Iron Bowl ‘should be one for the ages’

Auburn, Bama meet with national title implications on line.

Sixth-ranked Auburn (9-2, 6-1 SEC) hosts No. 1 Alabama (11-0, 7-0) on Saturday in a rivalry game that always captivates the state, but this time the Iron Bowl is all dressed up with national champion- ship implications.

The winner faces No. 7 Georgia in the SEC title game and bolsters its playoff chances, though it’s possible the Crimson Tide could still get in even with a loss.

“It’s going to be a crazy atmosphere,” said Kerryon Johnson, Auburn’s star tailback. “It should be one for the ages, but we’ve got to come out and play because if we don’t we’ll lose. We’ve got to protect the ball. We’ve got to limit our penalties. We’ve got to execute, and I’m confident that we’ll come out on top if we do that.”

The last two times both teams had such high stakes going into this game turned out to be ones “for the ages,” that’s for sure:

■ In 2013, No. 4 Auburn beat No. 1 Alabama 34-28 on a last-play, 109-yard return of a missed field goal by cornerback Chris Davis.

The Tigers went on to win an SEC title and lost on a touchdown by Florida State with 13 seconds left in the national championship game.

■ In 2010, the ninth-ranked Tide had a great chance to dash No. 2 Auburn’s national title aspirations. Alabama jumped ahead 24-0 only to watch eventual Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton lead the Tigers back for a 28-27 win.

It was the biggest deficit any team had overcome against the Tide, and it cat- apulted Auburn to its first national title since 1957.

Alabama has been ranked No. 1 or No. 2 entering the last six Iron Bowls and eight of nine.

Auburn has only been ranked in the Top 10 going into the regular-season finale once since 2010, and that was in 2013.

Tide linebacker Rashaan Evans, who attended Auburn High School and was heavily recruited by both schools, was at that 2013 game.

“Things like that are going to happen in the game of football,” Evans said. “Something crazy is always happening.

“For us, all we can do is just look forward and not really think about those things but understand that we have a lot of control over our outcome in the game and if we do all the right things, good things will happen.”

Both teams took care of business in mi smatches Saturday. Alabama beat FCS opponent Mercer 56-0 while Auburn topped Louisiana-Monroe 42-14.

The Tigers were coming off a 40-17 win over Georgia, another team that came in at No. 1 in the playoff rankings.

This might turn out to not be an absolute must-win for Alabama, though coach Nick Saban isn’t one to leave anything to chance.

It definitely is for the Tigers, the highest-ranked two-loss team while No. 5 Wisconsin is unbeaten.

Alabama has won the last three Iron Bowl meetings by an average of 19 points.

The Tide have scored in 49 consecutive quarters, the longest stretch in FBS since 2005.