Alabama fans have a shocking lack of confidence heading into Saturday's Iron Bowl in Jordan-Hare Stadium. That lack of confidence is in spite of the fact that the Crimson Tide is favored on the road, is four wins better than the Tigers, and is riding a five-game Iron Bowl winning streak. Auburn hasn't beaten Alabama this decade.
And yet, the confidence in an Alabama victory is around the same as it was during the six-year losing streak to Auburn from 2002-2007.
Fortunately, that lack of confidence from the fanbase hasn't found its way into the Alabama locker room.
Senior WR Germie Bernard has come up with big plays all season when it matters most. He's always confident, and that won't change despite all the talk about the Jordan-Hare house of horrors that the Crimson Tide will walk into on Saturday night.
"It's obviously a great atmosphere and a place a lot of people want to play," Bernard said on The Next Round on Monday. "But who says we can't change that? Who says we can't go out there and blow them out how we did last year. ..."Like coach says, we don't have to make the games close."
Germie Bernard is confident in Alabama's ability to beat Auburn
Some might view Bernard's words as bulletin board material for Auburn. Bulletin board material doesn't exist for the Iron Bowl. Both teams are going to treat it like the biggest game of the season so far. There's plenty of motivation on both sides. There isn't anything that can be said in an interview on Monday that is going to influence the outcome of Saturday's game.
In fact, Bernard's words make me feel a little better about the game, frankly. It's nice to see some confidence emanating from the Alabama side, with Crimson Tide fans mostly living in a state of panic about this game like they do every single year the rivalry is played in Jordan-Hare.
There are only a handful of players left on this roster who have ever experienced any of the voodoo on the Plains. This is this coaching staff's first trip down there. Nothing that has happened previously means a damn thing toward what's going to happen on Saturday night.
Alabama is the better team. The fanbase might not be acting like it, but the players certainly know it. Now they just have to back up the talk on the field.