Auburn Tigers head coach Alex Golesh plans to build a winner on the Plains by taking it step by step. Before reaching the CFP during any season moving forward, AU will probably need to win the Iron Bowl, barring a 10- or 11-win record heading into the regular season finale. Beating the Alabama Crimson Tide would create momentum that couldn't be replicated by anything else in Lee County.
Golesh is making the Iron Bowl a focus of his program, making it clear by playing "Dixieland Delight" during one particular section of practice as part of a mandated "Iron Bowl" period. Touchdown Alabama Magazine's Stephen M. Smith sees this as a smart move, mainly because he's seen this before.
Smith called out the similarities between Golesh's current approach and Nick Saban's approach in 2009 to transforming the Crimson Tide into a championship program: beat the rival first and worry about the rest after boosting the locker room with a signature win. For Saban's Alabama team, it was Urban Meyer's Tim Tebow-led Florida Gators that needed to be cleared out of the way before beating the Texas Longhorns in the BCS National Championship.
"The national title game against Texas was cool, but former players did not treat the Longhorns as the national championship matchup. Alabama’s SEC Championship Game versus Florida was the national title contest. Florida was the standard in college football at the time as Urban Meyer and Tim Tebow had two national titles (2006, 2008) in a three-year span (2006-08)," Smith wrote.
"Alabama battled the Gators in the Georgia Dome in the previous season (2008) and had a chance to win, until Tebow pulled magic out in the end. The Tide locked in on Florida all offseason as coaches had pictures of the Gators in Alabama’s locker room. Everyone was obsessed with beating Florida, and the mission was accomplished in 2009 in a 32-13 beatdown of the Gators. Tebow’s tears were sweet for Tide fans, but it was locking in on a goal and achieving it that meant everything for Saban and the players. The focus was to knock off Florida, and the discipline showed to make it happen. Alabama became the gold standard of college football, following its achievement of beating Florida. Golesh wants to master this at Auburn."
Even Alabama fans see potential in Alex Golesh's Auburn Tigers
It's notable that Golesh's decisions, not the X's and O's ones, but the culture calls that determine if a locker room is together or not, is getting comparisons to the great Saban by those who benefitted firsthand from Saban's greatness.
While some are rushing to the "little brother" narrative, those ought to take a look at "The Game" rivalry to see how two programs that are more relevant right now than the Tide treat their rivalry. Speaking of the Ohio State Buckeyes, of whom many felt beating the Michigan Wolverines was more important than a two-peat championship this past season, the Indiana Hoosiers are a great recent example of the point Smith made. Curt Cignetti getting Indiana over a much more expensive Ohio State roster in the Big Ten Championship in December was essential to run the table in January.
What Golesh is doing is honoring the college football gods, unlike Kalen DeBoer, who doesn't even believe Alabama needs to outwork opponents in the trenches and thinks he can outscheme defenses instead.
For the first time since before Saban arrived in Tuscaloosa back in 2007, the Tigers probably own a coaching advantage over the Tide.