AUBURN, AlabamaWBRC) – With only two games on the schedule, Auburn faced the prospect of missing bowl eligibility and a losing season.

Four overtimes later, the Tigers earned their biggest win of the season – their first against a ranked opponent – ​​and a new life after eliminate No. 15 Texas A&M at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

“What a win Saturday night,” head coach Hugh Freeze said Monday before turning his attention to Alabama and the Iron Bowl. “We’re going to need another effort like that this week in the Iron Bowl against another very, very good football team that has an outstanding quarterback that makes a difference when you play them.”

That quarterback is Jalen Milroe, against whom the Tigers will look to replicate what Oklahoma did on Saturday.

Milroe has been a dangerous dual threat for opposing defenses all year. Only four times this season has the redshirt junior been held to fewer than 30 yards rushing, and one of those was against South Florida in Week 2.

The other three? Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Oklahoma.

Freeze knows the importance of stopping Milroe’s ongoing attack.

“I’m confident they’ll use him as a runner,” he said. “That’s when they’re most dangerous, and we need to have a plan for that.”

THE The Sooners limited Milroe to just seven yards on the field, his second lowest game of the year.

“In a match like this, I think – I don’t know him personally, but everything you see, he’s made of good things and he competes at a very high level in some of the biggest matches. I think that “He would be determined to bounce back,” Freeze said. “So I think we need to plan to do the best we can.”

Auburn is currently 5-6 on the year, one win away from breaking even on the year and becoming bowl eligible.

Barring some unforeseen and improbable chaos over the next two weeks, Alabama has been eliminated from the playoffs.

This year’s Iron Bowl is about pride.

For Freeze, he wants to make up for last year’s loss to the Crimson Tide.

“To sit in this seat and lose one like we did last year still doesn’t sit well with us,” Freeze said Monday. “I know the Auburn faithful have had to endure this, and we want to change that feeling in this building and for our great fan base in this state.”

For all intents and purposes, Auburn had Alabama dead by rights. Fourth-and-goal from the 31-yard line with a four-point lead with less than a minute to play. With bated breath, the Jordan-Hare Stadium crowd watched as the ball flew into the hands of Isaiah Bond for the game-winning touchdown.

“We had a chance to win, so we have to find a way to stay in it and give ourselves a chance to win and try to change that and start making it a regular expectation,” Freeze said.

Auburn will travel to Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday with kickoff set for 2:30 p.m.

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