Bryan Harsin: Iron Bowl still very much top of mind headed into Houston matchup

Auburn has one final test in front of them to close out the 2021 season, the Birmingham Bowl against Houston, but their most recent game, a 24-22 4OT loss to Alabama, still stings.

First-year Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin spoke about how the Iron Bowl is still on his mind and how he wants his team to channel the energy they did against Alabama when they face the Cougars on Tuesday.

“I want to see us go out there and play four quarters of football like we did in our last game, with a different result,” Harsin said. “Because I’ve had a chance to kind of reflect and look at the Iron Bowl, very proud of our team. They showed up. They played hard. We played against a really good football team, and we didn’t get the result that we wanted… Just the whole attitude of the entire team. I was very proud of those guys. They laid it on the line.”

Auburn held then third-ranked Alabama scoreless until the fourth quarter and without a touchdown until there were 24 seconds remaining in regulation. They traded touchdowns in the first overtime, field goals in the second overtime and two-point conversions in the third overtime. They failed to convert in the fourth extra period, while the Tide did. 

Harsin wants the same fight to be evident on the field in Birmingham on Tuesday.

“So at the end of this game, that’s really what I want to see,” the first-year head coach added. “I just want to see that every guy on this team — whether you’re on the sideline waving a towel or on the field out there making the play — you’re just laying it on the line, and we go out there and compete. 

“We can clean up scheme, we can clean up fundamentals, we can clean up decision making, or whatever happens. We can overcome bad calls in games. But none of those things, really, are the main reasons why you win or lose at the end of the game… There’s a lot of things you can control, but if you go out and play a certain way, I think it gives you a lot better opportunity to overcome some of those things. And we showed that the last time we played.”

Auburn will need to show up on Tuesday like they did Thanksgiving weekend, as they play a tough Houston team that won 11 straight games in the middle of the season. They finished 11-2, and only two other teams in Houston history have won 12 games in a season.

There are several consequential opt outs on both sides of the ball, but Auburn was hit the hardest. In addition to quarterback Bo Nix entering the transfer portal and heading to Oregon, Auburn will be without cornerback Roger McCreary and two starting offensive linemen. Running backs Tank Bigsby and Jarquez Hunter will need to find holes, but it could be tough sledding if the offensive line doesn’t click against the nation’s sixth-best defense.

Despite the fact that Houston is the No. 20-ranked team in the country, Auburn is a 2.5-point favorite for the Tuesday game, which kicks off at noon ET on ESPN. Auburn and Houston have played six times in the history of their programs, but this meeting will be the first since 1973. Auburn leads the series 5-1; Houston’s only win came in the 1969 Bluebonnet Bowl.