Auburn’s win over Alabama in the Iron Bowl was not only one of the best in the SEC last week, ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit put it No. 2 on his list of top 5 performances from Rivalry Week.

Several other teams that setup big games this week are Ohio State, Virginia, Wisconsin and Central Michigan.

Auburn largely pulled out the win thanks to defense and special teams and that’s why Auburn’s Zakoby McClain and Anders Carlson were honored with SEC player of the week honors for contributions in the Tigers’ 48-45 Iron Bowl win Saturday.

McClain, the SEC Defensive Player of the Week, returned an interception 100 yards for a touchdown and made a game-high 11 tackles, including a tackle for loss.

Carlson, the SEC Special Teams Player of the Week, connected on all four of his field goal attempts, from 43, 52, 43 and 44 yards.

The big win was certainly not lost on coach Gus Malzahn.

“Big win for us,” Malzahn said. “So proud of our team. We hung in there, found a way to win at the end. Just an electric enviroment. So thankful for our fans. This is the best atmosphere in college football.”