Alabama vs Auburn; tale of the tape

“When you do that, you can stop him”.

“He has great vision and instincts as a runner”. The Tide a really, really, good. The annual Iron Bowl is one of college football’s top rivalry games and has seen its share of clutch performances and game-changing plays in recent years.

Tomlinson said players had already addressed the issues in the locker room before Saban came in wanting to know, “Do you believe me now?”

“I think about it every time we play Auburn”, Alabama senior defensive end Jonathan Allen said Monday.

Jeremy Johnson, who opened last season as the starter, passed for 147 yards and rushed for two touchdowns against FCS Alabama A&M. Auburn has lost four out of the last five in the series and is 3-6 against Nick Saban since he has been at Alabama. It’s hard to find a weakness for Alabama’s defense, but the secondary has surrendered a few big plays (seven of 40 yards or more). The Tigers got back on track last week with a 55-0 win over Alabama A&M. “So that’s something that we’re used to”. “So it’s pretty easy to focus up just because we don’t want to go through that feeling again”.

The first two years of Malzahn’s offense caused Saban fits defensively, especially with the Tigers’ success on the ground.

Alabama is not only No. 1 in all national polls, including the College Football Playoff ranking, but No. 1 in the nation in rushing defense, allowing just 68.9 yards per game. Because even though your man Gus can’t seem to figure out who is well enough to ride the Bus this week – Auburn is still an actual SEC program with an awfully strong running game.

“We didn’t play good that last game”, linebacker Ryan Anderson said. Auburn later made happy campers out of its financial backers, tacking on a touchdown with just under 10 minutes to go to cover the spread as 54-point favorites. They will have to play their way into the play with big wins. Sean White is still Auburn’s best option at quarterback, and after he ranked atop the SEC in completion rating and completion percentage through Auburn’s six-game winning streak, there’s little doubting that. That defeat knocked Auburn out of contention in the SEC West, but this is still the Iron Bowl, and the Tigers would love nothing more than to spoil Alabama’s flawless season.

The Tide will enter the game with a flawless 11-0 mark and are the clear No. 1 team in the country.

Through the first nine games of the season, Hurts had an SEC-best quarterback rating of 114.7 when he got the ball out in under 2.5 seconds compared to 67.6 when it went over that time, according to PFF.

Both have questions. JJ has thrown for over 2,000 yards and 20 touchdowns in his career but at times has been erratic.

“Yeah, it was a pretty insane stat line – three catches, one yard, two touchdowns”, Dieter said Tuesday. “I don’t think any real competitor wouldn’t”.