Auburn looks to repeat Iron Bowl effort — with different result — vs. No. 20 Houston in Birmingham Bowl
Auburn star running back Tank Bigsby practices in advance of Tuesday's Birmingham Bowl matchup with the Houston Cougars. (Todd Van Emst / AU Athletics)
When the TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl is done on Tuesday, Auburn coach Bryan Harsin wants to have seen what he saw after his Tigers clawed and fought top-ranked Alabama.
Except he wants Auburn (6-6) to have beaten No. 20 Houston (11-2) in the battle scheduled for 11 a.m. on ESPN.
“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. I really do,” Harsin said. “As I’ve had a chance to kind of reflect and look at the Iron Bowl, I’m very proud of our team.”
The Tigers showed up and played hard, going toe to toe with the Crimson Tide, which faces No. 4 Cincinnati in a semifinal of the College Football Playoff.
“We didn’t get the result that we wanted,” the first-year Auburn coach said. “We played four overtimes in that game. Just the whole attitude of the entire team, I was very proud of those guys.
“They laid it on the line,” he continued. “Every guy in that game laid it on the line. At the end of this game, that’s really what I want to see. 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 out there laying it on the line when we go out there and compete.”
Hear from Auburn and Houston coaches as they prepare for the Birmingham Bowl from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.
The Tigers can clean up scheme, they can can clean up fundamentals, they can clean up decision-making. They can even overcome bad calls in games, Harsin said.
“None of those things really are the main reasons why you win or lose at the end of the game,” he said. “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.”
Duplicating its Iron Bowl showing will be tougher for the Tigers as they’ll be missing some regulars from their lineup, beginning with offensive lineman Nick Brahms, who had surgery on his knee.
Others are injured and still others have gone into the transfer portal. For Houston coach Dana Holgorsen, that adds to the challenge of preparation.
“Who’s playing? Who’s not playing? Who’s calling the plays? Who’s not calling the plays? It’s got like a Game 1 feel to it, like first game of the year,” he said. “You prepare the best, but you really don’t know what you’re going to get. It makes in-game adjustments probably a little bit more important.”
The Cougars stumbled only twice this season, losing 38-21 to Texas Tech in their season opener and falling 35-20 to Cincinnati in the American Championship. In between, Houston won 11 in a row, displaying an offense that has scored at least 40 points in seven games and at least 30 in nine.
Running backs Alton McCaskill (930 yards and 16 touchdowns) and Ta’Zhawn Henry (526 yards and seven TDs) pace the Cougar running attack. Clayton Tune has thrown for 3,263 yards and 28 touchdowns.
Quarterback T.J. Finley will take snaps for the Tigers, who have reaped 1,003 yards rushing from Tank Bigsby.
Tuesday’s contest will be the second bowl game each for Houston and Auburn in Birmingham.
The Cougars fell 41-24 to Vanderbilt on Jan. 4, 2014 before an announced crowd of 42,717. Auburn drew a Birmingham Bowl record 59,430 when the Tigers topped Memphis 31-10.
Each of those games was played at historic Legion Field, where capacity approaches 70,000. A new standard will be set this year as the TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl moves downtown to the new 45,000-capacity Protective Stadium in the Uptown District.
The appeal of the game with an in-state combatant makes a near-capacity crowd a virtual certainty. Officials are urging fans to arrive early and to plan their trip to minimize confusion coming to the game.
BirminghamBowl.com lists several downtown parking options from which free shuttle service will be provided. Additionally, game-day shuttles will run from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. from the Hyatt Regency Birmingham, The Wynfrey Hotel at the Riverchase Galleria and the DoubleTree by Hilton Perimeter Park/Marriott Birmingham in the U.S. 280 area.
Protective Stadium gates open at 9 a.m. Tiger Walk, Auburn’s traditional walk of players and coaches into the stadium, will be at 8 a.m.
