Auburn gunning for No. 1

AUBURN — Treat the best like the rest: It’s the Tommy Tuberville way.

The 10-year Auburn coach has a tough time truly explaining his success when his back is against the wall and the opposition has everything to lose.
Or maybe his explanation is just a bit too simple.

“It’s really no secret,” Tuberville said. “You treat them all the same.”

It’s almost all been the same when a Tuberville-coached Auburn team takes on a top team in the Associated Press poll.

Since 2001, the Tigers are 4-1 against top 5 teams. Against the top 10, Auburn is nine for its last 12.

Tuberville will be gunning for his second career victory over a No. 1-ranked opponent and his seventh consecutive win over Alabama in today’s Iron Bowl. It’d be just the fourth win in school history against a No. 1 team and the first against a top-ranked Alabama.

“No matter where you’re ranked or not ranked, those things swing back and forth,” Tuberville said. “You just try to keep it in your side as much as you can.”

The swing has just kind of hung in Auburn’s favor over the last seven or so years.

The first big dethroning came in 2001, when the Tigers toppled No. 1 Florida at Jordan-Hare Stadium, 23-20. Auburn finished 7-5 that season, including four losses to unranked opponents.

Since then, Auburn knocked off a top 5 Florida team in 2006 and 2007 and beat a No. 5 LSU team in 2004. Tuberville’s first loss to a top 5 team while at
Auburn came last year, when No. 5 LSU came back late in a wild 30-24 finish.

Even with the impressive resume of improbable victories, Tuberville said he’s kept it vanilla.

“We know what we’re doing,” Tuberville said. “Our players know what they’re doing, and we work on it and we just try to go execute it.”

Knowing their own limitations has also played a major factor.

“We’re usually not a flamboyant team. We don’t look flashy. We go out, we play and we take it quarter by quarter,” Tuberville said. “We know most of our games are going to come down to the end anyway.

“We don’t go out and try to do big plays. We do take a few chances every once and a while, try to get the momentum. Momentum is huge against ranked teams.”

There are a number of other records and streaks on Tuberville’s and Auburn’s side heading into the 73rd Iron Bowl.

Auburn has never lost in Tuscaloosa, owning a 6-0 record. Alabama leads the all-time series, which primarily used to take place in Birmingham, with a 38-33-1 record.

Tuberville is 4-2 all-time against Alabama coach Nick Saban.

Tuberville has never lost to both Georgia and Alabama in the same season.

And then there’s the streak.

Auburn has not lost to Alabama since Nov. 17, 2001. That was 2,569 days ago.

“It is satisfying obviously, because when I was hired I was told, and I’m sure Nick Saban and everybody that coaches at Alabama have been told, that you have to win the Iron Bowl matchup,” Tuberville said. “In this game, winning is for bragging rights.”

It’s given Auburn the right to have just a little bit of swagger heading into today’s game — even though it sits at 5-6, while Alabama is undefeated 11 games into the season for the first time since 1994.

“It means a lot,” safety Zac Etheridge said. “I know I don’t want to lose to them while I’m here. I’m pretty sure all the seniors who haven’t lost to them really don’t want to lose to them going out.”

Most players, though, didn’t put much stock into the streak. It wouldn’t fall into the strategy of “treating them all the same.”

“It is what it is, but you can’t look at that,” center Jason Bosley said. “It’s a new year, new team, new defense. It’s a whole different situation.

“You can’t live on that; you can’t rest on what we’ve done during the past six years. I can guarantee you they won’t do that.”