re: How different will the Iron Bowl be?

There are two gameday coaching philosophies when it comes to playing to your competition. Type A is Nick Saban. All of his assistants will tell you that he approaches every regular season game the same, whether Alabama is playing Auburn or playing Chattanooga. This approach has won a lot of games at Alabama, and has led to Alabama losing exactly one game to an unranked team in 16 seasons. But one could argue that this approach has been a liability in the Iron Bowl, which is a game that is played at the end of the regular season, typically the week before Alabama plays in the SECCG, and always matches a top ranked Alabama against a team with a massive little brother complex.

Type B is whoever is coaching Auburn. It is pretty clear that Auburn had zero emotional investment in the New Mexico State game, and that starts and ends with the head coach. But what happened the Monday of Iron Bowl week? Gus Malzahn called Hugh Freeze and said, "Get ready, fella. Your Egg Bowl experience means nothing compared to the IB."

It is pretty obvious that Auburn cannot be disinterested in their penultimate regular season game next year. Win or lose, I look forward to seeing how that impacts the Iron Bowl.