Alabama-Auburn Is An Emotional Cauldron Of Stew - To Win, Set Emotion On Simmer, Saban Says, Or You Could Be In Jail

Football can be an extremely emotional game, but when it comes to the Iron Bowl against blood brother rival Auburn, Alabama coach Nick Saban says it is much better to play with your brain.

"That's one of the things that we really try to teach players," Saban said on his radio show this week as he prepared the No. 8 Alabama Crimson Tide (10-1, 7-0 SEC) to play at Auburn (6-5, 3-4) on Saturday (3:30 p.m., CBS) at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

"When you get emotional, you make poor choices and decisions," he said. "You want players to have an emotional edge to be able to compete. But when you get too emotional, you really don't have a brain, all right."

Auburn and Alabama line up for a play in the 2014 Iron Bowl in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Saban expanded his argument against emotional overload.

Alabama's Nick Saban: Too Much Emotion Can Lead To Jail

"It's always my contention that half the people who are incarcerated probably wouldn't have made the decision that got them put there, if it wasn't for some emotional decision," he said. "Normally, they wouldn't do what they did. But they get emotional and make a bad decision, and now all of a sudden, they've got themselves in trouble. And you can't take it back."

In football terminology, this behavior means penalties. Alabama was among the most penalized teams in the nation early in the season, largely because of a lack of emotional discipline.

"Same thing when a guy gets pushed, and then hits a guy back and gets a 15-yard penalty," Saban said. "Well, you never can get that back. That was an emotional reaction. Not something the guy typically would do. So one of the things we try to do with our players is tell them, 'Don't talk to the other team. We have a few that violate this, and it upsets me to no end. You don't dog the other players because that creates an emotional situation, which can lead to emotional outbreak."

Saban has an interesting opinion on the type of player who gets too emotional and draws penalties.

Crimson Tide Players Are Taught To Control Their Intensity

"The more arrogant you, probably the more it happens," he said. "I hate to say that. I hate to say that about any player. But the more arrogant you are, the more you think you're being disrespected. So, when somebody says something to you, you react poorly to it, and bad things happen. So, you want to play with emotion, but be under control in terms of our level of intensity."

Such scenarios happen often in the Alabama-Auburn game. It is nicknamed the Iron Bowl because it used to be played in Birmingham, a second city to Pittsburgh as far as iron and steel production. But the nickname has a double meaning that is closer to the actual game. The Iron Bowl is an extremely hard played game amidst a cauldron of emotion.

"You can't be around here and not get it," said Saban, who has been Alabama's coach since 2007 and is 11-5 against Auburn. "Everybody seems to pick a side by the time they're 3 years old. And they grow up with that passion, which I think is great. It's great for our state. It's great for this game. And everybody recognizes the significance of the Iron Bowl and the passion, wherever you go. It doesn't take long to get it."

Alabama leads the all-time series against its in-state rival, 49-37-1, and has won three straight. The Tide is a 13-point favorite. But Saban's Alabama teams may have played with a little too much emotion and not enough brains at Auburn over the years. Of his five losses to Auburn, four have come at Jordan-Hare. Saban has not lost anywhere else in the SEC that many times.

Some say it's the Jordan-Hare curse. Beginning with No. 4 Auburn's 34-28 win over No. 1 Alabama 10 years ago this week in the "Kick Six" game at Jordan Hare, Alabama is 2-3 at Auburn. Chris Davis returned Alabama's missed field goal 109 yards for the "Kick Six" win on the last play of the game on Nov. 30, 2013, ruining the Tide's chance for three straight national titles.

Alabama had tried a desperation 57-yard field goal with one second left to set up one of the most famous plays in college football history. Adam Griffith's field attempt was short, and then it went long.

Chris Davis of Auburn returns a missed field goal for the winning TD in the Tigers' 34-28 win over Alabama at Jordan-Hare Stadium in 2013 at Auburn. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

In 2017, Auburn dominated Alabama, 16-0, from early in the third quarter on for a 26-14 at Jordan-Hare, though Alabama came back to beat Georgia for the national title. In 2019, Alabama lost 48-45 after Joseph Bulovas missed a 30-yard field goal with two minutes to go. The Tide managed a 24-22 win in four overtimes at Auburn in 2021.

"People talk about this stuff all the time (with Jordan-Hare), and I don't see it," Saban said. "Because in the games we haven't been successful, we made the errors and didn't play well enough. And they played really, really well. Even in the Kick Six game that everybody talks about, we had the ball inside the 25-yard line (three) times in the fourth quarter and never scored a point."

Alabama coach Nick Saban has lost four times at Auburn - more than any other opponent site he has lost at in the SEC. (Photo by Jamie Schwaberow/Getty Images)

Saban sounded pretty emotional and angry when he said that. Alabama led that game 21-7 late in the second quarter. Early in the fourth quarter, Alabama's Cade Foster missed a 33-yard field goal. The Tide reached the Auburn 13 with under six minutes to play and did not score. And with 2:32 to go, Auburn blocked a 44-yard field goal by Foster.

"Whatever it was, our poor executions and mental errors ultimately what was the deciding factor," he said. "The team that plays the best wins the game. That's what I've been trying to emphasize with our players."

Not the Jordan-Hare hauntings.

"When you get stuff in your head, it's what I've said before," Saban said. "People who think weird stuff happens, weird stuff happens. Weird stuff doesn't really happen. You play poorly."

Jordan-Hare can get extremely loud, though.

"You can't let that affect you," Saban said. "Like I say to the players, 'Could you tie your shoes in this noise?' 'Yeah, coach, I could do that.' 'Well, how come?' Because all you are thinking about is tying your shoes. Just think about playing. When you start thinking about all that stuff, it gets in your head. Then it leads to something real."

And Alabama has bigger goals than winning the state championship. If the Tide beats Auburn and No. 1 Georgia in the SEC Championship Game on Dec. 2, it could reach the four-team College Football Playoff.

"We're just going to go for it man," Saban said to sign off on his radio show. "We're going to go for it."