This first appeared in Kevin Scarbinsky’s weekly newsletter. Subscribe to get it in your inbox every Thursday, $5/month or $50/year.

When your team goes on a hot streak, it’s because your team is good and getting better. When your rival rips off a string of victories, well, look at who they played.

No one plays these rivalry reindeer games like Alabama and Auburn fans. At the moment, the Auburn family is feeling better about its Tigers than it has in years after three straight wins. That run should be four after New Mexico State’s visit Saturday although the Aggies are 8-3 and have clinched a spot in the Conference USA Championship Game against Liberty.

The Crimson Nation, naturally, pokes fun at Auburn’s improved bottom line bolstered by a succession of bottom-feeders in Mississippi State, Vanderbilt and Arkansas. State just fired its coach. No one would be surprised if Vandy and Arky did the same.

You have to wonder, though, if some Alabama fans are doing a little whistling toward the graveyard known as Jordan-Hare.

It’s not just that Auburn has settled on one quarterback in Payton Thorne, who’s come light years from that Week 2 trip to Cal. Or that Jarquez Hunter has begun to fulfill his potential with three straight 100-yard rushing games. Or that a reliably feisty Auburn defense has welcomed a newly potent offense to the party.