Joel Klatt gives score prediction for Alabama vs Auburn in Iron Bowl

Will Alabama football beat the Auburn Tigers in the Iron Bowl Saturday at Jordan-Hare Stadium?

Fox Sports lead college football analyst Joel Klatt knows the stakes are certainly much higher for the Crimson Tide and coach Kalen DeBoer than for the Tigers and interim coach D.J. Durkin.

Alabama (9-2 overall, 6-1 SEC) enters the game ranked No. 10 in the US LBM Coaches Poll and in the College Football Playoff rankings; Auburn (5-6, 1-6) is unranked. The Crimson Tide can clinch a spot in the SEC title game with a win over the Tigers.

And if Alabama (gulp) loses to Auburn?

"If they lose to Auburn, watch out. And miss the playoff for the second straight year in his first two years in Tuscaloosa? Nope. They are not gonna be happy about that," Klatt said on the Thursday edition of his video podcast, which is shown in syndication on FS1.

Fortunately, Klatt believes that DeBoer will get his second win in as many tries over the Tigers.

Why Joel Klatt believes Auburn is 'great matchup' for Alabama

"I said Oklahoma was a bad matchup for Alabama a couple of weeks ago, and we were right," Klatt recalled of his analysis before the Crimson Tide's 23-21 loss to the Sooners on Nov. 15. "And Auburn is... not a bad matchup. In fact, it's a great matchup for Alabama."

While the Tigers are certainly talented, Klatt believes they're "not a good football team."

The veteran analyst on Fox's weekly "Big Noon Saturday" games noted that Auburn is 11th in the country in rushing defense (94 yards allowed per game), but near 100th nationally in passing defense.

"That's a terrible matchup when you're going to face a team that doesn't care if they run the football at all," Klatt said. "They don't care. Kalen DeBoer will just throw it around with Ty Simpson."

Why Joel Klatt believes Ty Simpson could have big game against Auburn in first Iron Bowl

Klatt noted that Simpson threw two more interceptions in the Crimson Tide's 56-0 win over Eastern Illinois last week. After throwing only one interception in his first nine games, Simpson has thrown three in his last six quarters of play.

However, Klatt encourages anyone worried about Simpson to focus more on the season as a whole.

"If you look at the season in totality, he is careful with the football. They are dynamic in the passing game. That's exactly where you would want to attack this Auburn defense. So, in my estimation, this is a matchup that favors Alabama."

Klatt noted that Auburn had announced Ashton Daniels as the team's starting quarterback against Alabama, despite the play of freshman Deuce Knight in the Tigers' win over Mercer last week. Knight ran for 162 yards and four touchdowns and passed for 239 yards and two scores in Week 13.

Klatt also praised talented sophomore wide receiver Cam Coleman (52 receptions, 682 yards) as a player that Alabama's defense would have to keep an eye on.

He added:

"Bama has been giving up 65 rushing yards to four different quarterbacks this year: (Tommy) Castellanos, (LaNorris) Sellers, (Beau) Pribula, (Diego) Pavia. Both Daniels and Knight are mobile. That's the one area I think Auburn needs to focus on in order to get some sort of advantage in this game."

Alabama football vs. Auburn: Joel Klatt's final score prediction for 2025 Iron Bowl

Klatt noted that Auburn had lost six of its last eight games since starting the season 3-0.

"I know it's a rivalry, I know that it's in Jordan-Hare, and I get that the games are closer when it's played at Auburn than when they're played in Tuscaloosa," Klatt said. "I totally understand that (but Auburn) had a close win at Arkansas, and they had a win over Mercer. That's their two wins in their last eight."

For that reason, Klatt believes Alabama will beat Auburn by two scores.

"The game tends to be close in Auburn, but I don't think that I can say in good faith that Auburn is going to cover the 5 1/2. You tell me that Bama only needs to win by a touchdown, and I'm going to take it. Bama's going to cover the 5 1/2. I think that Ty Simpson throws for around 300 (yards), maybe 280, 285, 300, three touchdowns in this game.

"I think that Bama ends up winning. I think they get to the SEC Championship Game. They win this one, 32-21. They cover the 5 1/2, and the Tide rolls in the Iron Bowl."

Joel Klatt's record when picking Alabama football games in 2025

Klatt is 3-4 when picking Alabama games this season. He predicted the Crimson Tide would beat Florida State in Week 1, and he picked both Georgia and Missouri to beat Alabama. Klatt also took the Tide to beat Oklahoma.

He correctly predicted that Alabama would beat Vanderbilt, Tennessee and LSU.

TV channel, announcers for Alabama vs. Auburn

Kickoff for Alabama-Auburn is 6:30 p.m. CT Saturday. The game will be televised on ABC. Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit will have the call of the game from the broadcast booth at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Holly Rowe will report from the sidelines.

Alabama football schedule 2025

Here's a game by game look at Alabama's 2025 schedule.

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 Joel Klatt