Welp, this message from the Crimson Tide's coach is sure to make waves in the state of Alabama.

Alabama coach Nick Saban said players in his locker room look forward to the Tennessee game (Oct. 15) more than they do the Iron Bowl rivalry with Auburn at the end of the season.

“I don’t think there’s any question about it,” Saban said on his radio show Thursday night, according to BamaOnline.com. “I think you get, very quickly, a feel for what your own players on your own team, even that were here before you came here, what’s important to them. And it was very obvious to me that the Tennessee game was always the biggest game, was always the biggest game for us. That’s no disrespect to Auburn or the great Iron Bowl rivalry, but to our players and a lot of our fans, the Tennessee game -- because of the tradition of the game. It didn’t take long to figure that out.”

Saban said the Tennessee game was always the biggest game to the players. No disrespect to Auburn. — Charlie Potter (@Charlie_Potter) September 30, 2016

Nick Saban said the Tennessee game is the biggest game to the players. Said that's no disrespect to the Iron Bowl. — Aaron Suttles (@AaronSuttles) September 30, 2016

Saban is 6-3 against Auburn as the Crimson Tide's head coach. Alabama has won four of the last five games in the Iron Bowl rivalry. The Tigers last knocked off Alabama in 2013 with the famous Kick Six return of a missed field goal as time expired.

"We're pretty good with those 1-second-on-the-clock games," Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said on his radio show Thursday.

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Auburn is coming off an 18-13 victory against LSU in which a game-winning touchdown pass was waved off because the play clock hit zero after the ball was set for the offense with 1 second remaining.

No. 1 Alabama (4-0) hosts Kentucky at 6 p.m. CT Saturday on ESPN. Auburn hosts ULM at 2:30 p.m. CT on Saturday. The game will be televised on the SEC Network Alternate channel.