247Sports claims Iron Bowl to be the 'most critical' game on Auburn's 2023 schedule

The Iron Bowl may be the biggest rivalry in all of college football.

It's taken a backseat to "The Game" (Ohio State vs Michigan) over the past couple of seasons but still remains one of the most watched games of the season every year.

According to 247Sports' BamaOnline, Auburn's game vs Alabama is their most critical of the entire 2023 season.

Here's what Kirk McNair, who released the piece detailing every SEC team's most critical game of 2023, had to say about the Tigers' schedule and the Iron Bowl:

"Many Auburn fans consider Georgia to be more than Alabama as a rival to the Tigers, but that smacks of them not wanting the Crimson Tide to be any superlative. Auburn has a difficult schedule with SEC games at Texas A&M, LSU, Arkansas, and Vanderbilt (don’t laugh as AU doesn’t have a winning record against the Commodores). It may be Ole Miss on Oct. 21 in Auburn, but on what we know now, the Alabama game on Nov. 25 looks like the final chance for the Tigers to have a successful season, and the Tigers have been reasonably successful in home games vs. the Tide."

While it certainly may be the most hyped up game of the season, there's no guarantee that it is the most critical.

Right now, Auburn could realistically be anywhere between six and ten wins this fall. A playoff berth or a spot in the SEC Championship game would make the Iron Bowl significantly more "critical," but right now it is much more reasonable to say a "critical" game should be a 50/50 matchup that may be the decider between bowl eligibility and staying home during the postseason - keeping in mind that it's only Freeze's first year on the job.

Beating Alabama would be great for Freeze in his first season, but by no means could it currently be projected as the most critical when defining success in 2023 for the Tigers.

Here are some more critical games for Freeze to win this season:

Sept. 9th at California

Sept. 23rd at Texas A&M

Oct. 21st vs Ole Miss

Oct. 28th vs Mississippi State

Nov. 4th at Vanderbilt

Nov. 11th at Arkansas

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