Alabama vs Auburn: 3 Bold Predictions for Saturday's Game

People who don’t want to see a rematch in the national title game will be tuned into the Iron Bowl closely. If Arkansas and Alabama both lose, a team like Oklahoma State, Virginia Tech or Stanford could jump into the BCS National Championship Game.

But what can people expect to see from this game? Here are five predictions for the big showdown.

Trent Richardson Gets Over 100 Yards Rushing

Richardson has been the driving force behind Alabama’s offensive success this year and is expected to be the first running back taken in this year’s NFL draft. Auburn’s rush defense ranks 98th in the country, and it has given up some big yards to the SEC’s top running backs already this season.

He averages 125 yards per game on the ground, so it should be pretty easy for him to hit his average against this porous defense.

Auburn Comes Out Fighting

This game is eerily similar to the 2009 game in that it is being played at Auburn and the Tigers are not highly ranked coming into the game. They were ahead by as many as 14 points and were winning until the final minute of the game against the eventual national champions.

Conversely, the 2010 game with national champions Auburn at Alabama also had its fair share of craziness with the lower ranked Tide nearly pulling the upset. Expect this game to continue in that trend at least for a little while.

Alabama Wins the Game

Ultimately the better team won the past two meetings, and this game will have the same result. Alabama’s defense is just astonishingly good ranking first in the country in every major statistical category.

The one-dimensional offense of Auburn is no match for that, and its defense and special teams can’t score enough points to beat the Tide. Rivalry games can throw everything you know about a team into the wind, but there really doesn’t look like any way the Tigers win this game.