When the betting line came out this week for the Iron Bow, the spread of Alabama being favored by 24.5 points made it seem like there wouldn’t be the typical nail-biting and white-knuckle moments in the storied rivalry.

But SEC Network host Paul Finebaum believes Auburn could, in fact, keep it close, and explained why on his regular appearance on “The Roundtable” on WJOX 94.5 in Birmingham, Alabama.

“The thing about Auburn is they’ve played a bizarre season so far,” Finebaum said. “They had that huge win over LSU, they’ve barely gotten by a couple of times. They didn’t get by against South Carolina but they don’t look like a team that just gets run out of the stadium. So I think that’s why you’ll see some action. The one thing about this game that we’ve all come to know, once the game’s in hand, in spite of what everyone’s saying that Nick Saban’s been sitting around for a year pining for this game, I don’t believe that. Yeah it was a terrible painful loss last year but I don’t think Nick Saban cares how much he wins this game by which might favor Auburn a little bit which at least if we’re down to talking about the spread in this game.”

Auburn has won two of the last three meetings, but Alabama has claimed four of the last six. The Tigers won last year 48-45.