Tim Keenan Says Auburn Fans 'Can't Play' in Iron Bowl

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- No. 10 Alabama travels to Auburn for the Iron Bowl this weekend with its post season hopes on the line. Win and the Crimson Tide heads to Atlanta to play in the program's 16th SEC Championship and likely secures a spot in the College Football Playoff, lose and it becomes a second season concluding with a minor bowl game and an offseason filled with questions in Tuscaloosa.

The Auburn Tigers fired head coach Hugh Freeze, but can give their season meaning with an upset over Alabama that makes them bowl eligible and ruins their rival's season. The Tigers enter the game with a spunky dual-threat quarterback, a strong defense and an Auburn crowd that's seen the home team take a 10-7 record in the rivalry since the game arrived in Jordan-Hare Stadium in 1989.

“Yeah, rivalry game. Amazing environment," Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer said before his first trip to The Plains. "We’ve played in amazing environments throughout the year on the road at night. I get it. You never want to - we understand it’s going to be a great experience there, and it’ll be one where we’re facing a team that wants to knock us off our goals and our hopes and all that. But you’ve really got to simplify it down. You’ve got to prepare. Prepare for the noise, prepare for the emotions that come, and that’s what our season’s done for us. We’ve been through a lot of that, and again, there’ll be new challenges that present themselves in the game, and a lot of it will be a new matchup, guys that have different people in front of them, strengths and weaknesses of the opponent, every single week changes. We’re just going to prepare our best, focus on what we do because that’s what we’ve done all season long to go out there and be our best on Saturday.”

The Crimson Tide features just 10 players on the roster that have played a game in Jordan-Hare Stadium and despite the program's losing record on the road, the Alabama leaders are 2-0 in the raucous environment.

"It's an SEC environment," Defensive tackle Tim Keenan said. "It's a good environment, but the fans can't play. The players have to play, the coaches have to play. That's the main thing on that."

The other Crimson Tide leaders echoed Keenan's attitude as the program is, as they're treating the crowd of 87,451 just like the other road crowds they've already seen this year.

"It's just another SEC game, that's what it is," Kadyn Proctor said. "It's a tough environment. We've played at South Carolina. I've played at Tennessee before. It's like this every week. It's just what it is. We already know that the crowd's going to bring it. It's going to be loud. We practice crowd noise and just got to get comfortable with that."

Veteran Alabama linebacker Deontae Lawson emphasized the program's need to embrace the environment and create their own energy as they face a crowd desperate to ruin the Crimson Tide's season.

"I haven't really said anything," Lawson said. "We've been to hostile environments. We know the history and the tradition of this game. We've got to be extra locked in, extra detailed this week, and create our own environment and just dominate the environment. That's the key to the game for sure.""