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Auburn and Alabama will play at Jordan-Hare Stadium in a game with as much intensity and passion as any you'll ever see. Alabama is a substantial favorite and, based on what has happened in the first 11 games, it should be.
What will the outcome mean? It will mean either that Alabama took another step toward a possible national championship or it will mean that Gene Chizik
had one terrific first season at Auburn.
From an emotional standpoint, the Iron Bowl is as big as it gets. It was that way last season. It was that way while Auburn was winning six straight. It will be that way next season.
But, despite all you might read and hear over the next few days, it would be a mistake to put too much significance on what the outcome of one game means for the future.
Auburn's six straight wins didn't mean Alabama had been forever banished to the ranks of the also-rans. And last season's 36-0 Alabama victory didn't mean the Tide had forever taken over the state of Alabama.
I read and heard about the supposed significance of Alabama's 31-7 victory at Jordan-Hare Stadium in 2001, when Auburn was playing for a spot in the SEC Championship Game and Alabama came in with a losing record.
It meant so much that Alabama lost the next six to Auburn.
I heard the same talk after an Alabama team with a losing record beat an Auburn team playing for a berth in the Sugar Bowl in 1984. It meant so much that Alabama won the next season, then lost four straight.
Auburn's stirring 17-16 victory in 1972, perhaps the most famous in school history and its third in four seasons over Alabama, meant so much that the Tigers lost the next nine.
You get the point.
Every season is different. Every game is different.
One thing that never changes is what this game means to the young men who play it. They'll play with all their hearts, win or lose. And isn't that really what it's all supposed to be about?
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