Colin Gay, Tuscaloosa NewsSat, November 29, 2025 at 10:02 AM UTC·1 min readAlabama football already has a lot on the line when it takes the field at Jordan-Hare Stadium against Auburn on Saturday, Nov. 29. An SEC championship is on the line. So is, potentially, a College Football Playoff berth.
But while this edition of the Iron Bowl may not need added weight, it does have an additional wrinkle.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe matchup between the Crimson Tide and the Tigers will mark the sixth-straight Iron Bowl with a unique head-to-head coaching matchup. Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer will face off against Auburn interim coach D.J. Durkin, one year after beating Tigers coach Hugh Freeze in DeBoer's first Iron Bowl.
"I think probably offensively maybe," DeBoer said of the difference between a Durkin-led Auburn compared to Freeze. "You can see maybe a little bit of a philosophical change just with the offense and what they're trying to do. Maybe that as much as anything. They seem to be playing free and putting up a lot of points in the last two weeks."
Alabama has won each of its past five meetings against Auburn.
With the battle between DeBoer and Durkin on the horizon, here's a look at how each of the unique Alabama-Auburn coaching matchups went since 2020.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementNov. 28, 2020: Alabama 42, Auburn 13: Nick Saban vs Gus Malzahn
Nov. 27, 2021: Alabama 24, Auburn 22: Nick Saban vs. Bryan Harsin
Nov. 26, 2022: Alabama 49, Auburn 27: Nick Saban vs. Cadillac Williams
Nov. 25, 2023: Alabama 27, Auburn 24: Nick Saban vs Hugh Freeze
Nov. 30, 2024: Alabama 28, Auburn 14: Kalen DeBoer vs. Hugh Freeze
Colin Gay covers Alabama football for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at [email protected] or follow him @_ColinGay on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Kalen DeBoer, D.J. Durkin provide unique Alabama-Auburn coach matchup
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