AUBURN, Ala. – For the last four games, No. 8 Auburn has enjoyed the friendly confines of Jordan-Hare Stadium where there are nearly 90,000 fans cheering you on. Even the season opener in Atlanta featured a pro-Auburn crowd inside Mercedes Benz-Stadium.
On Saturday night, it will be a vastly different atmosphere for the Tigers. The stadium will be mostly maroon with cowbells ringing incessantly throughout the game. That's how it goes when you play at Mississippi State, and regardless of which stadium it is, there's going to be a hostile crowd waiting for you any time you go on the road in the SEC.
The players don't mind, though. If anything, they look forward to it.
"I always like going on the road," Auburn defensive lineman Dontavius Russell said. "You have to come closer as a team and try to come together because you're kind of by yourself, especially at a place like Mississippi State with how their fans are. I kind of like that challenge."
"I think it is big, especially since we've been on a long home stand," added wide receiver Darius Slayton. "You get kind of comfortable at home. Sometimes, you need to go on the road and just be in a hostile environment. It does band people together. When you start to realize that all you've got is the man beside you, you realize you can't have any issues or problems with him because y'all have to be together against the opposition."
Last year, during a five-game winning streak to close out the regular season, Auburn won on the road at Arkansas and Texas A&M in back-to-back games. Those wins might not have been as significant as the wins over Georgia and Alabama, but they set the tone.
The year before, Auburn played arguably its best game of the season on the road at Mississippi State. It was an early kickoff, and by halftime, the Tigers were ahead, 35-0. It was Auburn's last trip to Starkville, and for most of the current players, it's their only memory of playing there.
"The one time I went – honestly, we got up on them so quickly that they really weren't ringing the [cowbells] much," Slayton said. "I do remember before the opening kickoff they were going, and I can imagine four quarters of that would get pretty aggravating."
For quarterback Jarrett Stidham, it will be his first time playing in front of the cowbells.
"They obviously say it's going to be a good, hostile, loud environment, which I love," Stidham said. "I think that's awesome. I've gotten to experience a lot of places within college football. It goes back to the fact that I'm playing at Mississippi State – it's just a cool experience. I'm not going to take it for granted because I know people would kill to be in this position. I'm super excited about playing there."
Saturday marks the first of four remaining road games for Auburn – none of which will be easy. But from traveling together to this "us against the world" mentality that you take on in opposing stadiums, the players believe playing on the road will only make them stronger.
The game at Mississippi State is set for 6:30 p.m. CT and will be televised on ESPN2.
Greg Ostendorf is a Senior Writer for AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @greg_ostendorf
