2026 Season Watch

Auburn at No. 12 Ole Miss: Iron Bowl Path, Oct. 30

| Before Auburn at Ole Miss

One Iron Bowl team plays this weekend. Auburn, 4-3 overall and 2-3 in the SEC, visits No. 12 Ole Miss on Saturday, Oct. 31, at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford. Kickoff is 11:45 a.m. CDT on SEC Network. Alabama, 6-2 and 4-2, has the weekend off. The Crimson Tide's next game is Nov. 7 at LSU, 2:30 p.m. CT on ABC. They still meet on Nov. 28 at Bryant-Denny Stadium, and that kickoff is still listed as Flex, with no time or network assigned.

Oxford, and the two wins still in front of Auburn

Auburn's record is the same one it carried out of the Oct. 24 loss to LSU. Four wins leave the Tigers two short of six, the standard bowl-eligibility total. Five regular-season games remain, and the first of them is Saturday. The requirement has not moved since Oct. 26, because neither rival has played since then.

Ole Miss is 5-2 overall and 3-2 in SEC play. The Rebels lost 27-34 at Texas on Oct. 24 and are 3-0 at home. In the Associated Press poll released Oct. 25, Ole Miss is 12th, Alabama is 10th and LSU is 15th. Auburn's schedule prints the Oxford trip as 11:45 a.m. CDT. Ole Miss lists the same hour, 11:45 a.m. CT, on SEC Network, matching the kickoff its athletics department announced on Oct. 19.

Saturday's result changes where those two wins have to come from. A victory in Oxford would make Auburn 5-3 and leave one more win, among Arkansas, Mississippi State, Samford and Alabama, between the Tigers and six. A loss would leave Auburn 4-4, still two wins short, with four games left and the Iron Bowl still available as one of them. Bowl eligibility can be settled at Jordan-Hare in November. It can also still be open on Nov. 28, on the road, in the stadium where Auburn's last win was 28-27 in 2010.

The dates after Oxford are already on the schedule. Arkansas visits Jordan-Hare on Nov. 7 at 11:45 a.m. CST on SEC Network, the morning Alabama is in Baton Rouge. Mississippi State is Nov. 14 in Starkville, still inside the SEC's early window. Samford is Nov. 21 at Jordan-Hare at 2:30 p.m. CST. Alabama is Nov. 28.

Alabama's open Saturday, then LSU at 2:30

Alabama's schedule lists no opponent on Oct. 31. The athletic department has the Crimson Tide at 6-2 overall and 4-2 in the SEC, the record from the 31-20 win over Texas A&M. LSU's account of the Nov. 7 assignment says both teams are idle this week. LSU is 6-2 and 3-2, the record it took from the 38-17 win at Auburn.

The open date holds Alabama's record in place. The next chance to change it is Nov. 7 at Tiger Stadium. The SEC assigned that game on Oct. 26, and Alabama's schedule now shows 2:30 p.m. CT on ABC. LSU's athletics department said the afternoon start is the first daytime kickoff for this matchup in Tiger Stadium since 2010, when LSU won 24-21. The Flex label that sat on the game earlier in the week is off the schedule.

The record math from Baton Rouge is the same shape it had on Oct. 26, with a clock attached. 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. Chattanooga is Nov. 21 at 1 p.m. CT on SEC Network+. Auburn is Nov. 28.

Nov. 7 is a shared Saturday. Auburn hosts Arkansas at 11:45 a.m. CT. Alabama plays the team that beat Auburn by 21 points, at 2:30 p.m. CT. The week of Oct. 31 belongs to Auburn's trip. The week after it belongs to both sides of the rivalry.

The games from Oct. 31 to Nov. 28

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

Ranks in the table are from the Oct. 25 AP poll. Alabama's schedule page defines the early window as 11 a.m. to noon CT and Flex as 2:30-3:30 or 5-7 p.m. CT. Nov. 14 is still inside that early label for both road games. Nov. 28 is still inside Flex. Neither Alabama's schedule nor Auburn's lists a kickoff time or a network for the Iron Bowl.

The series count around that open kickoff 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 on the 2026 site remains 2010. Those scores stay in the archive. The Nov. 28 game brings Bryant-Denny Stadium, Alabama's home designation, and the records produced from Oct. 31 through that Saturday.

What Saturday can change

If Auburn on Oct. 31 Record Wins still needed to reach six Games left, including the Iron Bowl
Wins at Ole Miss 5-3 1 4
Loses at Ole Miss 4-4 2 4

Alabama stays 6-2 until Nov. 7. The home team for the Iron Bowl has already cleared six wins. The visitor enters Saturday still two wins short. The kickoff in Tuscaloosa is still waiting on a time and a network.

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Editorial note

Explore Iron Bowl results, player profiles, and rivalry history. Our sources page lists the records behind the archive.