Kirk Herbstreit, Joey Galloway reveal how nervous Alabama should be for Iron Bowl vs. Auburn

The Iron Bowl is widely considered among college football’s most prominent rivalry games, on par with The Game between Ohio State and Michigan. Even in years where neither team is playing for anything but pride, the annual intra-state feud between Alabama and Auburn always seems to bring the heat.

That’s why this season’s Iron Bowl between the 10th-ranked Crimson Tide (9-2, 6-1 SEC) and unranked Tigers (5-6, 1-6 SEC) still carries plenty of weight. Especially given the implications for both programs.

Auburn, which fired third-year head coach Hugh Freeze on Nov. 2, need a win Saturday to achieve bowl eligibility for the first time since 2023. Meanwhile, Alabama can secure a spot in next week’s SEC Championship Game in Atlanta with a win, and further strengthen its chances of making the College Football Playoff. Of course, the opportunity to play spoiler and ruin the Tide’s season would arguably mean more to the Tigers’ fanbase than any bowl game.

It’s for all those reasons, as well as the Iron Bowl’s longstanding history of surprising results, that ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit suggested this year’s rivalry game is a “scary” one for the Crimson Tide.

“Kind of like Ohio State-Michigan, whoever has everything to lose and the other team has nothing to lose, in this game – Auburn-Alabama and Ohio State-Michigan – I’ve seen way too many examples of upsets happening,” Herbstreit said on Monday’s episode of the Nonstop podcast with co-host and fellow ESPN analyst Joey Galloway. “But on paper, anytime (we’re talking about) a rivalry game and (we think) this’ll be a blowout, oh, does that make you nervous.”

Galloway agreed, and even pointed to Alabama’s inconsistency and propensity to lay an egg in games they should win handedly — specificially citing last season’s 24-3 loss in Norman to a .500 Sooners squad — with why the Tide could be on upset alert in Saturday’s Iron Bowl.

“I’ve seen Alabama, even this season, they go and play Oklahoma at home and they just don’t have their fastball,” Galloway added. “So, I’ve seen Alabama these past few years just not have their fastball sometimes. I would love to say Auburn has no shot, (but) I don’t think that’s the case.”

It’s because of the reality that a third regular-season loss would likely doom Alabama’s Playoff chances for the second year in a row that both Herbstreit and Galloway suggested Miami fans — which would likely be among the biggest beneficiaries of the Tide falling out of the mix — become Auburn fans for a day.

“And if you’re a Miami fan, go buy your Auburn gear,” Herbstreit said.

“100-percent,” Galloway agreed. “Go to the game and root for Auburn.”