The 2023 Iron Bowl was unforgettable.

For the Auburn players, though, it’s a memory that still haunts them. The Tigers lost the game 27-24, capped off by a 31-yard Hail Mary with 32 seconds left in the game.

Many of Auburn’s key players in 2024 were on the field for that game, a memory that can only be erased by revenge on Saturday.

“That moment has been sitting with me for 365 days, so we’re creeping up on the 365th day,” sixth-year senior tight end Luke Deal told reporters Monday. “I think it’s going to fuel us a lot. And guys who experience that pain and experienced that low in our careers and our time here, that’s something that will definitely fuel us so we don’t go out like that again.”

Deal has been a part of more Iron Bowls than anyone else on the roster and is the only player left from Auburn’s last win over Alabama in 2019.

Jeremiah Wright, one of Auburn’s veteran offensive linemen, wasn’t playing in that 2019 game, but took in the scenes as a recruit. Wright described that as one of his best Iron Bowl memories, but 2023 was easily the most heartbreaking.

“It will always replay through our minds,” Wright said. “I still have family that calls me. They called me yesterday and were messing with me like, ‘what are you going to do?’ We’re just going to go back to the drawing board. We block out all of the outside noise.”

Much of the outside noise going into this year’s Iron Bowl is being directed toward Alabama, as the Crimson Tide limp into the game after a 24-3 loss to Oklahoma. Auburn comes in on a polar opposite note, knocking off then No. 15 Texas A&M in four overtimes.

Freshman defensive lineman Malik Blocton had a unique perspective on the 2023 Iron Bowl. He didn’t play in the game, but his brother, Marcus Harris, did.

Blocton was at the game as a recruit and saw firsthand what the loss meant to his brother as he played his last game at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

“It was crazy for me last year, I was at the game, and I see my brother walk off the field with tears in his eyes,” Blocton said. “I just don’t want that to be me on Saturday. That’s not going to be me.”

For Payton Thorne, Auburn’s starting quarterback and one of its leaders, he doesn’t want the team’s focus to be on the past.

“You remember, but you do your best not to dwell on it,” Thorne said. “You don’t want it to impact what we’re doing this week. Keep it in the back of your mind, remember for the right reasons, but don’t let it consume you.

“We’ve got a different team. So do they. And focused on the task at hand and doing everything we can to win the game on Saturday.”

If Auburn were to beat Alabama on Saturday, it would be the program’s first win in Tuscaloosa since 2010 and the first Iron Bowl win at all since 2019.

Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m