AUBURN | What’s one of the best ways for a college football team to get over an embarrassing loss and turn their focus to the next opponent?

Well, a solution for a lot of coaches is to have his players knock the heck out of each other in the next practice.

That’s the approach Hugh Freeze intends to take with his Auburn team as it prepares for its annual Iron Bowl showdown a few days after a 31-10 loss to New Mexico State.

“Tuesday's practice needs to be physical,” said Freeze. “It needs to set the tone of what this game's going to be like, and you're going to get punched in the mouth this game. You better be ready to respond. It's going to be a physical test of your will and of you physically.”

The Tigers lost the physical battles on both sides of the line of scrimmage against the Aggies. They’ll be facing bigger, strong and more talented opponents against Alabama.

“Every time you're playing an SEC opponent … whoever dominates the line of scrimmage is going to win,” said senior offensive guard Kam Stutts. “So we're going to challenge each other this week and continue to get better in that area and hopefully we go out there and show it on the field.”

Auburn’s running backs were held to just 27 yards on nine carries against NMSU. Quarterback Payton Thorne was the leading rusher with 38 yards on 17 carries.

For the Tigers to even have a chance against the 8th-ranked Tide they’ll have to establish a much better running game and perform better on first and second down.

“In a game like this coming up, the most physical team will win,” said tight end Luke Deal. “That's something that we need to get started early and something that we make a point of emphasis all week.”

Kickoff at Jordan-Hare Stadium is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. CT on CBS.