HOMEWOOD — There is a scenario and a world where the Iron Bowl could happen three times in the same season.
Seriously.
Alabama and Auburn football could face each other three times in the new configuration set to begin this season with the expanded College Football Playoff and no more divisions in the SEC. So the Crimson Tide and Tigers could face each other in the regular season, like every year, then in the SEC Championship Game and in an expanded playoff matchup.
“I think that’s incredible,” Auburn athletics director John Cohen said at the Associated Press sports editors’ South Region meeting on Monday. “I think the unlimited opportunities to move forward with the playoff system, how our league is going to work, it no longer matters whether an Eastern or Western division is the dominant side. The time of year will play with everyone, I love it. I love the direction the league is taking in all of our sports.
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Cohen, a Tuscaloosa native who then played and coached at Mississippi State, said he first thought about the possibility when he was still athletics director at Mississippi State, thinking about the Alabama-Auburn rivalry.
Now, with the expansion of the CFP to 12 teams, it is a possibility. Likely? Probably not. But it’s at least possible.
It’s one of many intriguing possibilities in the new era of college football that begins in 2024.
Nick Kelly is the Alabama writer for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network, and covers Alabama football and men’s basketball. Contact him at nkelly@gannett.com or follow him @_NickKelly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Iron Bowl: Why Alabama-Auburn can now play three times in one season
