This is an opinion column.

Nate Oats has a way with words. He has a knack for saying the quiet part out loud in a way that causes Alabama fans to chortle and Auburn fans in particular to bristle.

He did it last week prior to IBOB 2 when he compared the unsurpassed atmosphere in Auburn’s raucous Jungle to a much larger version of a high school gym. It was a genuine compliment from the former high school coach, though neither fan base read it that way, and it gave the Jungle’s inhabitants an extra measure of pleasure as the Tigers took apart the Tide.

It wasn’t the first time Oats went there. One year, one day and two actual Super Bowls ago, after his team survived a scary trip to the Plains enroute to the SEC regular-season championship, he threw this rose with thorns to the home team and home crowd that brought it but went home without it:

“I know it was their Super Bowl.”

Pithy. Snarky. Worthy of the SEC’s best roundball rivalry. On brand. But off the mark.