On the Field, Auburn Has Moved on from "The Kick-6"

AUBURN, Ala. — It's hard to find a part of Auburn that hasn't been influenced by the ending to the 2013 Iron Bowl.

Former Tigers cornerback Chris Davis' game-winning, literally last-second, 109-yard field goal return to knock off No. 1 Alabama and send Auburn to the SEC Championship Game—more commonly known as "The Kick-Six"—is everywhere.

Just inside the Auburn Athletics Complex, which overlooks the side of Jordan-Hare Stadium where Davis first took the ball out of the end zone, the entire left side of the atrium is covered with an oversized photo of the postgame celebration:

Right before the kickoff of each home game this season, Auburn's hype video has started with an exaggerated clock countdown that stops at "0:01" and then launches into Davis' return:

Even Auburn University's commercial for 2014 is based on the play and the commencement speech from Stan White, the former Tigers quarterback who interjects alongside play-by-play man Rod Bramblett as Auburn's radio color commentator:

The team made news earlier this year when it painted Davis' path on the famous play onto Pat Dye Field for "Big Cat Weekend," its biggest recruiting event: 

"The Kick-Six" has surrounded everything Auburn football for the last year, and that's not counting the countless replays on television and online.

"I've seen it a couple times," senior wide receiver Quan Bray said Sunday night.

After a short pause, he quickly clarified.

"A couple hundred, seems like," Bray said with a laugh. "It shows everywhere, and that was a great play. It's going to be in history forever."

But even with all the hype surrounding the play and the amount of emphasis the university—and even the team—has put on it this season, Auburn's players and coaches want to make one thing clear.

“We’re not going to bring it up or talk about it, because it can’t help us this year," offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee said. "That was last year. This year is completely different, and we’re going to have to play even better this year."

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Even though Auburn will enter Saturday night's contest as two-score underdogs to Alabama, just like it was in last year's meeting, the Tigers have no plans to revisit the ever-present play as motivation to pull off another upset.

"It’s a new year," head coach Gus Malzahn said. "This is a new team, just like theirs is a new team. There are players who have overlapped that played in it, but this is a new year and a new game."

In fact, Auburn is looking at last year's game-winner, which was perhaps the most dramatic moment in the program's long history, as a potential distraction.

That's right—the play that helped send Auburn to Atlanta and Pasadena is somewhat of a problem this season.

"It’s one of those things you’ve got to deal with," Lashlee said. "Both sides have to deal with it because it’s kind of what comes with the week, just normal distractions and things that are out there. I don’t think it will bother our guys."

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Senior center Reese Dismukes said the constant replays haven't affected him, even though there are constant references to it on social media this week.

"I haven't really noticed much of that," Dismukes said. "I try not to read everything I see on Twitter. I haven't really seen it that much. Obviously on the little highlight reel, the one ESPN is doing, it has it from last year."

The stance of avoidance that Auburn is taking this week comes in the midst of a disappointing second half to the 2014 season, one that started with dreams of another conference title and another shot at the national championship.

Losses to Texas A&M and Georgia mathematically put the Tigers out of contention for both of those trophies, meaning that Saturday's game will be about being the spoiler instead of fighting for a semifinal spot.

"I think it’s the greatest college rivalry in football, and it will be hyped up," defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson said. "If we’d played a little bit better in two or three games this year, it’d be an even bigger one. Last year everybody had a stake in it. It was going to be huge. This year, we’re kind of the spoilers."

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Although "The Kick-Six" has and will continue to be replayed everywhere during Iron Bowl week, Auburn players say they know this is a completely different team and a completely different situation.

Because of that, there's no reason to look back.

"I think that's way behind us," Dismukes said. "We're way ahead of that now. Our main focus is this year and going in there and doing what we've got to do."

All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All recruiting rankings and information courtesy of 247Sports. All stats courtesy of cfbstats.com.

Justin Ferguson is Bleacher Report's lead Auburn writer. Follow him on Twitter @JFergusonAU.