Kalen DeBoer’s squad narrowly escaped a late scare, edging Auburn 27–20 in the Iron Bowl to secure its playoff spot with a 10–2 finish. But the win didn’t come without setbacks. Running back Jam Miller left the game with an injury, and safety Bray Hubbard pushed through one of his own to stay on the field. After the game, DeBoer offered an important update on both players’ conditions.

“With Jam, I know he’s got a lower-leg injury,” DeBoer said postgame. “We’ll have to evaluate that here, get more information on Monday.”

Kalen DeBoer’s offense took a major hit when Jam Miller got injured during the Iron Bowl in the fourth quarter after a defender rolled up on his right leg during a run. After that, Miller didn’t return to the game.

Later, he was seen with crutches on the sidelines while Alabama was fighting against Auburn. Before going out with an injury, Miller put together one of his best performances of the season, rushing 15 times for 83 yards, which is his third-highest total this year. And then he also had two catches for 12 yards. With that, he has accounted for 410 rushing yards and three scores while grabbing 16 passes for 96 yards.

Miller’s senior year, however, has been filled with constant, frustrating injury patterns. He missed the first three games of the season because of a dislocated collarbone and later suffered a concussion in October against Missouri. Now, with a new leg injury, lining up his availability for the SEC title game remains up in the air.

With that, Kalen DeBoer gave another key injury update on safety Bray Hubbard, who delivered two key defining moments in the Crimson Tide’s win over Auburn. Despite recording just two tackles, he intercepted Auburn’s quarterback Ashton Daniels’s pass at the 15-yard line in the third quarter, stopping their scoring chance in the red zone when Bama was taking a 20-13 lead.

Then late in the fourth quarter, Hubbard made his biggest play of the night when he stopped Auburn from tying the game or trying for a two-point conversion. In the fourth quarter, Alabama took a lead with a touchdown. That’s when Hubbard knocked the ball out of Auburn’s wide receiver Cam Coleman’s hands at the 20-yard line, making sure Bama won.

“He was working through, just some sickness, and stuff like that. He’s just tough. He’s resilient, and he’s, to me, one of the many guys that epitomizes what I’m proud of our team about. Just goes to work every day. Has a mindset. It means so much to him. He’s gonna be a great teammate and give everything he has out there,” DeBoer said during the postgame media interaction.

Kalen DeBoer’s team enters playoff race

After surviving the Iron Bowl, Alabama straight away goes into the SEC title race, and now the entire college football fan base will see a rematch of the September game between Georgia and Alabama. Now, the loss would have ultimately ended Bama’s playoff hopes, but now that they are in, what impact can their loss against Georgia have on their playoff run?

Now, if Bama loses, they will lose the playoff bid, as the SEC champion will get an automatic spot. On top of it, Alabama currently sits at no. 10, which is the last at-large spot. Also, other teams in the hunt, such as Miami, Vanderbilt, and Texas, have all had a strong win this week.

Then three losses might again hamper their chances, as the committee prefers teams with fewer losses, and losing to Georgia will make them a 3-loss team. Now that Kalen DeBoer’s team has already defeated Georgia, this might not be a tough game for them. The only exception came in 2022 when Georgia lost to Alabama in the regular season but won in the championship game.

So let’s just hope that doesn’t happen this year.