Auburn's championship climb has one more rung, and the last step is the biggest

To some extent, even three full months into the season, the 3½ to 4-point line in Alabama's favor today in Tuscaloosa is residue from August. Or at least from early October, when the Crimson Tide were the unquestioned No. 1 in the polls and rolling downhill toward another perfect season after wasting Florida, 31-6, to reach 5-0. At that point, 'Bama was the indomitable frontrunner, and Auburn the fringe top-25 upstart escaping close calls against the likes of Mississippi State, Clemson and South Carolina. That was the natural order of the SEC West and the Iron Bowl for two years. It can't be entirely erased in a little under two months.

Still, it doesn't quite compute that an 11-0 SEC team featuring the Heisman frontrunner and four wins over teams in this week's polls – including both of the outfits that have stunned Alabama over the last eight weeks – could still have something to prove. The Tigers have outgunned other elite offenses in shootouts. They've rallied from behind (occasionally from far behind) in the second half. They've won in overtime and on long drives. They've survived the clash of titans and the trap game.

It's the Tide who had to rally late for their only win in three tries against opponents in this week's top 20. Auburn's done it that way and just about every other way.

Just about: The big caveat today is that the Tigers haven't survived a serious test on the road. They've barely even been on the road – all four non-conference games have come in Auburn, and the first two times they left the Plains, they barely made it out alive in three-point wins against Mississippi State and Kentucky. Their third road trip was to the division bottom dweller, Ole Miss, completing the tour of the smallest stadiums in the SEC outside of Vanderbilt. Bryant-Denny Stadium is an entirely different environment than Cam Newton has experienced as a starter, opposite the kind of first-rate defense he's only experienced against LSU.

In Mark Ingram, Trent Richardson and Julio Jones, Alabama is also attacking with the most complete set of offensive weapons the Tigers have seen this season. Jones is the third elite, first-round talent the Auburn secondary has faced, and its adventures against the other two led to career games for both Alshon Jeffery (8 catches, 192 yards, 2 TDs) and A.J. Green (9 catches, 164 yards, 2 TDs). Arkansas' emerging receiving star, Greg Childs, caught nine for 164 and two scores, too, and LSU's Reuben Randle burned Auburn for a 39-yard touchdown that knotted that game at 17 in the fourth quarter. All of the above, again, coming in Jordan-Hare Stadium.

More to the point, though, is the lingering question of whether Auburn is actually the kind of team that can finish this kind of mission. At the beginning of the year, if you'd have suggested to most people Auburn would be en route to the SEC Championship Game with a perfect 12-0 record – just two years removed from following a 5-7 flop with a widely mocked coaching hire – the typical response probably would have been, "I'll believe it when I see it." We've seen it from Alabama, over the course of 29 consecutive regular season wins. Before we really believe the Tigers are fit for the crown, we need to seem them take from the old king's own turf.

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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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