This is an opinion column.

The College Football Playoff committee doesn’t believe in Alabama.

Harsh, but I get it.

Based on that final drive against Oklahoma, I’m not sure Alabama believes in itself either.

The Iron Bowl is here, and the Crimson Tide goes to Auburn this weekend riding a one-trick pony named Mr. Sweaty Face.

Don’t get me wrong. I love a good one-trick pony. They’re great for birthday parties. I could watch a one-trick pony carry a dog around on its back for hours. I’m simple like that.

Simple like Alabama’s offense.

Yes, you guessed it, Alabama’s running game is the cute little doggie in this questionable metaphor, and this season has been like a circus at the state fair for the SEC. We’ve eaten all the fried Oreos and corndogs we can stand. Now it’s time for the grand finale. Fittingly, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey decided to make the Iron Bowl the last game on the docket of this wildly entertaining regular season.

A nighttime Iron Bowl at Jordan-Hare Stadium? For the sport of college football, it doesn’t get any better.

For Auburn, it’s a chance to redeem a disappointing season.

For an Alabama team needing a win to save the season, it’s the stuff of nightmares.

And let me just get this out of the way to kick off a week of coaching speculation, Thanksgiving travel and college football rivalries. Yes, I think Auburn is going to win the game.

Like the playoff committee, I, too, have no faith in this Alabama football team.

Alabama can’t run the ball, and the quarterback is having a hard time holding on to it. That’s tough to overcome on Rivalry Week no matter who’s coaching on the other sideline.

Auburn’s offense was terrible this season, very true, but former coach Hugh Freeze is gone and this is now a different team.

I give full credit to Auburn athletics director John Cohen for making the timely call and firing Freeze four weeks ahead of the Iron Bowl. Not only did it give Cohen enough time to zero in on the best possible coaching candidate for the Tigers (and I named him in Friday’s column), but it gave the interim staff plenty of time to prepare for Alabama.

An interim coach has never won an Iron Bowl. Crazy but true. Is this the time for some inglorious history making?

That it’s even a question is an indictment on Alabama.

Whose fault is that? Well, probably the head coach from the Pac-12.

Out West, where defensive lines don’t exist, it’s probably pretty easy to get by without a rushing attack. In the SEC, though, toughness at the line of scrimmage remains a key to winning close games against good defenses.

Here at the final week of the regular season, no one is questioning whether or not Auburn has a good defense.

Kalen DeBoer has been a disappointment through his first two seasons as Alabama’s football coach. Tough but true. The four wins against ranked opponents were nice, but unconvincing after a pathetic effort against Oklahoma. The College Football Playoff committee doesn’t trust the Crimson Tide, and so it comes down to this. If DeBoer loses to Auburn and misses the College Football Playoff for the second year in a row, then he might as well take that job at Penn State.

It’s not getting any easier in the SEC.

This season, the toughest league in sports played out like an unmedicated version of the NFL. Texas defeated Oklahoma which upset Alabama which won on the road at Georgia which clobbered Texas 35-10. Texas A&M is undefeated. Vanderbilt is still in the playoff hunt. Oh, and LSU, Florida and Ole Miss are all fighting over Lane Kiffin and everyone thinks he’s going to the school where his daughter is dating the linebacker.

Next year will be even more absurd, no doubt.

Auburn might even win the SEC.

The Tigers were not a bad football team this season. They just had a coach who was actually a golfer. With Freeze out of the picture and two weeks to prepare for Alabama’s broken offense, I’m even tempted to consider Auburn the favorites.

For Alabama, it’s win or else.

For Auburn, it’s win and grin all the way through the offseason.

I can hear it now, and so can you. Alabama’s DeBoer couldn’t even beat Auburn when the Tigers had an interim coach and nothing to play for except pride and a bowl game?

What’s going to happen when Auburn finally hires a good coach?

All the pressure is on Alabama here, and DeBoer will have a hard time recovering from a loss. He won’t get fired (probably), but he’ll be riding that pony into the fire.

MAILBAG SOUND OFF

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