Alabama football defeated Auburn on Saturday, ending Kalen DeBoer’s first home stretch as head coach of the Crimson Tide. The final score of Saturday’s Iron Bowl was 28-14.

As Alabama prepares to learn its postseason fate, here’s what you should know about Saturday’s game.

Early mistakes

Alabama’s offense needed to get out on the right foot. After a completely stagnant performance at Oklahoma, where the Crimson Tide only managed one field goal, DeBoer’s team needed to show some competence.

It took a while. The defense forced Auburn to punt early in the game, but the offense was unable to capitalize as Ryan Williams fumbled in Tigers territory, giving the ball back to AU.

After a missed Auburn field goal, the Crimson Tide started well as CJ Dippre made a 20-yard catch for a first down. After that, the drive quickly stalled and UA stumbled.

Finally, towards the end of the first quarter, Jalen Milroe found his way into the end zone with a 19-yard run and took the early lead. After Auburn gave the ball back on downs, the Tide again pushed down the field looking for a two-point cushion, but Milroe threw a pick deep into Auburn territory.

The quarterback also scored the Tide’s second touchdown, but fumbled late in the half, giving the Tigers their second field goal of the game. Alabama went into halftime up 14-6, but it could have been much better if the Crimson Tide had the chance.

Finish the job

Alabama got off to a hot start in the second half. After struggling a bit offensively in the first two quarters, UA used the tempo to quickly work its way down the field after receiving kickoff and took advantage when Jalen Milroe scored his third touchdown of the game on a 17-yard run achieved.

Finally, it seemed as if the Tide, who had a 28-6 lead at the time, would put a far less talented Auburn team to sleep. Unfortunately for Alabama, Hugh Freeze and Co. had no interest in going quietly.

On the following drive, Auburn received a boost when the Crimson Tide was the only team penalized during a sideline contest. The Tigers scored a touchdown and then scored the two-point conversion to cut the lead to 14.

Eventually, however, the flood brought it together. After Milroe fumbled on the ensuing drive, the Tigers attempted a trick play and Bray Hubbard intercepted a pass from Jarquez Hunter.

The game was never as over as it should have been given the talent disparity. Still, the Tide did it.

Fight another day

Kalen DeBoer avoided disaster. Hugh Freeze always takes a prepared team to the Iron Bowl, and a loss to Auburn would have made UA’s 2024 season a complete failure.

Instead, the Crimson Tide is still, at least in some capacity, alive when it comes to a CFP bid. More will be known on Tuesday when the selection committee updates its top 25 rankings.

Alabama won’t know for sure until after next week’s conference championship games. In the SEC title game, Georgia, a team the Tide beat earlier this season, will face the winner of Saturday’s matchup between Texas and Texas A&M.

However, it’s still very likely that Alabama won’t be included. However, at least DeBoer was able to avoid the defeat that would have carried the burden of the Crimson Tide fan base for the entire offseason.

If the Tide don’t make the playoffs, they will learn their fate after the conference title games.