Auburn coach Gus Malzahn has had quite a bit of success against Alabama in his time on The Plains, something that has eclipsed much of the rest of the SEC in that time.

In those Auburn wins, they’ve been high scoring and low scoring. Last year, it was 48-45, in 2017, it was 26-14, and 2013 was 34-28.

“You look at the times we’ve won, our guys have made plays to win games,” Malzahn said. “We’ve done extremely well in the fourth quarter. That’s probably the keys.”

Auburn QB Bo Nix had a memorable game in last year’s meeting, and Malzahn noted this year, “We’re glad that we have Bo Nix leading us going into this Iron Bowl.”

Auburn is a heavy underdog in this game by more than three touchdowns, and Malzahn was asked if Auburn plays with an underdog mentality. Auburn, after all, has won two of the last three games against Alabama.

“That’s one of the reasons you come to Auburn is to play in the Iron Bowl,” Malzahn said. “This is a game we think about 365 days a year. So that’s really, probably, the simplest way to put it.”

Malzahn said about the only thing normal about this year is that the Iron Bowl is still being played, and played on Thanksgiving week.