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One of college football’s great rivalry games will take place this weekend when Auburn travels to face Alabama in Tuscaloosa on Saturday night. The Tigers are already throwing gasoline on the fire five days before kickoff!
Freshman linebacker Demarcus Riddick went out of his way to disparage a pair of Crimson Tide superstars. He also made a promise to the Auburn fanbase as the team looks to pull the upset.
Alabama enters the matchup reeling from a blowout loss to Oklahoma. That defeat ended the squad’s SEC Championship hopes while potentially silencing any College Football Playoff talk. Auburn, meanwhile, is riding high after taking down No. 15 Texas A&M. They want to keep that momentum rolling!
The Tigers nearly knocked off their archrival last season with Alabama needing a miracle 4th-and-31 conversion on a late Jalen Milroe touchdown pass to win. Auburn was stunned! You could hear a pin drop in Jordan-Hare Stadium.
They’ll look for revenge in Bryant-Denny Stadium this November, and one newcomer is speaking an upset into existence. Demarcus Riddick says he “will not lose to Alabama” while he’s on the roster. A bold statement, for sure!
He continued on in a recent media appearance to put down the talents of Jalen Milroe and Ryan Williams, questioning the quarterback’s speed and his wideout’s abilities.
“Ryan Williams, in my eyes, he ain’t really nobody to me,” Riddick said of the rookie who’s racked up a team-high 804 yards this season. “He ain’t no big-time player.”
He also claimed to be faster than Milroe, who was clocked at 22.5 MPH earlier this year on a long touchdown run against LSU. We’ll see if he can track him down on Saturday!
Here is the video of Riddick’s comments from Monday’s media availably.@abc3340 https://t.co/TSLeuC6JkX pic.twitter.com/jFUdBgWnw8
— Johnny Congdon (@congdonsation) November 25, 2024
The trash talk only provides bulletin board material for the Alabama Crimson Tide, who now find themselves in a “must-win” situation as it pertains to slim playoff hopes. The fans in Tuscaloosa will be sure to let Demarcus Riddick hear it should their two superstars reach paydirt in the contest.
College football is the best, and rivalries like this make it so. Riddick is already playing a villain role in Year 1 on campus. The Iron Bowl can’t get here soon enough!