• Kalen DeBoer made a gutsy call. Then Alabama’s coach made a funny. All smiles for the Crimson Tide after Iron Bowl victory, grimy though it was.
• Alabama needed fourth down heroics to win Iron Bowl, just as it did in 2023.
• Alabama on playoff bubble, but is probably safe for now.

AUBURN, AL – Kalen DeBoer made a gutsy call. Then Alabama’s coach made a funny.

Late in a tie game in the Iron Bowl, why did DeBoer go for 4th-and-2 instead of electing for a short go-ahead field goal?

DeBoer explained it with a bit of comedic relief.

“I figured it was 29 yards shorter than the last time we needed a touchdown here,” DeBoer deadpanned.

Good one!

DeBoer must know his Iron Bowl history. He was still coaching Washington when Jalen Milroe completed his 4th-and-a-prayer 31-yard strike to Isaiah Bond in 2023 to send Nick Saban out a victor in his final Iron Bowl.

Now, Ty Simpson joins this rivalry’s lore.

Alabama needed six feet to move the chains on fourth down. Simpson got six yards with his touchdown toss to Isaiah Horton with 3:50 remaining, good for the winning score in a 27-20 victory.

“The fact I get to say that I led a game-winning drive in the Iron Bowl, that’s something I’ll tell my kids’ kids,” Simpson said. “Just super incredible.”

Even if Alabama’s performance — the Tide were outgained by 131 yards — could best be described as something other than incredible.

Alabama probably on safe side of CFP bubble after Iron Bowl win

DeBoer described this victory the way most coaches would.

He called it gritty, not ugly. A show of resilience, not a cause for concern.

Sure beats losing, anyway.

“I couldn’t be more proud of these guys,” DeBoer said. “There’s some teams that hope they can find a way. I think our guys really understand that if they get in these spots, they can make it happen.”

A third loss would have kept No. 10 Alabama (10-2) out of the SEC Championship and out of the College Football Playoff for the second straight year.

This win probably keeps Alabama on the safe side of the bubble, for now anyway.

A triumph against Georgia next weekend in Atlanta would remove all doubt and clinch a playoff bid. Depending on where Alabama falls in the rankings this week, a competitive loss could do the trick, too, although the situation would become dicey if Brigham Young beats Texas Tech in the Big 12 Championship and turns that conference into a two-bid league, or if Alabama loses the SEC Championship by a lopsided score.

“We’ve got quality-strength wins and some wins on the road,” DeBoer said. “We’ve got more than a playoff-caliber football team.”

Kalen DeBoer joins coaches pitching his bubble team for CFP

The coaches of fellow bubble teams Miami, Vanderbilt and Texas all made their pitches, too. None of those teams is headed for a conference championship game, though. That won’t stop their lobbying.

“To do anything other than allow these guys to compete for it all would be just an injustice to the work they’ve done,” Vanderbilt’s Clark Lea said after a win against Tennessee pushed his Commodores to 10-2.

The Iron Bowl is always one of the most anticipated dates on the sporting calendar, but this year’s iteration should be quite the spectacle.

Auburn is in the midst of a disappointing season, but the Tigers could end Alabama’s bid to make the College Football Playoff with the upset.

Those stakes should make for quite an atmosphere inside Jordan-Hare Stadium. There’s nothing that Auburn could use more than a win over Alabama right now.

Iron Bowl: Alabama vs. Auburn odds, prediction

Auburn’s record sits at 5-6, and the Tigers already fired head coach Hugh Freeze, but things aren’t as bad as they seem on the Plains.

The Tigers just couldn’t find a way to win close games in 2025. War Eagle went 0-5 in one-score games this season, and four of them (Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Vanderbilt) came against teams that spent most of the season inside the Top 25.

The problem for the Tigers has been consistent all season. They just can’t score.

Auburn’s defense is only conceding 20.4 points per game, against an elite schedule no less, but the offense is averaging just 23.9 points per contest. That’s one way to ensure you lose a lot of close games.

The Tigers won’t be the only impressive defensive team on the field on Saturday, however.

Alabama’s offense has received plenty of praise over the course of the season thanks to the emergence of quarterback Ty Simpson, but it’s the other side of the ball that has turned the Tide into a contender. According to SP+, Alabama boasts the sixth-best defense in the country, ten spots better than Auburn.

With two great defenses, one bad offense, and another under heaps of pressure in a must-win situation, this game could be a pressure-cooker. The Iron Bowl is a place to expect the unexpected, but this one sets up to be a rock fight, which puts value on the Under 48.5.

The Play: Under 48.5 (-110, FanDuel)

Why Trust New York Post Betting

Michael Leboff is a long-suffering Islanders fan, but a long-profiting sports bettor with 10 years of experience in the gambling industry. He loves using game theory to help punters win bracket pools, find long shots, and learn how to beat the market in mainstream and niche sports.

There are few Cinderella stories remaining in the AHSAA 2025 high school football playoffs.

Class 5A Scottsboro is the only unranked team remaining in the race to get to Birmingham’s Protective Stadium next week. The Wildcats host Moody tonight.

Semifinal predictions

Mobile on deck for Super 7

Black Friday features 13 unbeaten teams and three rematches as the field narrows to the final 14 teams. Thompson and Opelika are already in the finals in Class 7A. Who joins them tonight in the other classes?

Check back frequently for highlights from across the state. At the end of the night, the complete scorelist and Super 7 pairings will be available.

Here we go. …

8:38 PM, Devils doing it: Maplesville pushes its lead over Leroy to 24-6 with 10:05 to play in the third period on a 3-yard Nehemiah McCray TD run. The Red Devils and Bears are both 13-0 in 1A this season. … Muscle Shoals’ kicker Jorge Garcia kicked a 45-yard field goal with 8:46 left in the third period to cut Clay-Chalkville’s lead to 22-13. … Jackson leads St. Michael 23-15 at the half.

8:31 PM, All for naught: Tucker Tomlinson jumped on a fumbled punt return to put St. Michael in business at Jackson’s 14-yard line, but the Aggies held when the Cardinals go for it on fourth-and-10. Jackson leads 23-15 with 2:21 left in the half. … Mars Hill leads Piedmont 35-16 at the half. … Bayside leads Southside-Selma 21-8 with 8:37 left in the half. … From Opelika-Auburn News, Lanett has forced 4 turnovers and allowed Reeltown 86 yards in the first half. Lanett is up 21-0. … Addison cuts Wadley’s lead to 14-8 in the third period.

8:14 PM, No. 1 narrows No. 2’s lead: St. Michael’s Noah Moss rambled in for a short TD and Gunner Rivers hit Braedyn Walton for a 2-point PAT to trim Jackson’s lead to 23-15 with 8 minutes left in the first half. … Saraland has lost 3 fumbles, but still leads Benjamin Russell 14-7 at the half.

8:05 PM, Saraland scramble: The second-ranked Class 6A Spartans lead No. 4 Benjamin Russell 14-7 on a 10-yard scramble by Jamison Roberts. The defense set up the score with an INT. … Clay-Chalkville goes in at halftime up 22-10 over Muscle Shoals thanks to a TD pass with 13 seconds remaining. … Coosa Christian is creeping up, now trailing Pisgah 22-20. … Maplesville leads Leroy 17-6 at the half. … Plainview’s Brody Hodges knots the score with Anniston at 14 on a 1-yard run with 3:08 left in the half at Rainsville. … Moody leads Scottsboro 21-10 with 3:28 left in the half as Aidden White hauls in a long TD pass.

7:55 PM, Frye and more Frye: Clay-Chalkville quarterback Aaron Frye puts the visitors up 15-10 over Muscle Shoals with 5:40 left in the half. Frye scored on a draw dead up the middle from 5 yards out for the TD and then walked in around left end for the 2-point conversion after a huge clear out block. … Pisgah leads Coosa Christian 22-13 and Lanett is up 14-0 over Reeltown. … Jackson leads St. Michael 23-7 with 52 seconds left in the first quarter. … Piedmont scores and makes a 2-point PAT, but trails Mars Hill Bible 35-16 with 2:27 left in the half. … Maplesville extends its lead over Leroy to 17-6 on a 9-yard run by Nehemiah McCray with 37 seconds left in the half.

7:47 PM, Back and forth in 1A: No. 2 Maplesville is back on top over No. 3 Leroy 10-6 after a 3-yard run by Jedaiah Works with 3:47 left before the half. … Moody leads Scottsboro 14-7 at the end of the first period. … Wadley has increased its lead over Addison to 14-0 in the second quarter. … Anniston leads Plainview 14-7 with 10:11 left in the half on Damon Pope’s 9-yard run.

7:42 PM, Stalemate, so far: No. 3 Vigor and No. 1 Williamson are tied at 14 with 10:59 left in the half in one 5A semifinal. Sammy Dunn hit Zy Wilson for a 38-yard TD pass and Dylan Jackson on an 18-yarder for the Wolves. Williamson’s Jamarcus Lett scored on a 1-yard run, Todrick Withers had a 3-yard scoring run and an Ellis McGaskin 2-point run tied it up. … Leroy leads Maplesville 6-4 with 6:09 left in the first half after a Jace Sellers 16-yard pass to Tanner Rivers.

7:33 PM, Trojans horse: Quarterback Kade Clemmons raced 43 yards around the left side to put Muscle Shoals up 10-7 over Clay-Chalkville with 1:43 left in the first period. … Anniston takes an 8-7 lead over Plainview on a 6-yard run by Jamorris Young and a 2-point conversion pass from Damon Pope to Kaleb Moore with 5:44 left in the first. … Wadley leads Addison 8-0 after one period. … Mars Hill is rolling over Piedmont at 21-0 in the first quarter.

7:28 PM, Points and more points: Landon Duckworth hit Red Chapman with a 48-yard touchdown pass and EJ Crowell ran for a 2-point conversion to give Jackson an 8-0 lead over St. Michael. … Moody’s Jake Lowery throws to Aubrey Walker for an 18-yard score to tie the game with Scottsboro at 7 with 6:54 left in the first quarter. … Noah Cain runs 4 yards for a Bayside Academy TD with 4:22 left in the first to put the Admirals up 13-0 over Southside-Selma. … Lanett leads Reeltown 7-0 and Pisgah is up 14-0 over Coosa Christian.

7:22 PM, Safety first. And second: Maplesville leads Leroy 4-0 at the end of the first quarter after a punt snap sailed out of the end zone and then the swarming Red Devils tackled a Leroy receiver in the end zone. … Colton Harding finds Conner Vaden for a 40-yard touchdown to put Scottsboro up 7-0 over Moody with 9:58 left in the first quarter. … Jorge Garcia booted a 25-yard field goal to narrow Clay-Chalkville’s lead over Muscle Shoals to 7-3 with 6:44 left in the first. The Cougars stiffened after Jashad Samples returned Clay-Chalkville’s kickoff after its TD 75 yards.

7:11 PM, Plainview, Clay-Chalkville on the board: Owen Hope races 55 yards to put 4A No. 5 Plainview up 7-0 over No. 4 Anniston in Rainsville. In Muscle Shoals, Clay-Chalkville took the opening kickoff and worked its way to the end zone with 8:50 left in the first period. Aaron Frye hit Josh Woods for an 8-yard TD on third-and-goal from the 8-yard line. It’s 7-0, Cougars over the Trojans.

6 PM, Moving on up: Auburn commit Jaquez Wilkes continues to move up in the Best in Bama, AL.com’s list of the top recruits in the state regardless of classification. Alabama commit EJ Crowell is still No. 1 entering tonight’s game at St. Michael. See who else made a move this week on AL.com.

5 PM, Breaking down the finals: 13 unbeaten teams, 3 rematches and 1 unranked Cinderella story. Get a breakdown of all 12 state semifinal games on AL.com before they start.

AHSAA SEMIFINALS

CLASS 6A

Benjamin Russell (12-1) at Saraland (12-0)

Clay-Chalkville (13-0) at Muscle Shoals (12-0)

CLASS 5A

Vigor (11-2) at Williamson (13-0)

Moody (11-2) at Scottsboro (9-4)

CLASS 4A

Jackson (11-2) at St. Michael (13-0)

Anniston (13-0) at Plainview (13-0)

CLASS 3A

Southside-Selma (13-0) at Bayside Academy (12-1)

Piedmont (13-0) at Mars Hill Bible (13-0)

CLASS 2A

Reeltown (10-3) at Lanett (11-2)

Coosa Christian (11-2) at Pisgah (11-2)

CLASS 1A

Leroy (13-0) at Maplesville (13-0)

Wadley (12-0) at Addison (12-1)

This post will be updated