From before the game starts, until after the game ends, there is one group of Auburn fans that have stayed through every football game. They were just as loud when the Tigers made their National Championship run as when they hit their rut and went 3-9 last year.
The Auburn University Marching Band believes in Auburn and loves it. The chance to play for a national championship was just icing on the cake.
At 4 a.m. the Saturday morning before the game, band members began their journey to California. Rehearsals, pep rallies, Disneyland and Hollywood packed the band's schedule that weekend.
This trip wasn't completely unexpected however.
"I was calling an Auburn-FSU championship for several games," said Paige Lenssen, senior drum major and double major in finance and English. "But I think when we finally beat Georgia, it became a lot more real."
Strutting out onto the field, the drum majors spun their maces and spiked them into the freshly-painted grass of the Rose Bowl. It was real.
"Our goal when we go to any away trips is to make that stadium rock like Jordan Hare does," Lenssen said.
Gus Malzahn runs a fast offense, and during the first half of the game the band played their fast pieces to help get the crowd loud on defense. Up 21-3, they had an easy job getting the Rose Bowl rocking.
Despite the quick scores in the first half, the most exciting part of the game for Emily Gray, head drum major and senior in secondary music education, was the last five minutes.
Gray was leading the band on the podium for the fourth quarter of the game.
"I remember not thinking we were safe," Gray said. "But I thought there was time. It was a hold your breath moment."
After the last play, it seemed as if the Auburn fans let that breath out all together. 34-31 took a couple moments to comprehend.
"After the game, I was really proud of all the band members because of how they carried themselves as we left the stadium," said Gerritt Keaton, drum major and junior in management.
"I think everybody was fine with the end result," said Madison Argo, drum major and senior in music education. "We got a trip to California, we won the SEC championship, we beat Alabama most importantly."
For all four drum majors, each with at least four years of experience in the marching band, the 2013 Iron Bowl will be remembered as their favorite game of all time.
"I have never been a part of a game like this last Iron Bowl," Gray said. "I don't think I could have recreated that in any of the five years I've been here."
"I will definitely be telling my grandkids about that game one day," Keaton said.
The more than 380 band members represent Auburn University through their songs and traditions. The 2013 season has come and gone, but the influence of that football team lives on. And the band was there every step of the way.
"We were there from the beginning to the end every game of last season, and the beginning to the end of every game this season," Lenssen said. "For us, it's about representing the team, representing the University, being great ambassadors and being important members of the Auburn Family."
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