For Alabama, there is nothing at stake and there is everything at stake during the final week of this wayward regular season.

Yes, it can be both.

And for the Crimson Tide, who are in the unenviable and unexpected position of being out of SEC and national championship contention as Iron Bowl Week beckons, it is indeed both.

There is nothing at stake on Thanksgiving weekend for 9-2 Alabama because the Tide can no longer win another SEC title and can no longer win another national title, the 2 biggest things on Nick Saban’s annual checklist.

There is no longer anything at stake in Tuscaloosa this fall because the Crimson Tide don’t start fall camp in early August with the goal of going 10-2.

There isn’t anything at stake anymore for Bryce Young, either, because the reigning Heisman Trophy winner isn’t in contention to win back-to-back Heismans. He has had a solid season despite grinding his way through a sprained throwing shoulder, and he can smell the NFL now.

Naturally, there isn’t anything at stake for Will Anderson Jr., either, because Alabama’s all-world linebacker proved he was all-world a long, long time ago, and his NFL Draft stock (assuming he goes pro) is already in a pretty good place.

Of course, there isn’t anything at stake for Jahmyr Gibbs — who sat out Saturday’s 34-0 sleepwalk over Austin Peay with a bum ankle — because the running back has already proven his worth to the Crimson Tide offense in his 1st season in Tuscaloosa.

Same deal for defensive stalwarts Dallas Turner, Jordan Battle, Byron Young, Brian Branch and Henry To’oTo’o, and the rest of defensive coordinator Pete Golding’s crew of bone crushers, who posted their 2nd shutout of the season on Saturday, albeit against an FCS foe.

Golding himself? He doesn’t really have anything at stake, because Saban said earlier this week that his 5th-year coordinator “has done a really, really good job” before showering other words of praise about the way Golding teaches, motivates and communicates with his players. Plus, Golding was nominated this week for the Broyles Award, given annually to the best assistant coach in college football. So he’s good to go.

What about offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien, you ask? Doesn’t he have some motivation for that meaningless Iron Bowl and whatever letdown of a bowl game that Bama gets picked to play in? Well, yeah, but his offense did put up almost 50 points in the loss at Tennessee, and then it scored in overtime at LSU before the defense allowed the game-winning 2-point conversion, so it was more the defense’s fault that the Tide lost those 2 games this season.

And don’t even bother us with Saban himself. The guy has won 6 national championships at Alabama since 2009 and plenty of Iron Bowls along with it. And to suggest that a game against a 5-6 Auburn team is somehow going to affect his legacy one iota is just silly.

So is truly believing any of the above to really be true. Yes, Alabama isn’t playing Auburn in the 87th Iron Bowl with a chance to lock up the SEC West, as per usual, and the Tide aren’t pointed toward another trip to the College Football Playoff, as per usual this time of year. Those are harsh truths for Saban, O’Brien, Golding, the rest of the coaching staff and every single one of the players.

The biggest things that are usually hanging in the balance come Iron Bowl Week just aren’t there this Thanksgiving. But despite all that, we were just kidding before. There is never nothing at stake when it comes to Alabama football. And there is, especially, always something at stake when it comes to playing Auburn — whether it was all those decades of showdowns in Birmingham, whether the game is at Jordan-Hare Stadium, or whether it’s in Tuscaloosa, as it will be this Saturday when the ancient rivals collide again.

First off, from the Auburn perspective, an Iron Bowl upset in Tuscaloosa would make the Tigers 6-6 and bowl-eligible. That alone makes the game ultra-meaningful for an interim head coach like Cadillac Williams who is trying to become the permanent head coach.

And because an Auburn win would make the Tigers bowl-eligible, that in turn means Alabama wants to win badly just to make sure Auburn does not become bowl-eligible. So add the bowl game factor for Auburn to the list of what’s actually at stake for Alabama this Saturday, because it would give Bryce Young and Anderson and every Crimson Tide player pleasure to keep the Tigers out of that lower-tier bowl they would sneak into if they somehow pulled off a victory at Bryant-Denny.

Other than that, for Saban’s team there are boxes to check in a finale to a regular season that has been wayward, as we mentioned at the start, and so many other things: weird, unfulfilling at times, frustrating at other times, head-scratching at still other times. Taking care of business at home, on national TV, against an Auburn team it is supposed to beat and beat soundly would bring a smooth and satisfying end to a regular season that has been anything but that.

Another box to check? That would be getting to double-digit wins for a program that prides itself on doing just that. Since Saban took over in 2007, the only season that the Tide didn’t finish with at least 10 wins (postseason included) was his very 1st season in 2007, when Bama went 7-6. A win on Saturday would round out the Tide’s record at 10-2 and give Alabama a shot at 11 wins in its bowl game.

What about not losing this season at Bryant-Denny? For as uneven as this regular season has been for the Tide, they have been able to hang their hats on winning, and winning big, at home. Alabama is 6-0 at Bryant-Denny in 2022, with its only close game coming against Texas A&M, on an early October night when the Tide were forced to play without an injured Bryce Young.

Then there is this very important box that Alabama legends Young and Anderson would be concerned about: They are both juniors and both more than likely leaving school early to enter next spring’s NFL Draft. That would make this Iron Bowl their last Iron Bowl, and that would mean they sure as heck don’t want to end their stellar careers with the indignity of losing, at home, to an Auburn program in big-time transition. Throw in the same sentiment for all of the Crimson Tide seniors, and you get a ballgame on Saturday that means a whole lot.

Another thing at stake for Alabama? How about the simple but vital thing called honoring the rivalry. The Tide have other good SEC rivalries, like the ones with Tennessee, Ole Miss, Georgia, Florida and LSU. But there is only 1 Iron Bowl, and it is the rivalry to end all rivalries. And no matter what your record or Auburn’s record is, you get to the end of the regular season, you play Auburn and you honor that historic rivalry by playing your butts off, because it means so very much to the citizens of your state.

What about guys like Jermaine Burton and Jase McClellan, who were kept under wraps for most of the regular season but who both busted out against Austin Peay? Burton had 7 catches for 128 yards and 2 touchdowns, by far his best day in an Alabama uniform, and McClellan had 17 carries for 156 yards and 2 TDs, which was by far his best game of the season. Burton and McClellan want to finish with a bang, and they want to keep their momentum going to let the record show that their uneven seasons ended with punch and precision.

What’s at stake for Alabama in the Iron Bowl? How about not losing the Iron Bowl. The Crimson Tide take pride in the fact that they lead the series. Going into Saturday, the Iron Bowl scoreboard looks like this: Alabama 48 wins, Auburn 37 wins, and 1 tie. Part of forever keeping that all-time lead in the rivalry is winning the Iron Bowls you are definitely supposed to, like this one, where Alabama will surely be a big favorite.

That last box Bama wants to check? Very simple. In 2022, inconsistencies have plagued the Crimson Tide in a lot of areas. For a program that has almost always performed well for a very long time now under Saban, this Alabama team hasn’t always played well. It hasn’t just been in the losses at Tennessee and at LSU. There have been pockets of time in victories, like the ones over Texas and Texas A&M, that the Tide haven’t been themselves.

A nice, thorough beatdown of their hated in-state rivals from The Plains would be a nice, clean way to finish off a somewhat rocky regular season — at least in Alabama’s world, where perfection is demanded.

So here we go: It’s officially Iron Bowl Week in Tuscaloosa, in Auburn and in all corners of the state.

There are no SEC or national titles to chase for Alabama. But don’t let anyone fool you into thinking there is nothing at stake this Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium.