While Alabama still has a game on its schedule before the Iron Bowl, the attention of Crimson Tide fans has already drifted toward Auburn.
With respect to Eastern Illinois, Alabama won't have much trouble dispatching of them. And then the season will be on the line at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
Alabama had an opportunity to render the Iron Bowl meaningless aside from bragging rights; a win over Oklahoma would have punched the Crimson Tide's College Football Playoff ticket and likely assured it a spot in the SEC Championship Game.
But a loss, buoyed by a -3 turnover margin, means if Alabama wants to go to Atlanta and also make the playoff, it has to go on the road and survive the bi-annual house of horrors on the Plains.
That's not abnormal for an Alabama team, as Greg McElroy reminded fans this week, but that does little to ease the looming sense of dread that always follows for Iron Bowls played on odd-numbered years.
Despite Alabama being in the thick of the College Football Playoff race and Auburn fighting for bowl eligibility, oddsmakers are keenly aware of how hotly contested this matchup tends to be at Jordan-Hare.
With 11 days to go until the Iron Bowl, FanDuel released opening odds for the game. While Alabama is favored, it's only by 5.5 points.
Alabama favored by 5.5 over Auburn in the Iron Bowl
This is the lowest opening spread for an Iron Bowl since 2019, when the Crimson Tide was favored by just a field goal. The result of that game won't exactly bring back warm memories for Alabama fans. Auburn beat Alabama by a field goal, knocking the Crimson Tide out of the College Football Playoff chase.
That's the exact scenario the Tigers will hope to repeat next weekend.
A lot of pressure will be on Kalen DeBoer to get the job done. A loss would knock Alabama out of the College Football Playoff, which would be the first time in the playoff era that the Crimson Tide would miss the playoff two seasons in a row.
Alabama has responded well to adversity this season, bouncing back from the loss to Florida State to win eight consecutive games before falling to Oklahoma last weekend. It'll take a similar resolve, and tons of mental fortitude, to waltz into Jordan-Hare Stadium in 11 days and beat an Auburn team with nothing to lose.