November is a time of tradition. The NFL runs a trio of games on Thanksgiving. The Iron Bowl is played the following Saturday. Mariah Carey rises up the charts. But there’s a less-celebrated holiday featured this time of year and for Alabama football, it comes this Saturday.

Before playing its rivalry game against Auburn and embarking on a postseason run, the Tide will have a non-power conference opponent come into Tuscaloosa for a likely blowout win. Across collegiate sports, it’s commonly called a “guarantee game” or “buy game.”

The Tide will pay the Chattanooga Mocs of the Southern Conference $600,000 for the trip to Tuscaloosa. It’ll be senior day in Bryant-Denny Stadium ahead of the 11 a.m. kickoff.

“We have to play one of those games,” Chattanooga athletic director Mark Wharton told Forbes, confirming the value of the contract. ” … It’s a great benefit and certainly a recruiting tool for us.”

In September, Alabama played the opener in a three-game, two-for-one series with South Florida. The teams will pay $400,000 for each other’s travel costs for the first two years before the Tide pays USF $1 million in 2026. In 2022, early-season guarantee games against Louisiana-Monroe and Utah State cost UA nearly $4 million, leading to a combined final score of 118 to 7.

Those matchups allow the Tide to settle into the season and figure out its roster. In Tampa on Sept. 16, Alabama played Ty Simpson and Tyler Buchner in a rain-soaked slog that was the palette cleanser the team needed for its current eight-game winning streak. The November game, like Chattanooga this weekend and Mercer in 2024 (another $600,000) are, as Nick Saban puts it, unique challenges to maintain the intensity before de-facto playoff games.

“For our team, this is either a game that you focus on correctly, you go out and practice and prepare correctly, and you build on the momentum that you’ve improved with over the last weeks. And that helps you get better for what’s coming up in the future. If don’t do that, you don’t have a good showing, you sort of lose your rhythm and rhythm is a little bit like momentum. Sometimes you lose momentum in the game (and) it’s hard to get it back,” said Saban Monday.

The Tide hosted the Mocs seven years ago before the Iron Bowl, paying $500,000. It also hosted Mercer in 2017, leading to another six-figure pay-out, according to contracts reviewed by AL.com. Sometimes, schools are able to replicate travel plans.

Mercer bookended its last trip to Alabama with another Iron Bowl matchup the following year. Alabama’s 2021 late-season opponent, New Mexico State, earned $1.9 million after losing to the Tide. The Aggies will take a $1.85 million check for a trip to Hugh Freeze and co. this weekend.

The last time Alabama played Chattanooga, the Mocs held a 3-0 lead through the first quarter before the Tide scored two touchdowns before halftime. Saban told ESPN sideline reporter Olivia Harland he was “embarrassed” by UA’s effort.

While the game allows the Tide to rest injured players or get its underclassmen significant snaps, Saban mentioned on Thursday during his appearance on The Pat McAfee Show that Alabama can’t afford anything but a dominant win due to the “expectation” from the College Football Playoff committee.

“I don’t know if you call it the eye test,” said Saban, “but I just think you want your team to play well so you’re continuing to build this momentum and rhythm that make people want to look at your team as very good team that should be considered for whatever the circumstance might wind up to be.

“We’re trying to emphasize with the players, and they’ve responded fairly well, but the number one focus this week needs to be on this game. We need to take care of business in this game.”

Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State, Florida State, Washington, Oregon and Texas are currently ranked ahead of the No. 8 Tide and while UA should have a chance for a statement win during the SEC title game, it can’t concede cheap points to an inferior opponent.

Nick Alvarez is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nick_a_alvarez or email him at [email protected].