Alabama Football: Tide's 3 Key Matchups to Watch for in 2014 Iron Bowl

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama looks to have a lot going in its favor in the 2014 Iron Bowl.

It’s the No. 1 team in the country, heading toward another SEC Championship Game appearance and a berth in the College Football Playoff. Auburn has lost three games and is on a tailspin to end what was once a promising 2014 campaign.

Still, the Crimson Tide and Tigers’ annual rivalry game this year will be a chess match between two of the best offensive and defensive minds in the country. The two teams’ seasons have been defined by a handful of plays that could have swung games in the other direction.

It’s closer than you’d initially imagine. There are a couple matchups that should decide the outcome of the game.

Let’s take a closer look.

Cyrus Jones vs. Sammie Coates and Duke Williams

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Alabama’s starter at cornerback from day one won’t be covering two receivers at once. But there’s a pretty good chance that the 5’10” Jones will be on one of Auburn’s Sammie Coates or Duke Williams during the entire game.

Both Coates and Williams stand at 6’2” and have been matchup problems through the air for opposing defenses. That would seem to be a problem going up against the smaller Jones.

That hasn’t stopped him this season, though.

Jones has gone toe-to-toe with some of the SEC’s biggest and most physical receivers—including Mississippi State's De’Runnya Wilson, Florida’s Demarcus Robinson and Texas A&M’s Ricky Seals-Jones—and has largely gotten the better of those receivers.

Seals-Jones didn't have a catch against the Crimson Tide. Jones wasn't in coverage for Robinson's touchdown. And in one of the biggest plays of Alabama's season, Jones outmuscled Wilson in the end-zone for an interception in the third quarter that stopped a Mississippi State scoring drive.

Jones also had the pass break-up on the final play of a thrilling win over LSU.

The key, he says? Being a little extra physical. That won’t change this week.

“You just can't let them manhandle you,” he said. “You've got to be physical right back with them, especially if you're a smaller guy such as myself. It's just important just to be in position at all times to kind of be ready to make a play when the ball's in the air and not letting them get on top of you down the field. It's going to be a good challenge, but I'm excited about it.”

Alabama front seven vs. Auburn run game

Alabama has shut down some fearsome rushing attacks this year, like Arkansas' and LSU’s. But no one is doing it better statistically in the SEC this year than Auburn.

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And the Tigers do it differently than Alabama’s seen this season.

Arkansas and LSU don’t exactly hide what they’re trying to do, lining up in an I formation, with a tight end coming right at you. It’s simply power vs. power.

Against both of those teams, Alabama held them to at least a yard below their season yards-per-carry average.

Auburn, though, shows a lot of misdirection pre-snap to throw the defense off. Then it uses a variety in formation to run outside, between the tackles, reverses or anything else you can think of.

That means discipline and eye control will be critical for Alabama’s defense.

“The camouflage that (Malzahn) uses with the motions and all that is something that defensive players have to adjust to, but it also doesn't allow you to get set like you'd like to get set,” Nick Saban said. “It takes more adjusting on the defensive players' part. But you have to defend all those things too, because they don't just do it, they have something that they can do with it that you have to defend.”

It also means a variety of ballcarriers will be coming at the Crimson Tide.

Running back Cameron Artis-Payne leads the SEC in rushing (127.73 yards per game), and quarterback Nick Marshall is second on the team with 66.45 yards per game.

Georgia may have provided a formula for stopping Auburn two weeks ago. In that game, the Tigers rushed for its second-lowest total of the season.

The key, Bulldogs linebacker Amarlo Herrera said, was to stay with the tempo, something Alabama has put an emphasis on this week.

“We just ran to the ball and beat them back to the ball every time,” Herrera said, according to Chris Starrs of the Athens Banner-Herald. “They go so fast that if you’re not lined up, then they get big plays. We worked on running back to the ball in practice.”

Amari Cooper vs. Auburn secondary

The Tigers currently sit at No. 12 in the SEC in pass defense. Auburn is giving up 232.5 yards per game through the air, a major reason for its recent slide.

Brynn Anderson/Associated Press

Alabama has one of the best wide receivers in the country in Amari Cooper, a Biletnikoff finalist who is averaging 122.6 yards per game so far this season, third in the country.

If that doesn’t scream “mismatch,” nothing does.

Cooper has been terrorizing defenses all year. He had big games against Florida and Tennessee and made critical catches in big games late this season. Quarterback Blake Sims, though, hasn’t really been surprised by his year, save for one catch.

“I think the game against Mississippi State when he made that catch, man that was a great catch,” Sims said. “(The) things he’s been doing, I’ve seen a million times and I’m just happy for the success he had this year.”

Cooper had a huge game last season against the Tigers, too, as he got healthy toward the end of the season. He caught six passes for 178 yards, including a 99-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter that could have been the game-winner.

He could be in for another massive performance this week.

Marc Torrence is the Alabama lead writer for Bleacher Report. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All stats come from CFBStats.

Follow on Twitter @marctorrence.