Nick Saban says to ignore the last game ahead of Alabama football vs. Auburn in Iron Bowl
Auburn is probably trying its hardest to forget what happened this past Saturday in an embarrassing 31-10 loss to New Mexico State. Alabama football, and more specifically Nick Saban, is saying to throw what happened in previous games out the window.
"I don't think anybody needs to pay attention to what happened in the past, what happened in the last game," Saban said. "What somebody's record is. Anytime you play in a rivalry game, it's going to be a highly competitive, tough, very physical game. That's what everybody needs to get ready for."
It's the Iron Bowl after all. One team could be 11-0 and the other 0-11 and the game would still get plenty of hype.
The discrepancy isn't that wide for the matchup between No. 8 Alabama (10-1, 7-0 SEC) and Auburn (6-5, 3-4) on Saturday (2:30 p.m., CBS) at Jordan-Hare Stadium. But once again this year, Alabama's in a much better spot than the Tigers. However, Auburn is in a spot to spoil the Crimson Tide's postseason hopes.
The Crimson Tide can't lose another game if it wants to make the College Football Playoff. No two-loss team has ever made it, and there's a handful of teams in the top eight of the CFP rankings still in contention.
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"This is a challenging game for us," Saban said. "I think our guys need to have the right mindset of what it's going to take to be successful in a game like this, especially playing on the road."
Jordan-Hare has been a problematic place for Saban's Crimson Tide. He has only lost once to the Tigers at Bryant-Denny Stadium in 2010. Otherwise, he's had four losses at Jordan-Hare Stadium. In total, Saban is 11-5 vs. Auburn while at Alabama.
"People talk about all the crazy stuff that happens in this game," Saban said. "But since I've been here, the team that should have won the game won the game based on who played the best. So I think the focus needs to be on how are we going to play and how are we going to execute and do what we do and what kind of consistency are we going to be able to maintain in a difficult environment?"
Nick Kelly covers Alabama football and men's basketball for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at nkelly@gannett.com or follow him @_NickKelly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama football: What Nick Saban said about Iron Bowl 2023
