For the Auburn players, the memory is still vivid and unsettling. The Tigers lost 27-24, ending with a 31-yard Hail Mary touchdown with just 32 seconds remaining.
Many of Auburn’s key players in 2024 were part of that heartbreaking game, and the only way to shake the memory is through a win on Saturday.
“That moment has been with me for 365 days, so we’re about to hit that mark,” sixth-year senior tight end Luke Deal shared with reporters Monday. “I think it’ll fuel us a lot. The guys who felt that pain and that low in our careers, that’s something we’ll use to make sure we don’t go out like that again.”
Deal has played in more Iron Bowls than anyone else on the team and is the last remaining player from Auburn’s last win over Alabama in 2019.
Jeremiah Wright, a veteran offensive lineman for Auburn, didn’t play in the 2019 victory but vividly remembers the atmosphere as a recruit. Wright called that game one of his best Iron Bowl experiences, but he said 2023 was by far the most painful.
“It will always replay in our minds,” Wright said. “I still get calls from family members. They called me yesterday, joking around like, ‘what are you going to do?’ We just block out the outside noise and go back to work.”
A lot of the external focus heading into this year’s Iron Bowl is on Alabama, following their 24-3 loss to Oklahoma. Auburn enters with a different momentum after defeating No. 15 Texas A&M in a thrilling four-overtime game.
Freshman defensive lineman Malik Blocton has a unique viewpoint on the 2023 Iron Bowl. Though he didn’t play, his brother, Marcus Harris, did.
Blocton, who was at the game as a recruit, witnessed his brother’s emotional exit after his final game at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
“It was wild for me last year, being there and seeing my brother walk off the field with tears in his eyes,” Blocton said. “I don’t want that to be me on Saturday. It won’t be me.”
For Payton Thorne, Auburn’s starting quarterback and one of the team’s leaders, he doesn’t want the past to define this year’s game.
“You remember it, but you try not to dwell on it,” Thorne said. “You don’t want it to affect what we’re doing this week. Keep it in the back of your mind, remember for the right reasons, but don’t let it consume you.”
“We have a different team, and so do they. The focus is on the task at hand and doing everything we can to win on Saturday.”
If Auburn beats Alabama on Saturday, it will be the program’s first victory in Tuscaloosa since 2010 and their first Iron Bowl win since 2019.
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