a scraping Deontae Lawson meets him for a tackle for loss, forcing the fourth Tiger punt of the day.

Auburn's Offense Finds Life

The Alabama defense opened the game with its hair on fire, but like all fires, it eventually burns out. Auburn quarterback Ashton Daniels poured water on the crimson flames by converting a fourth-and-4 just past midfield using his legs. Daniels took advantage of undisciplined pass rush lanes and evaded Nikhai Hill-Green to get around the edge and keep the drive alive. The 20-yard scramble gave the Tigers their second first-down of the day and injected life into the Auburn offense with the biggest play of the first six drives.

Who knows how the game could've been different had Hill-Green brought Daniels down before the line to gain? Does an Alabama offensive drive that started on its own 44-yard line end up in more Crimson Tide points? The margin for error is so thin in college football, and Daniels made the play to spark Auburn to life rather than Hill-Green securing the tackle and continuing to stack Alabama's momentum in a hostile environment.

The Tigers turned the fourth-down conversion into a field goal, making it a two-score game. Alabama stood tall in the red zone, playing a fade to Cam Coleman with good technique and stopping two more Daniels-designed runs.

Auburn managed to muster 411 total yards of offense on the night with Daniels doing most of the damage, passing for 259 yards and rushing for 108. Daniels got going on the ground after the aforementioned 20-yard gain on fourth down, but the Crimson Tide defense made him work for every yard he gained with his feet. It was feast or famine for the Auburn quarterback as it took him 23 carries to find the 108 yards with 11 of the 23 going for three yards or fewer. The inconsistencies made it a tough element to rely on for Auburn offensive coordinator Derrick Nix but Daniels serving as the focal point in the run game allowed other weapons to be used in a change of pace fashion.

Alabama's defense has improved its fundamentals throughout the year. The Crimson Tide missed 26 tackles in its first two games of the season as the unit started the season horrific in open space. The unit's undoubtably taken steps in tackling with proficiency but still has room to grow as the unit missed 10 tackles in the game. No player missed more than one, but 10 different players missing an opportunity to make a play allowed Auburn's offense to hang around in the rivarly game.

"I think good defenses trend in the right direction from a tackling efficiency standpoint," Defensive coordinator Kane Wommack said after the LSU game. "As the season goes on, if you're not efficient in tackling, it's gonna show up. I think we're getting better and better at that. I think structurally, the way we play more of a vision-style defense, there's a lot more vise tackles. There's not a lot of yards after catch or yards after contact. That structurally kind of helps us a little bit as well. But I think our players -- go back to the point I made in the beginning -- that was probably the fastest I have seen us play as a defense to this point in the season. One of the keys to our victory going in, because they were so dynamic in their receiving corps and their athletes, was that we really had to swarm the ball. I think our players, they played hard and they played fast. When you do that, two things tend to be the case: you're gonna do a good job of tackling, and limiting yards after contact and then you're also going to create takeaways. Effort always creates takeaways."

This past week against Auburn the Crimson Tide took a step back in its tackling department and allowed multiple big plays with yards after the catch in the Iron Bowl.

An easy example can be found on the Tigers 11th possession.

Auburn takes over after a punt with just over 14 minutes to play, trailing by seven points. A short run and and Alabama pass interference penalty gets the Tigers out of their own end.

On first-and-10 from the Auburn 29-yard line Daniels looks up the seam for Malcolm Simmons. Alabama defensive back Zavier Mincey sees the pass right away and skies to make an athletic interception. Unfortunately for the Crimson Tide Mincey can't haul in the pass, resulting in an incompletion and allowing the Tigers another down.

Daniels takes a quarterback run for a single yard on second down, setting the Tigers up with third-and-9 and opening up an opportunity for Alabama to get off the field. Daniels instead finds Simmons on an underneath hitch route short of the line to gain. Mincey is burned for the second time on three plays as he gets a hand to Simmons with a chance to tackle him before the line to gain, but gets shaken off, making matters worse freshman Dijon Lee takes a tough angle on Simmons and also gets juked, resulting in a 66-yard completion, setting Auburn up with a first-and-goal.

What happens to the fourth quarter if Mincey is able to bring in the interception and Alabama starts its next drive in Auburn territory. Does the Crimson Tide offense score a touchdown to make it a two touchdown lead? Or even if Mincey is able to make the tackle on third down and force the Tigers into a tough fourth down decision? Instead, both plays are missed and the Tigers ultimately tie the game with a two-yard Jeremiah Cobb touchdown run.

Simmons was a problem all evening long for the Alabama secondary. He found soft spots in the Crimson Tide zones and was able to make plays after the catch and the Tigers were able to overcome one of the best redzone defenses in the nation with big plays.

The Tigers' sophomore receiver had a 33-yard touchdown pass negated by an illegal formation penalty in the first half, scored a 64-yard touchdown in the second, and set up Auburn's third score with the aforementioned 66-yard reception.

Despite having his initial big play erased by too many men in the backfield, he finished the day with three receptions for 143 yards and one touchdown. He raced down the right sideline past Dijon Lee on his touchdown reception as Lee left him alone to pursue a crosser. Daniels found Simmons and he was off to the races on the first drive of the second half.

Alabama's defense played well throughout the night, stopping Auburn nine times with two turnovers, a fourth down stop, forcing five punts, and running the time out to end the game, but the Crimson Tide still has to improve in preventing big plays to be among some of the best in program history.

Alabama's Calling Card On Display

The Crimson Tide have come up with turnovers in critical moments throughout the season, most notably forcing a fumble in the final minutes of its comeback victory at South Carolina. Alabama finished the regular season tied for 32nd nationally and fifth in the SEC in takeaways, generating 19 turnovers in 12 games.

Alabama's defense came away with two second half turnovers in the Iron Bowl to keep the Tigers off the scoreboard and to help a floundering offense.

Safety Bray Hubbard came away with an interception and forced a fumble to be involved in both big plays, taking his season total to four interceptions and three forced fumbles.

The Alabama faithful could sense a turnover was brewing before Hubbard came down with a caromed pass as the Tigers fumbled twice on prior plays in the drive, with a third being ruled as an incomplete pass. Hubbard finally got the takeaway as Auburn approached the red zone, pulling down a deflected Daniels pass.

The final nail in the coffin came as Auburn sought to tie the football game, trailing by seven points with 40-seconds remaining. Daniels found star wide receiver Cam Coleman on a screen pass and Hubbard stuck his helmet right into the football jarring it loose. Veteran linebacker Deontae Lawson trailed the play and fell on the football and ultimately Alabama iced the game.

The Crimson Tide turnovers embodied what Wommack's defense has been about since he arrived in Tuscaloosa as his unit is now up to 47 takeaways in 25 games.

"Typically, when you make plays on the ball, there's a confidence that you have in doing your job at a high level, and so you know what to do," Wommack said. "You play with anticipation. I've told you guys this before, defense is inherently reactionary, right? Offense comes out and play. We react to it. But if you start to understand what we're doing at a high level and you recognize what the offense is getting ready to do, then all of a sudden you can play with anticipation. And anticipation creates production. And so I think we've got guys that are playing with more anticipation as we go throughout the season, or seeing more football. A lot of times you see the things that show up on tape that you've put out on tape, you're going to see those things again. Teams have a style of how they maybe want to try to game plan and attack us and our kids, I think, are very aware of the weak points and weaknesses of a certain coverage or a certain pressure or whatever it may be. And so they're ready for those things and playing at a high level. And then some of it is just great instincts, and in the moment can you think to punch the ball out or create a strip in the moment? And I think you got guys like Bray Hubbard and Nikhai and Deontae Lawson, you know, to name a few, that are doing those things."

Alabama Crimson Tide On SI

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Joe Gaither
JOE GAITHER

Joe Gaither oversees videos and podcasts for Alabama Crimson Tide On SI/BamaCentral. He began his sports media career in radio in 2019, working for three years in Tuscaloosa covering the University of Alabama and other local high school sports. In 2023 he joined BamaCentral to cover a variety of Crimson Tide sports and recruiting, in addition to hosting the “Joe Gaither Show” podcast. His work has also appeared on the Boston College, Missouri and Vanderbilt web sites.

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