It had to come down to this, didn't it? Against this team and at this stadium, no less.
The Alabama Crimson Tide's College Football Playoff and SEC championship hopes entering the final week of the 2025 regular season come down to a trip to Jordan-Hare Stadium and a must-win game against Auburn in the Iron Bowl.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWe've been here before.
How about in 2015, when one-loss Alabama had to win on The Plains to get into the four-team Playoff?
Or how about in 2021, when one-loss Alabama had to win at Auburn and somehow did so in the first overtime game in Iron Bowl history, despite being held to 3 points for over 59 minutes in regulation.
How about just two years ago? Alabama wasn't guaranteed a spot in the four-team playoff even with a win at Auburn. But a loss in Jordan-Hare would have buried the Crimson Tide before it even got off the bus in Atlanta a week later to face a supposedly invincible Georgia Bulldogs team that had won 29 straight games.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementInstead, Jalen Milroe pulled out a shovel and dug Auburn one more grave in Nick Saban's final season.
Alabama won't have Saban on the sidelines for the 90th edition of Alabama vs. Auburn, of course. Saturday will mark the first time in almost 20 years that the greatest coach in modern college football history won't be leading the Crimson Tide into Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Maybe that's not so bad, though.
Bear with me here. What if the cool-guy, West Coast vibe that Kalen DeBoer brought from Seattle to Tuscaloosa is better for the Tide going into Auburn than that of the ever-perfectionist Saban? The same Saban who only last year said of Jordan-Hare Stadium from his new perch on College GameDay: "That place is haunted!"
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementHaunted or not, Saban left his own indelible mark on the Iron Bowl across his 17 seasons in Tuscaloosa. He won 10 of his last 13 games against Auburn and was 12-5 against the Tigers. Ironically, one of those five losses came in a year in which Alabama won the national championship without needing a win in the Iron Bowl (2017).
Of course, Alabama hasn't been victorious in every must-win game at Auburn through the years, but we'll let someone else write about "Kick Six" or the 1989 Iron Bowl, the first ever played on The Plains.
Here's a look back at some of Alabama football's best moments in must-win games at Auburn's Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Derrick Henry runs wild over Auburn to lock up SEC West title
Nov 28, 2015; Auburn, AL, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide running back Derrick Henry (2) races past Auburn Tigers defenders and scores a touchdown in the fourth quarter to beat the Auburn Tigers 29-13 Jordan Hare Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Reed-USA TODAY SportsScore: Alabama 29, Auburn 13
Date: Nov. 28, 2015
Two years after Kick Six, there were six kicks. Seven, technically, but that's how many many field goals and extra points Alabama kicker Adam Griffith drilled to give Alabama a 29-13 victory at Jordan-Hare Stadium to clinch the SEC West and keep the Tide's national title hopes alive.
But the real star of the game future Heisman Trophy winner Derrick Henry, who led the offense with 271 rushing yards and a touchdown on a whopping 46 carries. Alabama finished with 465 yards of total offense. Henry's 25-yard touchdown run with 26 seconds left put an exclamation point on his banner day.
In his 17 seasons in Tuscaloosa, no Auburn coach gave Nick Saban more headaches than Gus Malzahn. But Alabama's defense did its job against the Tigers by holding them to 261 yards and a modest 12 first downs.
Bryce Young, John Metchie lead Alabama to thrilling win in first overtime Iron Bowl
Nov 27, 2021; Auburn, Alabama, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide wide receiver John Metchie III (8) scores the game-winning touchdown against Auburn Tigers defensive back Roger McCreary (23) on a pass at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Alabama defeated Auburn in four overtimes. Mandatory Credit: Gary Cosby Jr.-USA TODAY SportsScore: Alabama 24, Auburn 22 (4OT)
Date: Nov. 27, 2021
Alabama trailed 7-0 at halftime, 10-0 after the third quarter, and 10-3 with just over 90 seconds to play in the 86th Iron Bowl. All future Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Bryce Young had to do from that point was lead his team 97 yards for a game-tying score.
He did it despite facing third-and-10 from his own 3-yard line, and fourth-and-7 with 38 seconds remaining at the Auburn 42-yard line. Ja'Corey Brooks picked a great time for his first touchdown of the season, fighting off a Tigers defender for 28-yard over-the-shoulder catch on his way to the ground to send the game to overtime.
John Metchie was unstoppable from there, hauling in a 13-yard pass on the first overtime series that led to a Slade Bolden touchdown. A five-yard grab by Metchie in the second overtime gave Will Reichard an easier shot at a must-have field goal to extend the game into a shootout from each team's 3-yard line.
Metchie, who finished the day with 13 catches for 150 yards, caught the final passes in the third and fourth overtimes, the latter on a perfect route for Alabama's most improbable win at Auburn -- until two years later.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement'Gravedigger': Jalen Milroe stuns Auburn to keep Alabama alive in CFP race
Nov 25, 2023; Auburn, Alabama, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide wide receiver Isaiah Bond (17) scores the game winning touchdown over Auburn Tigers cornerback D.J. James (4) during the fourth quarter at Jordan-Hare Stadium. John Reed-USA TODAY SportsScore: Alabama 27, Auburn 25
Date: Nov. 25, 2023
Nick Saban's final Iron Bowl came down to a fourth-and-goal from the Auburn 31-yard line. Jalen Milroe reached into his pocket and dug out a play that will forever live in infamy.
Milroe took advantage of a defense that only rushed two and delivered a perfect strike to Isaiah Bond in the back corner of the end-zone for a miracle touchdown and a 27-24 victory.
Alabama survived yet another near-disaster on The Plains, and a week later, the Tide topped Georgia in the SEC title game to send Saban back to the College Football Playoff for an eighth and final time. In hindsight, Auburn's 24-20 lead with less than a minute to play was the high point of the Hugh Freeze era.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAlabama rallies late, keeps national title hopes alive in win over Auburn on Black Friday
Nov 27, 2009; Auburn, AL, USA; Alabama running back Roy Upchurch (5) enters the endzone with the game winning touchdown against the Auburn Tigers during the 4th quarter of the 74th annual iron bowl at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Alabama defeated Auburn 26-21. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY SportsScore: Alabama 26, Auburn 21
Date: Nov. 27, 2009
Everything that could go wrong in the 2009 Iron Bowl did for Alabama until Greg McElroy led the Tide on a 15-play, 79-yard drive that took seven minutes off the clock. With Alabama's running game in a deep rut, Julio Jones took over on the game-winning drive. He caught four passes for 33 yards, with each catch resulting in a first down.
With eventual Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram on the sideline, backup running back Trent Richardson had a 17-yard catch-and-run for a first down to the Auburn 11-yard line, then had two runs for seven yards to set up third-and-3 from the Auburn 4-yard line.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementMcElroy hit Upchurch in stride on a rollout pass for the go-ahead score, and Alabama batted down an Auburn hail mary attempt to escape and move on to the SEC title game for a No. 1 vs. No. 2 rematch with Tim Tebow and the Florida Gators.
Alabama doesn't snap its 17-year national championship drought without McElroy's touchdown to Upchurch, which is still shown on the video boards inside Bryant-Denny Stadium before every Alabama home game.
Want an alternate universe? Alabama loses the 2009 game at Auburn, and the Saban dynasty in Tuscaloosa either produces one less national championship, or it doesn't get fully on track after a second straight late-season loss following that year's Iron Bowl and the 2008 SEC title game a year earlier.
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AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThis article originally appeared on Roll Tide Wire: Alabama football must win at Auburn, but we've seen this script before
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