The lights turn off at the end of the third quarter. The beaming overhead LEDs illuminating the field against the dark night sky give way to blue and orange. Fans light up the stadium bowls with cell phone flashlights and a highlight reel of Iron Bowls past blasted on the video board. Navy blue shakers shook and the noise inside an already deafening stadium rose to an intimidating swell.

Then over it all the instantly recognizable high-pitched ring in the intro of “Swag Surfin” by Fast Life Yungstaz and a student section swinging their arms over each other to sway together — offbeat — to the music.

Jordan-Hare Stadium has long been known as one of the best game-day atmospheres in the SEC and college football. But on Saturday for the Iron Bowl as Auburn took a lead into the fourth quarter over No. 8 Alabama, it showcased this legendary grounds at its best. That cascade of coordination, noise and visual effects showed the dozens of high-ranking recruits on the field the scene they could play in — many of them joined in the chaos — and a video posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, of the pre-fourth quarter festivities went viral with over 1 million views as fans of various programs complimented how cool it must be to play at Auburn.

But how does this complex setup come together?

Much of the duty falls on Paris Buchanan, Auburn’s director of fan experience. His nickname around the athletic department is “Pyro Paris.”

Buchanan came to Auburn in March from Ole Miss, already having a relationship with many of the new staff members at Auburn who came with athletic director John Cohen from Mississippi State. Ole Miss’ stadium historically hasn’t been regarded as highly as Auburn’s atmosphere, but recent years under Buchanan saw improvements to gameday festivities taking advantage of new technologies.

Much of what’s been seen this season is already existing technology at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Buchanan said it often takes a full offseason to full offseason to plan stadium changes, and he didn’t have that this year.

Buchanan said he and Auburn staff looked at college football programs across the country, including his own previous stop at Ole Miss, as well as MLB, NFL and NBA venues for ideas.

“Definitely not coming in and trying to bulldoze it because it doesn’t need it,” Buchanan said of initial planning for this season. “But being very intentional at how we look at different elements.”

That includes the fourth quarter sequence. “Swag Surfin” and the LED lighting aren’t new. The pregame ceremonies are not new, bar for a few lighting changes that, because of kickoff times this year, were not taken advantage of.

What Auburn did add in year one under Cohen was eight new lighting fixtures above the video board which swing spotlights around the stadium as well as smoke machine carts placed in each corner that were fired after Auburn touchdowns.

“The road map was kind of drawn out, the plans were there,” Buchanan said. “We just wanted to enhance it.”

Buchanan said part of the fan experience alterations included off-field additions including the streaming service War Eagle+. It’s an in-house platform producing behind-the-scenes content, but costing $14.99 per month.

Auburn added light fixtures into the tunnel for Auburn’s pre-game runout. The LED bulbs were used in new ways including lighting up the stadium orange on the eve of home games.

There’s still more to come. Many of the ideas for lighting and pyrotechnics require a night sky, and Auburn didn’t have a true nighttime kickoff in Jordan-Hare Stadium this season. Auburn tried using its light shows anyway under the late afternoon sky. Buchanan said the stadium lights were set up to illuminate the Tigers running out of the tunnel through the marching band, but fans would have never noticed it because the sun was still up every time.

Buchanan did not want to reveal many specifics about ideas to come next season. He said there are “two or three things” schools around the country have used which he hopes to implement at Auburn.

One of those, Buchanan suggested, could be the addition of drone shows — which have been used previously at Ole Miss and Mississippi State.

“I think next year we have a better understanding of things that worked versus things that maybe need improvement,” Buchanan said. “There are things that are in stadiums right now, different technologies that can be used that are really, really cool and people look at and say ‘Wow, I’ve never seen that before.’ or ‘I’ve never been a part of something like that.’ And they’re really fun and engaging. People will be very surprised and thrilled when it happens.”

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]