UA players see Iron Bowl as 'opportunity'

TUSCALOOSA | The question to senior linebacker Darren Mustin was a simple one, but made his eyes bulge out because in his mind there was no doubt.

“Does this really feel like Auburn week to you?

Well, let’s just say the answer was definitely in the affirmative, but nothing like most of the others he gave just a couple of days after being too emotional to talk to reporters following last Saturday’s loss to Louisiana-Monroe.

“Honestly, right now that they don’t finish, that’s the identity of the team for the past four or five years,” Mustin said about the Crimson Tide. “We have an opportunity to do something great, even though we’ve had a catastrophe this year. It might actually take a catastrophe to turn this around, I don’t know.

“I want to change that. God I want to change that. I want to be known as a team that finished a season out, finally.”

Although there may be no such thing as a normal Alabama vs. Auburn game, with each seemingly taking on a life of its own, this one has its fair share of unusual circumstances.

Similar to last year, both teams are coming off a loss, with Alabama (6-5) on another November swoon. Auburn (7-4) is ranked, albeit barely at No. 25 in the latest Associated Press poll.

Interestingly, the two teams have had very similar results this year. Both lost to Georgia, LSU, Mississippi State and a Florida school (Auburn to South Florida and Alabama to Florida State), including one overtime defeat.

Alabama was outscored in those games 105-83, while Auburn was outscored 120-81, primarily due to the 45-20 loss to Georgia, which it stewed over last week during a bye.

Both squeaked by Arkansas, defeated Vanderbilt soundly and defeated Ole Miss. Alabama’s biggest win was against Tennessee, and Auburn upset Florida.

But the rumor mill has been swirling around Tigers coach Tommy Tuberville, who recently has been saying similar things to what he said before he left Ole Miss for the Plains, and this is the first time around for Nick Saban, who will try to end Auburn’s string of five consecutive wins.

“He knows,” junior safety Rashad Johnson said. “He hasn’t been a part of it, but he knows a rivalry when he sees one.”

“I don’t live in a vacuum,” Saban said.

Alabama is also still dealing with the humiliation of last week’s loss, the return of a number of suspended players, and there’s been vocal criticism of junior quarterback John Parker Wilson. Well, there was until Saban made his 9/11 and Pearl Harbor comments Monday, which temporarily deflected away attention to some of the other issues.

“Everybody has bad games,” Mustin said. “That’s my quarterback. I got his back. Someone talk about him and I’m going to talk to you, to your face.

“Sometimes the offense bails the defense out. We have not bailed them out yet this year. We have not done that. I feel we have to do that.”

Playing Auburn also seems to have that effect, when the season comes down to one game, no matter what happens next.

“It means a lot,” senior receiver Matt Caddell said. “I haven’t beaten Auburn yet.”

“It’s the big game,” Johnson said. “Everyone’s house is divided, families aren’t even talking. It means a lot. Every game means a lot, but this one has something extra to it.”

“It’s a big game, especially after the past two, three weeks,” Wilson said. “We have to get back on the right track. Of course everyone knows the magnitude of this game, the history and the rivalry. It’s a huge game for us. We need to win this game, bottom line.”

So it really has been Auburn week despite everything else, with players talking and playing with a sense of urgency like no other week. It’s still the game that every other one has been leading up to.

“The crimson blood started running through my veins last year during the Auburn game,” Mustin said. “I could really feel it, and I really knew what it felt like or meant like to wear that A, and what it meant. This game’s something that … it’s deeper than just a football game. It’s kind of hard to explain. I’ve heard stories about people getting killed over this game. It’s very big. It’s true that it’s just a game, and after the game we’re going to shake hands and we’re going to be friends, but during the game it’s one of the biggest games in college football today.”

That’s regardless of the fact that Alabama’s season could conceivably end with a loss. In the players’ mind, they already have nothing to lose.

“We’ve got to win,” Mustin said. “Screw bowls. We have to win.”

Reach Christopher Walsh at christopher.walsh@tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-722-0196.