Alabama Football: 3 bold predictions for 2018 Iron Bowl vs. Auburn

Alabama football looks to cap off a perfect regular season by avenging its lone loss of last season in the Iron Bowl against Auburn.

Alabama is 43-1 in its last 44 regular season games, with the one blemish coming on the road last season to Auburn in a 26-14 disheartening defeat that at the time looked to have knocked Alabama out of the playoff picture.

Instead, Alabama snuck in the backdoor of the College Football Playoff as the No. 4 seed, and reeled off wins over Clemson and Georgia to claim the national championship for the fifth time in the last nine years.

Because of that, the 2017 Iron Bowl was the least consequential of the historic rivalry. The 83rd version of the Iron Bowl promises to be even less consequential than last season’s game, with Alabama having already clinched a spot in the SEC Championship Game against Georgia next week, a win over the Bulldogs promising to lift the Crimson Tide into the playoff regardless of the result of this game.

Make no mistake, however, this game matters. It matters for all the players on both sidelines, and it matters to the fans, though some will claim that it doesn’t due to the lower stakes. On the Alabama sideline, revenge is on the mind after the 26-14 loss on The Plains last season, in a cluster of an effort where everything that could go wrong did go wrong.

It was the offensive struggles in that game that led to more reps for Tua Tagovailoa through the bowl practice, ultimately leading to him coming off the bench in the national championship and leading Alabama from the depths of defeat, throwing a 41-yard touchdown pass in overtime to win the natty; a play that elevated him to legendary status before he even started a game.

Last season’s win over Alabama was the impetus for Gus Malzahn’s big contract extension, a move that has mostly been bemoaned this season as Auburn crumbled under the weight of heightened expectations.

The Tigers entered the season in the Top 10, with aspirations of finishing the job this season and capturing the SEC Championship and earning a bid to the playoff for the first time. Instead, Auburn enters the game at 7-4 amid a disappointing campaign, hoping to salvage the season by ending Alabama’s perfect season for the second year in a row.

Will Auburn put up a fight, or will Alabama continue to roll in another dominating effort?

Let’s make some bold predictions for the 83rd Iron Bowl: