ESPN predicts the final score of Alabama football vs. Auburn

The Alabama Crimson Tide close the 2025 college football regular season with their annual showdown against Auburn in the Iron Bowl Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

A win and the Crimson Tide (9-2, 6-1 SEC) are in the SEC Championship Game in Atlanta. A loss and Alabama will be staring at a second straight 9-3 season, and likely a trip to another consolation-prize bowl game in Florida instead of somewhere in the 12-team College Football Playoff.

Alabama (9-2, 6-1 SEC) is ranked No. 10 in the US LBM Coaches Poll and in the latest CFP rankings. Coach Kalen DeBoer's team defeated Eastern Illinois, 56-0, at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Week 13 but fell 23-21 to Oklahoma on Nov. 15 to set up a win-or-go-home Iron Bowl showdown in the regular season finale.

Auburn (5-6, 1-6) will face Alabama with an interim coach in D.J. Durkin after the school fired Hugh Freeze on Nov. 3. The Tigers had a bye in Week 12, then defeated the Mercer Bears, 62-17, last week as both the Tide and Tigers feasted on opponents from the Football Championship Subdivision.

Auburn is unranked in the top 25 polls.

Will Alabama avoid potential Auburn upset in high-stakes Iron Bowl? ESPN makes prediction

Ahead of the 90th edition of Alabama-Auburn, ESPN's Bill Connelly predicted who will win using his popular SP+ metrics. Connelly has the Crimson Tide winning by six points over Auburn, which closely mirrors what the oddsmakers are saying.

Connelly's final score prediction: Alabama 27, Auburn 21.

He gives the Crimson Tide a win probability of 65%.

Alabama is seeking its sixth straight win over Auburn, the Crimson Tide's longest winning streak in the series since Bear Bryant's teams won nine straight in the Iron Bowl from 1973-81. Alabama has won nine of the past 11 meetings dating back to 2014.

Last year, Alabama defeated Auburn, 28-14, at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The Crimson Tide lead the all-time series vs. the Tigers, 51-37-1. Alabama is 7-10 in games at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Where Alabama football sits in ESPN SP+ rankings entering Iron Bowl

Alabama is No. 10 in the overall ESPN SP+ team rankings, up one spot from last week. The Crimson Tide have an overall rating of 21.0 (up from 19.9 last week). Alabama is one spot ahead of the Miami Hurricanes (20.2), and one spot behind the Utah Utes (21.4) in ESPN's team rankings.

To break down Alabama's rating by units, SP+ gives the Crimson Tide a 35.7 rating on offense (No. 19 nationally), and a 14.3 rating on defense (No. 6), which is up one spot from last week. In special teams, Alabama is given a -0.4 rating, which ranks 102nd nationally (down six spots from a week ago).

Alabama football strength of schedule ranking updated in ESPN SP+ entering

In ESPN's résumé SP+, Alabama has the nation's 11th best strength of schedule, one spot behind the Illinois Fighting Illini and one spot ahead of the Oklahoma Sooners.

In the overall résumé SP+ ratings, Alabama is No. 14 nationally with a rating of -20.9.

What are ESPN SP+ rankings?

According to Connelly, SP+ is "simply a measure of the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football. If you're lucky or unimpressive in a win, your rating will probably fall. If you're strong and unlucky in a loss, it will probably rise."

"SP+ is not a résumé ranking, so it does not automatically give credit for big wins or particularly brave scheduling -- no good predictive system does," he adds.

Alabama football vs. Auburn start time, channel

Kickoff for Alabama-Auburn in Week 14 of the 2025 college football season is 6:30 p.m. CT Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium. The game will be televised on ABC.

Alabama football schedule 2025

All start times Central.

• Aug. 30: at Florida State (L, 31-17)

• Sept. 6: vs. UL Monroe (W, 73-0)

• Sept. 13: vs. Wisconsin (W, 38-14)

• Sept. 27: at Georgia (W, 24-21)

• Oct. 4: vs. Vanderbilt (W, 30-14)

• Oct. 11: at Missouri (W, 27-24)

• Oct. 18: vs. Tennessee (W, 37-20)

• Oct. 25: at South Carolina (W, 29-22)

• Nov. 8: vs. LSU (W, 20-9)

• Nov. 15: vs. Oklahoma (L, 23-21)

• Nov. 22 vs. Eastern Illinois (W, 56-0)

• Nov. 29: at Auburn, 6:30 p.m., ABC

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This article originally appeared on Roll Tide Wire: Alabama football vs Auburn final score prediction from ESPN