Depending on whom you ask, the Iron Bowl is one of the best rivalries in the country.
“This is our Super Bowl,” said Octavious Andrews, former Auburn wide receiver.
Andrews said that during his time on the team, head coach Gene Chizik made sure players, especially freshman, knew how important the Iron Bowl was.
I still remember coach saying to us, ‘This game determines your season. If you go undefeated, but you lose this game, yeah you were undefeated, but you lost to Bama,’” Andrews said.
With the generic, calm and collected responses from players and coaches on both sides, it is nearly impossible to visualize and grasp a true understanding of what is going on just weeks before the two teams meet.
“Press conferences before that game, they try and downplay it,” Andrews said. “If coaches could really say what they wanted to say I bet they would be so enthusiastic about it.”
Players described the two weeks of practice time as one of the most intense weeks of their life. Usually practice lasts about two hours, but for Iron Bowl they have no time limit.
“They want everything to be 100 percent,” Andrews said. “They want it right, they want it perfect and if it’s not perfect you are going to keep redoing it. You are going to practice however long they want you to practice.”
These two weeks of practice are more upbeat and more physical compared to preparing for any other game during the season.
The players are in Auburn and away from their family during the Thanksgiving holiday. Instead, they spend their days in full pads, hitting hard during practice and watching game film. With hardly any time to relax, Friday they are walking through each play, one by one ,and reviewing even more footage.
“Alabama is a good team with a great coaching staff,” said Joe Whitt, former assistant coach. “The rivalry is so big and the win means so much to the state, all our fans and students that we have to make sure our guys are ready no matter what our record or Alabama’s record is.”
Former Auburn linebacker Joey Caldwell said this game is bigger than any single player, it’s bigger than the football team and the coaches made every player aware of that.
At the end of each practice, the team does “reps for Alabama.” If they have to do 14 or 15 reps, they do 19 or 20 and those extra counts are for Bama, Caldwell said.
To help get the guys prepared, the coaching staff would bring in a former player to talk to the team.
Anthony Morgan, who played running back, said he remembers when former linebacker Quentin Groves came to talk to the team during one of the last practices before an Iron Bowl.
“(Groves) was like, ‘Do y’all think Alabama respects you?…Well, they don’t, but go out there and play like you’ve never played before because this is where you make money, playing against the best team,’” Morgan said.
The Alabama game is a different atmosphere. Even in the locker room, players are tense, quiet and jittery rather than cheerful.
“It’s just a different vibe,” Andrews said. “You can see the seriousness on everyone’s’ face.”
With all the extra practices under their belt, there is no room for mistakes. During the Iron bowl everything you do is magnified.
“You do something good, you will be remembered forever,” Caldwell said. “You do something bad you will be remembered forever, but it won’t be fun.”
Morgan said key players don’t get scrutinized by coaches as much as players whose position could be up for grabs.
“It definitely made me nervous going into Iron Bowl because if I messed up one little time, that could cost me my job,” Morgan said.
No matter which way the season was going, this game trumps all.
“It’s a season in itself,” Andrews said. “Alabama has always been good, they have won more games so it’s like we have something to prove.”
Also in preparation for the Iron Bowl, players are asked to completely stay off of social media. With the advancement in technology and the recent uproar of social media accounts, it has become a breeding ground for trash talk.
“This was never a problem in my day, but I understand why it is a big no-no,” Whitt said. There is so much hype and emotion over this game before and after that it is easy for players to get in trouble because of their accounts. They have to live above the negativity.”
The date of the game is almost too perfect giving the Auburn Tigers a bye weekend, meaning two full weeks to prepare.
Practice is intensified, mistakes are magnified and the winner, they’re glorified.
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