Nick Saban makes pick for 2025 Iron Bowl between Alabama, Auburn

Nick Saban picked Alabama to win the 2025 Iron Bowl.

“I’m taking Bama,” Saban said Saturday on ESPN’s College Gameday. “I think it’s gonna be a tough one. It was always tough to play down there on the Plains, but I think Bama pulls it out. … I didn’t have a choice.”

Pat McAfee, Desmond Howard and guest picker Aiden Hutchinson also picked the Tide.

Alabama enters the 6:30 p.m. CT game in Jordan-Hare Stadium as a 5.5-point favorite on FanDuel.

Earlier in Saturday’s show, Saban said, “Alabama going to the haunted house is scary to me.”

Breaking down the game, Saban said it will “come down to quarterback play.”

Saban noted Auburn quarterback Ashton Daniels had 452 total yards against Vanderbilt earlier this month and has “demonstrated he can throw it and run it, and that’s been an issue for Auburn all year.”

Said Saban of freshman Tigers quarterback Deuce Knight: “They’ll probably have a package for him in this game … This is going to be problem for Alabama’s defense, is the quarterback play of Auburn.”

Saban believes Alabama’s lack of an effective running game “puts a lot on Ty Simpson,” and believes Auburn interim coach DJ Durkin needs to disguise his coverages against Simpson.

“When Ty Simpson knows what you’re in and he can read it and throw it on time, he is very accurate and he is very good,” Saban said. “If you can disguise what you’re doing in the back end, affect him with pressure, confuse him, make him figure it out after he gets the ball – that’s going to be the key.”

Alabama will play Georgia in the SEC championship game if it beats Auburn. The result of the SEC title game could determine whether Alabama makes the College Football Playoff.

“Alabama needs to win their way through it, probably, to get into the playoff,” opined Saban.