Alabama vs. Auburn: the Iron Bowl according to an EA Sports CFB25 simulation

We're just a little over 24 hours away from the 89th Iron Bowl between the Alabama Crimson Tide and Auburn Tigers. There's been a lot of words written about this game here and everywhere else. At the end of the day, nobody knows what's going to happen when toe meets leather on Saban Field inside Bryant-Denny Stadium.

The Iron Bowl leads itself to unpredictability. This season perhaps more than any others. Because this Alabama football team, well, has been wildly inconsistent, to put it mildly. Which version of Alabama we get on Saturday is anybody's guess at this point. If it's the version that beat Georgia in September, or the version that rolled over LSU in Baton Rouge, then Alabama should come away with a multi-score win over rival Auburn.

But, if it's the Alabama we saw in Nashville, Knoxville, or Norman, then this season might just end on a really sour note and put Kalen DeBoer squarely on the hot seat heading into 2025.

So with none of us really knowing anything, I took to my PS5 and fired up the greatest video game of our modern times: EA Sports' CFB 25. Let's see what it had to say in regards to tomorrow's Iron Bowl showdown:

EA Sports CFB 25 simulation of the Iron Bowl:

The Alabama fans hoping for a quick start would be thrilled with the beginning of this simulation. The Crimson Tide got the ball first and immediately marched down the field on a 14-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that was capped off by a Jalen Milroe 7-yard touchdown pass to CJ Dippre.

That was all the excitement the first quarter would bring as the teams traded punts after that and Alabama took a 7-0 lead into quarter two.

The second quarter was an early turnover fest. Auburn saw a promising drive come to an end when Payton Thorne was intercepted by Zabien Brown in the endzone. Not to be outdone, Milroe threw an interception to Auburn's Caleb Wooden a little bit later. And Thorne, miffed that someone would have the gall to try to go turnover-for-turnover with the master, threw his second interception of the quarter to Alabama's Bray Hubbard a bit later.

In between the turnover fest, Auburn connected on a 21-yard FG to cut Alabama's lead to 7-3. Alabama went on a nice drive that was capped by a Milroe 5-yard touchdown run. After Thorne's second interception, Milroe hit freshman phenom Ryan Williams for a 46-yard touchdown to put Alabama up 21-3.

Auburn added a field goal as time expired from 44 yards out to cut the lead to 21-6 at halftime.

The third quarter was dominated by both defenses. The only scoring that took place was on a 47-yard Auburn FG to cut the lead to 21-9.

The fourth quarter brought some fireworks, however. Alabama had two promising drives stall, but Graham Nicholson connected on field goals from 47 and 34 yards away to push Alabama's lead to 27-9.

Jam Miller drove the final nail into Auburn's coffin with a 21-yard touchdown run to put Alabama up 34-9. Auburn added a garbage time touchdown with 20 seconds remaining on a Thorne 1-yard touchdown pass to Jarquez Hunter to bring the final score to 34-16 in favor of the Tide.

Aside from the one interception, it was a good day for Milroe. He competed 16/19 passing for 223 yards and two touchdowns. He also added 31 yards and a touchdown on the ground on 7 carries.

Unlike last week, Alabama didn't spam the QB run. They relied on running backs Miller and Justice Haynes. The duo combined for 24 carries for 125 yards and a touchdown.

Ryan Williams had a big day in his first Iron Bowl, perhaps to the surprise of only Auburn LB DeMarcus Riddick. He ended up with 127 yards on 5 receptions and the long touchdown.

The story of the game was Alabama's defense stifling the Auburn ground game. The Tigers managed 15 carries for 32 total yards. Hunter picked up 20 yards on 7 attempts.

LT Overton and Qua Russaw both sacked Thorne. Jihaad Campbell led the way with 8 tackles. Hubbard and Brown both picked Thorne off.

If the Iron Bowl followed this exact script tomorrow afternoon, Alabama fans would be pleased with the Tide's performance.