Auburn Tigers

Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer is trying to simplify things for his team in the Iron Bowl. He wants his players to handle the crowd noise at Jordan-Hare Stadium and the emotions that come with playing a rival. Everything else, he believes, will work out. It sounds easy. It hasn’t been that way for the Crimson Tide in their last three trips to Auburn. The Tigers will also bask in the glory of former player Bo Jackson's Heisman win. Auburn will honor him during the game.

Deuce Knight amassed 401 total yards and tied a school record accounting for six touchdowns and Auburn beat lower-division Mercer 62-17 on Saturday.

Auburn fired coach Hugh Freeze on Sunday, moving on after the Tigers lost for the 12th time in their last 15 Southeastern Conference games. This means the Crimson Tide will soon face two teams led by interim coaches after the LSU Tigers also fired Brian Kelly for a similar disappointing performance on the field.

Alabama recently partnered with the U.S. Navy’s Maritime Industrial Base program to add “Build Giants Alabama” logos on both 25-yard lines. Penn State added field logos in both end zones as part of a deal with Amica Mutual Insurance. The University of Texas broke tradition by adding corporate logos to its football field, a year after athletic director Chris Del Conte said he wasn't considering it.

Auburn coach Bruce Pearl announced his retirement Monday less than six months after finishing the Tigers' best season in program history with another trip to the Final Four. Pearl's 38-year-old son Steven Pearl, who has been on his father's coaching staff for all 11 seasons at Auburn, will take over as coach. And, about a run for the U.S. Senate?

College football in Alabama is celebrated in the context of two major powerhouse programs. That’s Crimson Tide and the Auburn Tigers. With incredible success over more than a century of competition each, it’s a no-brainer. But hundreds of collegiate athletes take the field for dozens of other programs within the state’s borders, often never getting the chance to put their skill and passion up against some of the very best from Tuscaloosa or the Plains. Here’s another highly anticipated game this weekend.

Auburn is claiming four additional football national titles and will call itself a nine-time champion moving forward. The Tigers, for decades, boasted titles in 1957 and 2010. They also claimed the 1913, 1983 and 1993 seasons as meeting national championship qualifications. Now, though, athletic director John Cohen is adding titles from 1910, 1914, 1958 and 2004 to the program’s resume. It’s laudable by some and laughable by others.

Alabama head football coach Kalen DeBoer told reporters at SEC Media Days how he was hyper focused on the season opener against Florida State in Tallahassee. The AP poll may give a clue on how that concern may be justified. The AP Top 25 college football poll preseason rankings are now. Texas took the number one spot for the first time in an opening poll, narrowly edging out Penn State by just five points in the closest preseason vote since 1998.

A last-minute interception by Alabama defensive back Zabien Brown put the final nail in the coffin for Auburn in the annual Iron Bowl game against the Crimson Tide. Now, Alabama fans may spend the next couple of days on pins and needles to see if weekend losses by Ohio State and Miami will make a difference for the Tide’s remote hopes for a playoff slot.

It would be easy for Texas A&M to overlook slumping Auburn. The Tigers must win their final two games to avoid a fourth straight losing season, but they’re only 2 1/2-point underdogs, according to the BetMGM Sportsbook. The Aggies enter the game among league teams in the mix for the playoffs and the SEC Championship Game.