Alabama football didn’t have any trouble on Saturday, cruising to a 56-0 victory over Eastern Illinois at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The win moved Alabama to 9-2, equaling the Crimson Tide’s win total from the 2024 season.
With its yearly FCS buy game now in the rearview mirror, here’s what Alabama’s win means moving forward into the Iron Bowl and beyond.
Alabama was supposed to demolish Eastern Illinois. The Crimson Tide needed a rebound after its loss to Oklahoma and shaky wins against LSU and South Carolina, and that’s what it got on Saturday.
The Panthers weren’t capable of moving the ball against Alabama, even when UA went deep into its bench. On the other side, the Tide had no problem scoring, and the game was mostly wrapped up by the end of the first half.
Saturday’s game won’t have much impact on the race for the College Football Playoff, the thing fans are most interested in. It also didn’t affect the battle for a spot in the SEC championship game, a matchup that won’t be finalized until after next Saturday’s rivalry week slate.
Still, Alabama showed exactly what it needed to against Eastern Illinois. The Crimson Tide cruised to victory, went deep into the bench to build depth for the future, and was never in danger of losing.
It wasn’t a perfect performance and was marred by some offensive struggled and a missed field goal. However, all told, Alabama earned the passing grade that it needed.
Realistically, there was only so much that Alabama could learn from Saturday’s game. Eastern Illinois isn’t even a good FCS team, so the Panthers were always going to be insurmountably overmatched.
Now Alabama is on to its most important game of the season. The Crimson Tide can still accomplish all of its 2025 goals, but it absolutely must win the Iron Bowl to do so.
That’s not a given. Sure, the Tigers haven’t had the season they were looking for in 2025, something that already led to Hugh Freeze’s firing as head coach.
But Auburn has an extremely talented roster, a fact that didn’t help Freeze as the season went downhill. AU has been playing much better under interim coach DJ Durkin as well and will be looking to gain bowl eligibility Saturday.
The game is also at Auburn, at night. That’s a scenario that has traditionally led to some strange results for the Crimson Tide.
Before the Eastern Illinois game, Alabama announced several key players would miss the matchup. Center Parker Brailsford was out due to an injury he sustained against Oklahoma and is expected to play against Auburn, but he wasn’t the only major piece missing.
Wide receiver Germie Bernard also was out. DeBoer was positive regarding his status during a pregame radio interview.
“He will be alright next week,” DeBoer said of Bernard.
The major question will be tight end Josh Cuevas. According to DeBoer, Cuevas sustained a practice injury that kept him out against the Panthers.
DeBoer made no mention of the tight end’s status moving forward. He would be a major absence against Auburn and beyond and has been one of the Crimson Tide’s most reliable receivers throughout the season.
