Auburn 4-4, Alabama 6-2: Iron Bowl Path, Nov. 1

No. 12 Ole Miss beat Auburn 45-15 on Saturday, Oct. 31, at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford. Auburn is 4-4 overall and 2-4 in SEC play. Alabama did not play and remains 6-2, 4-2. The Crimson Tide's next game is Nov. 7 at LSU, 2:30 p.m. CT on ABC. Auburn hosts Arkansas the same day at 11:45 a.m. CT at Jordan-Hare Stadium. They still meet on Nov. 28 at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, and that kickoff is still listed as Flex, with no time or network assigned.

Two wins from four games

The Oct. 30 path set the fork for Oxford. A loss would leave Auburn 4-4, still two wins short of six, with four games left. That is the record now. Auburn's athletics department, Ole Miss's box score and the SEC standings all list the Tigers at 4-4, 2-4. Alabama's athletics department and the same SEC table list the Crimson Tide at 6-2, 4-2.

Four wins leave Auburn two short of six, the standard bowl-eligibility total. The four games left are Arkansas at Jordan-Hare on Nov. 7, at Mississippi State on Nov. 14, Samford on Nov. 21, and Alabama on Nov. 28. Two victories from that list still get the Tigers to six. One of the four is the Iron Bowl, on the road, in the stadium where Auburn's last win was 28-27 in 2010. Bowl eligibility can be settled at home in November. It can also still be open on Nov. 28.

Arkansas is 3-5 overall and 1-4 in SEC play after Missouri won 34-10 in Fayetteville on Oct. 31. Mississippi State is 4-4 and 2-4 after a 3-31 loss at Texas, the same conference record Auburn carries into Starkville. Samford is the nonconference home date, set for 2:30 p.m. CT. Alabama is the 6-2 opponent at the end of the list.

A chance to tie, then 28 unanswered

Ole Miss led 14-9 at halftime. The Rebels scored on Will Echoles's 1-yard run on the first play of the second quarter. Byrum Brown answered with a 21-yard touchdown pass to Chas Nimrod. Alex McPherson's extra point was blocked, the first missed extra point of his career, so the score was 7-6. Shekai Mills-Knight's 1-yard run made it 14-6. McPherson's 29-yard field goal with five seconds left in the half made it 14-9.

Ole Miss led 17-9 when Brown scored on a 7-yard run with 6:20 left in the third quarter, cutting the margin to 17-15. The two-point try, Brown to Christian Neptune, was stopped short of the goal line. That was the chance to tie. Trinidad Chambliss then scored on a 26-yard run, and Ole Miss scored on its next three drives: a 6-yard touchdown pass to Caleb Cunningham, a 28-yard touchdown pass to Horatio Fields, and Deuce Knight's 17-yard run with 3:27 left. The final was 45-15. The quarter scores were Auburn 0-9-6-0 and Ole Miss 0-14-10-21.

"It's really disappointing the lack of finish from that point on," Auburn coach Alex Golesh said of the Rebels' 28-0 margin over the last 18 and a half minutes. "That certainly was the turning point, the lack of finish."

Chambliss completed 22 of 34 passes for 263 yards and two touchdowns, and he rushed for 65 yards and a score on seven carries. The Ole Miss box score lists one interception on his line. AnQuon Fegans intercepted a deflected pass in the second quarter. Brown completed 25 of 38 passes for 195 yards and a touchdown. Ole Miss gained 487 yards to Auburn's 312 and held Auburn to 63 rushing yards on 27 attempts. Ole Miss is 6-2, 4-2. In the Associated Press poll released Oct. 25, Ole Miss was 12th, Alabama was 10th and LSU was 15th. Auburn's recap of this game calls Ole Miss No. 12.

Alabama's record did not move

Alabama's schedule lists no opponent on Oct. 31. The athletic department still has the Crimson Tide at 6-2 overall and 4-2 in the SEC, 4-1 at home and 2-1 on the road, the record from the 31-20 win over Texas A&M. LSU did not play either. LSU is 6-2 and 3-2, the record it took from the 38-17 win at Auburn, and it hosts Alabama on Nov. 7 at Tiger Stadium.

The open date holds Alabama's record in place until Baton Rouge. A loss would make Alabama 6-3, 4-3 in the SEC, with Vanderbilt, Chattanooga and Auburn left. A win would make Alabama 7-2, 5-2, with those same three games and the Iron Bowl still at home. Vanderbilt is Nov. 14, still in the early window. On the SEC standings, Vanderbilt is 3-5 and 0-5 in conference play. Chattanooga is Nov. 21 at 1 p.m. CT. Auburn is Nov. 28.

Nov. 7 is a shared Saturday. Auburn hosts Arkansas at 11:45 a.m. CT on SEC Network, Military Appreciation Day at Jordan-Hare. Alabama plays the team that beat Auburn by 21 points, at 2:30 p.m. CT on ABC. The week of Oct. 31 belonged to Auburn's trip. The week of Nov. 7 belongs to both sides of the rivalry.

On the SEC standings after Oct. 31, Georgia and Kentucky are both 7-1 overall and 5-1 in conference play. Alabama and Ole Miss are next, at 6-2, 4-2. LSU is 6-2, 3-2. Auburn is 4-4, 2-4, level in the league with Mississippi State.

The games from Oct. 31 to Nov. 28

Date	Alabama (6-2, 4-2)	Auburn (4-4, 2-4)
Oct. 31	Open	at No. 12 Ole Miss, L 15-45
Nov. 7	at LSU, 2:30 p.m. CT, ABC	Arkansas, 11:45 a.m. CT, SEC Network
Nov. 14	at Vanderbilt, early window	at Mississippi State, early window
Nov. 21	Chattanooga, 1 p.m. CT	Samford, 2:30 p.m. CT
Nov. 28	Auburn, Flex, Bryant-Denny Stadium	at Alabama, Flex

Mississippi State's schedule prints the Nov. 14 Auburn game in the early window, 11 a.m. to noon CT. Nov. 14 for Alabama is still inside that early label. Nov. 28 is still Flex on both schedules. Neither Alabama's schedule nor Auburn's lists a kickoff time or a network for the Iron Bowl.

The series count is unchanged. Alabama leads 52-37-1. The Tide has won the last six meetings, including 28-14 in Tuscaloosa in 2024 and 27-20 at Jordan-Hare Stadium in 2025. Auburn's last win at Bryant-Denny Stadium remains 28-27 in 2010. The Nov. 28 game is at that stadium, on Alabama's home designation, after the games in the table.

What the next four Auburn games can change

Wins from the final four	Auburn record	Wins short of six
0	4-8	2
1	5-7	1
2	6-6	0
3	7-5	0
4	8-4	0

Two wins from Arkansas, Mississippi State, Samford and Alabama would make Auburn 6-6. Three or four would move the record past that line. Alabama stays 6-2 until Nov. 7. The home team for the Iron Bowl has already cleared six wins. The visitor enters November two wins short, with the kickoff in Tuscaloosa still waiting on a time and a network.

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