The stakes, as we say in the offshore betting biz, couldn’t be higher for the Iron Bowl between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Auburn Tigers, with the winner punching a ticket to the SEC Championship Game versus the Georgia Bulldogs. For Auburn, moreover, a spot in the College Football Playoff could hang in the balance as well. The Tide has won seven, and covered in five, of the last nine meetings, including a 30-12 win last season, but this will be only the second time in the history of the rivalry that Auburn and Alabama will meet at Jordan-Hare Stadium, where the Tigers best ply their trade.
- Date: November 25
- Time: 3:35 PM
- Venue: Jordan-Hare Stadium, Auburn, AL
- Sportsbook online odds:
Alabama -4½ (-110) -200
Auburn +4½ (-110) +170
Jordan-Hare today, gone tomorrow
Not only does Auburn plays better at home, but Alabama’s offense has somewhat struggled on the road, averaging 29 points and 399.5 yards in the last road games, compared to 40 points and 482.3 yards in their last four at home. On the other hand, they have not lost a conference road game since October 4, 2013. All things considered, the only thing for which one could criticize the Tide is the fact that ‘Bama doesn’t always cover, but then they’re not necessarily trying to do so, though they easily did so against Mercer on Saturday, shutting the Bears out 56-0 and gaining 530 total yards (265 through the air and on the ground) on them in Alabama’s final home game of the season.
FINAL#OutworkYesterday#RollTide pic.twitter.com/Z8VUQHKbeF
— Alabama Football (@AlabamaFTBL) November 18, 2017
Alabama is 12-4 ATS in their last 16 road games and 1-4 ATS in their last five SEC games. The offshore betting over is 7-2 in their last nine road games playing a team with a winning home record.
One for the Iron Ages
“It’s going to be a crazy atmosphere,” Auburn running back Kerryon Johnson said of the game. “It should be one for the ages.” And he wasn’t kidding either. People have already gotten shot over which team is better. “I don’t want to be dismissive of this because it’s a serious story, but it’s not surprising,” Paul Finebaum said of the incident in which an Alabama fan shot an Auburn fan in the thigh. “I lived in that state more than 30 years. It’s impossible to describe to people who have never been there how serious people take this. People have been killed over it. Things like that happen. Not often, but they do happen. In the state of Alabama, there are no professional teams, so this rivalry, this is it. Incredibly and rather sadly, things like this happen.” Unfortunately, the bloodshed continued in the campus of Auburn University last week. Even though some believe that if any coach can get the best of Nick Saban, it’s Gus Malzahn – who has actually done it in the past – the Tigers may have to settle for an ATS win; they are 3-0 against the offshore betting spread in their last three games as home dogs.