ALABAMA FOOTBALL: Crimson Tide players have seen ups, downs of rivalry

TUSCALOOSA — There’s the challenge of getting to the top — and then the challenge of staying there.

Alabama’s surprising run to an undefeated regular season in 2008 didn’t make the 2009 season any easier.

Sure, the Crimson Tide returned a lot of players and much was expected of this team. But as the second-ranked Tide prepare for their annual showdown with Auburn on Friday, players said this week nothing was given to them.

“Coming into the year, we knew that we would have a bull’s-eye on our backs,” running back Mark Ingram said. “We knew as long as we kept working hard and kept improving as a team and stuck together as a unit, we’d be fine.”

Alabama coach Nick Saban warned in training camp that would be a challenge for this team. He repeated that during the bye week last month.

“Our players need to know that it’s a by-product of their success that everybody’s going to play great games against us,” Saban said during the bye week last month.

“We’re not going to sneak up on anybody. No one’s going to overlook the game they have with Alabama. Everybody’s got it circled on their schedule. And you have to now understand that and be ready to play your best every time you go out and play.”

Senior defensive end Brandon Deaderick said players don’t overthink their role as a favorite. Their challenge is right in front of them, he said. It’s the same as when they were underdogs.

“After we beat Clemson last year ... I think everybody thought we’d be really good,” Deaderick said. “They didn’t expect us to come out there the way we did, the way we kept carrying that on.”

The mental toughness the team has displayed, Deaderick said, is all centered around being physically superior.

“Just going out there and playing every play to dominate the man in front of us to the best of our capabilities, giving 100 percent on every play,” Deaderick said.

“With the type of athletes and players we have, if you do that and continue doing it — if they’re expecting you or not expecting you — you’ll win. As long as you play hard, with tenacity and energy, it really doesn’t matter” if you’re the favorite or the underdog.

Senior cornerback Javier Arenas said it may help that the veteran players on this team have experienced their share of losing.

“We’ve been on both sides,” Arenas said. “We’ve had a losing season. We know how it feels to have a winning season and a losing season. We fell off at the end. So that’s a building block. We know how both sides feel.”

Guess what? Winning is better. The choices demanded in preparation and physical toughness and mental strength and discipline are easier to make when you’re undefeated and ranked No. 2 in the country.

There is a mental hurdle this year’s team doesn’t have to climb on Friday. The pressure to snap a long Auburn winning streak in the Iron Bowl is off.

Arenas said it takes a bit of weight off players’ shoulders. On the other hand, he’s not sure the streak carried extra pressure as it grew.

“We’re in the moment. We’re so much focused on what we have to do in order to be successful we don’t even think about that,” Arenas said.

“When we step outside of the box and you look at it, that’s something that is accounted for. It does maybe take the weight off the fans’ shoulders. But us as players, it’s another game.”

And Ingram expects nothing but Auburn’s best. It’s been that way a lot this season.

“We know we’re going to get everybody’s best shot every time we play them, no matter who it is,” the running back said. “So we just have to come in ready to play.”