Five Takeaways from Alabama's Fifth Straight Iron Bowl Victory

The Crimson Tide knocked off Auburn to stay undefeated at home in Kalen DeBoer's first season.

Auburn Tigers running back Jarquez Hunter (27) is stopped during an Alabama Crimson Tide goal line stand at the end of the first half as Auburn Tigers take on Alabama Crimson Tide at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. Alabama Crimson Tide leads Auburn Tigers 14-6 at halftime. / Jake Crandall/ Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— The trash talk started early in the week, but Alabama got the final word as the No. 13 Crimson Tide beat Auburn, 28-14, inside Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday night to continue Alabama's winning streak over Auburn to five games.

Kalen DeBoer tied the program record for most wins by a first-year head coach as Alabama (9-3, 5-3 SEC) finished the season undefeated at home. DeBoer's first season was a roller coaster of emotions and results, but the Crimson Tide put an exclamation point on the regular season with the rivalry win in the Iron Bowl.

Here are five takeaways from the Crimson Tide's victory in the regular season finale.

1. Fear the thumb

Even with all the success he had as Alabama's head coach, no team gave Nick Saban more trouble than Auburn. Saban finished with a 12-5 record against the Tigers, but he started the current streak that DeBoer extended on Saturday night inside Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Alabama has now won five games in a row in the Iron Bowl rivalry for just the third time in the 100+ year history of the series. Former Auburn head coach Tommy Tubberville infamously wore a "Fear the Thumb" T-shirt and proudly displayed the number of Tiger wins on his fingers after each victory during Auburn's six-game winning streak from 2002-2007. Saban and DeBoer have now combined to lead the Crimson Tide to five straight victories over the Tigers.

Anyone from the state of Alabama knows what this rivalry means, and with some of the disappointments the Crimson Tide experienced this season, including the loss at Oklahoma the week before, it was important for Alabama to finish strong against a bitter rival. In their final home game, the senior class was also able to stay unbeaten against the Tigers.

". It was a fun night for our guys, winning the Iron Bowl," DeBoer said. "It's a big deal, as everyone knows and for us did the things that we needed to do to put ourselves in a chance to win."

2. Turnover troubles

A few weeks ago, Alabama had one of the best turnover margins in the nation. The "Swarm D" was forcing takeaways left and right, and the Crimson Tide offense was doing a good job of holding onto the ball. But Saturday against Auburn was the second game in a row that Alabama lost the turnover battle.

Alabama had four turnovers in the game (three fumbles and an interception.) Obviously, they didn't cost the Tide the game, but they kept the Tigers in the game longer than they should have been. Quarterback Jalen Milroe was responsible for three of the turnovers and has seven total over the last two games.

The defense only forced one turnover against Oklahoma, and it took until the fourth quarter to get takeaways on Saturday. However, both Bray Hubbard and Zabien Brown did come up with big interceptions for the Crimson Tide to kill any chances of a Tiger comeback.

Alabama's chances at the College Football Playoff are very slim, but if things fall the right way, and the Tide does get a shot, turnovers will have to be cleaned up. It's hard to beat any team, much less a playoff-caliber team, with four turnovers in a game.

3. More Jam

Alabama fans have been calling for more touches for Alabama's running backs in the ground game, and that's exactly what they got on Saturday night as junior running back Jam Miller had a career-high 28 carries.

Miller finished with 84 yards on those 28 carries, his highest total in SEC play this season. Auburn came into the matchup with a top-25 rushing defense in the country, but Alabama stayed persistent in the run game with Miller and Milroe. It didn't result in a super high average or any explosive runs, but it worked in wearing down the Auburn defense. Miller and Milroe combined for 188 yards on the ground.

Alabama's running backs have had to be patient this season and willing to share reps with a quarterback that runs the ball a lot. The patience paid off for Miller against Auburn.

"I just go out there and do what I'm supposed to do," he said after the game. "I came here for a reason–– to be a running back. And of course Coach [Robert] Gillespie, he coached me good and told me different things of how I could get better, and I just went out there and performed my best."

4. Flipped the script on third downs

Alabama struggled on third downs a week ago in the loss at Oklahoma. It was a major contributing factor to the loss–– the inability to convert on third downs and the long distance Alabama was facing each third down.

The offense got off to a slow start on third downs, but steadily improved as the game went on and finished 12-of-18 on third down attempts, which had been a focus for offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan this week.

"That was definitely improvement that we had this week which was third down," Milroe said. "And something that's emphasized during the week. How can we improve on the week before? And we reached our goal, which is to be better than we were last week."

Because of the consistency in the run game, Alabama was able to stay out of a lot of third-and-long situations, which helped with efficiency on third downs. Two of Alabama's four touchdowns came on third down.

5. Defense locked down in red zone

Because of the four turnovers on offense, the Alabama defense was put in some tough spots against Auburn. The Tigers started with the ball in Tide territory twice after turnovers, but the Alabama defense made it difficult to score.

The biggest instance came right before the half. Alabama got the ball back with 1:40 to go and a 14-3 lead. The Crimson Tide was set to get the ball to open the second half, so the offense could've potentially put the game away early on with a touchdown drive at the end of the first half and a score to open the second.

Instead, Milroe was sacked and fumbled, and Auburn took over at the Alabama 34. If Auburn scored a touchdown after that, the Tigers would've had all the momentum going into halftime. But the Alabama defense held strong, forcing Auburn to settle for a field goal that cut the score to 14-6 going into the break.

Overall, Auburn reached the Alabama red zone three times and only came away with six points, having to kick field goals all three times and missing one of the attempts. Auburn's lone touchdown came on a 29-yard connection between Payton Thorne and Cam Coleman after an unsportsmanlike on the Alabama defense extended the Auburn drive.

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