Alabama cannot take Auburn lightly

Every Monday, you can read Tide Takes, where we’ll get into a different topic on the Crimson Tide, break down the previous game, preview the upcoming game, and everything in between.

In this week’s edition, Alabama hits the road for Iron Bowl week in a place where Nick Saban is 4-4 in his tenure in Tuscaloosa. Even with Auburn coming off a dominating and embarrassing loss to New Mexico State, the Crimson Tide must not take this one lightly.

It sounds ridiculous to suggest the idea of an Iron Bowl being “taken lightly”. If you can’t get up for this game, chances are you’re wearing the wrong uniform. And credit to Alabama, who two weeks ago against Kentucky, came out with perhaps their best start of the season in a game many saw as a letdown spot.

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Right now, this is a Tide team who appears to be playing their best ball of the season at the right time — and that trend must continue in Jordan-Hare Stadium. They always say when it comes to this game, you can throw out the team’s records, what kind of season each is having, how the quarterbacks have fared, and just about everything else.

This is Alabama and Auburn in Jordan-Hare. Alabama cannot afford to even let the idea creep into its mind of what kind of team this Auburn group is, and the fact that they “should” win. While the Tide are favored by over two touchdowns, it really just doesn’t matter.

Recall the fact that Alabama was favored by nearly three touchdowns in 2021, and it was a game that Auburn really should have won had it not been for Bryce Young’s late game heroics.

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Alabama really hasn’t ‘run away’ with an Iron Bowl in Jordan-Hare since a 29-13 victory in 2015. It lost in 2017, 2019, and should have lost in 2021. We’ll see what happens in 2023.

There’s something about this game being played in Jordan-Hare that always tends to lean Auburn’s way.