Auburn QB Bo Nix: "We're Not Scared of Alabama"
HOOVER, Ala. — Auburn quarterback Bo Nix has been on both sides of the Iron Bowl rivalry. He's experienced the thrill of leading the Tigers to a 48-45 victory as a freshman in 2019 then suffered a lopsided 42-13 defeat last season.
With the Iron Bowl moving back to Auburn in 2021, the third-year signal caller isn't shying away from the defending national champions.
In response to UAB transfer and Tigers defensive lineman Tony Fair's tweet last week that read "We coming to take the head off the elephant," Nix was fired up.
"It's a confident quote, but I hope he's coming to take the head off the elephant," Nix said on Thursday afternoon inside the Wynfrey Hotel during SEC Media Days. "I hope he's not coming to get the head taken off the Tiger. So that's really important.
"I think that actually I like the quote. I think it's important because we're not scared of Alabama. I know that a lot of people want us to be scared, but we're really not. They had a great team last year. They beat us last year head to head, and they beat us pretty bad, but that game was close at the beginning, and it was honestly closer than they had played. There at the end of it, they just did what they do, and they obviously had a great team."
Alabama has lost during three of its last five trips to Auburn dating back to 2011. With every SEC stadium going back to 100-percent capacity, Nix and company are hoping to make Jordan-Hare Stadium a place of horror yet again for the Crimson Tide.
"I'm happy [Fair] said that because everybody at Auburn should come in with the mindset of beating Alabama, and that's just important to us, it's important to me," Nix added. "Obviously, I understand how it is beating them in 2019, and we have a lot of guys on our team that's beaten them.
"So moving forward, especially this year, having it back home, obviously, it is exciting to play the Iron Bowl in Jordan-Hare Stadium. It's going to be one of the biggest, loudest games of the year. It always is. So we're just excited."
For the first time in eight years, the Tigers will be led by someone other than Gus Malzahn in first-year coach Bryan Harsin, who comes from Boise State and isn't focused on Alabama just quite yet.
"I actually tried to talk to him but he actually stopped me," Auburn defensive lineman Owen Pappoe said. "He said, 'Look, man, we're going to take things one at a time. Focus on going 1-0 every week, and when we get there, we're going to deal with it.'"
Alabama and Auburn are set to square off from The Plains on Nov. 27, which will conclude the regular season for both teams unlike it did in 2020.
"I love [Fair's tweet]," Pappoe said. "I love the confidence. It's the biggest rivalry in the country, in my opinion. It's just what comes with it."
