AUBURN – The disappointment of a gut-wrenching loss at Georgia was still fresh when first-year Auburn coach Gene Chizik stood in front of his team and issued a challenge.
He challenged them to quickly put their disappointment aside and focus on the task at hand – playing No. 2 Alabama at Jordan-Hare Stadium. He challenged them to play better than they have played all season.
This game, above all others, he told them is personal. It’s personal for players, for coaches, for the thousands who will line the streets for Tiger Walk today.
Chizik knows. He’s been through it before, three times as defensive coordinator. He walked away a winner every time.
Cornerbacks coach Phillip Lolley knows, too. He’s an Alabamian. He’s been on the Auburn staff in some capacity since 199. He has experienced the exhilaration of victory and the numbing disappointment of defeat. He was at Bryant-Denny Stadium last season when Alabama emphatically ended six years of Auburn domination with a 36-0 victory.
“A lot of coaches that have come through here have talked about their rivalries everywhere else,” Lolley said. “I just kind of smile. There is really no way. You can explain the atmosphere in an SEC game, period. But when you look at it being an SEC game with two teams from the same state, to me the greatest football state in the country, it’s something different.
“There is no atmosphere like it,whether you play here at Auburn or at Tuscaloosa. It’s great to be a part of it. You try to explain it to everybody, but they have to experience it.”
For the 52nd time since the rivalry was renewed in 1948, the Tigers and the Tide will meet today at 1:30 p.m. at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Auburn is 7-4 overall and 3-4 in the Southeastern Conference, better than most expected in Chizik’s first season. Alabama is 11-0 and 7-0, two wins away from an opportunity to play for a national championship.
Senior offensive tackle Andrew McCain understands. He grew up in a loyal Auburn family, dreaming of playing for the Tigers. For four years, he waited for a chance to play more than a bit part. Finally, as a fifth-year senior, he will get it today when he starts his 12th consecutive game.
“Growing up in this state, it’s a big deal to a whole lot of people,” McCain said. “Once I got here, it was a bigger deal. Now to have an opportunity to actually get there and play and have some direct impact on the game is really exciting.
“I come from a big Auburn family. I’ve always been a big Auburn fan. I understood when I came here the importance of this game.”
Even the Auburn coaches who haven’t experienced it first-hand have a clear understanding that this game is different.
“Oh, yeah,” running backs coach Curtis Luper said. “I experience it every day somewhere in some shape, form or fashion. That’s the beauty of this rivalry. It’s every day of the year. It’s not just this week. Texas-Oklahoma was that week. Oklahoma-Oklahoma State was that week. This is year-around. It will be exciting to be part of it.”
