One of the fiercest rivalries in college football and American football in general, the Iron Bowl is the annual game played between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Auburn Tigers.
With the storied Crimson Tide program going into each year usually as the favorite in recent times, some of the results in the past 25 years have been historic, both in entertainment value and result. Ranging from the “Kick Six” in 2013 to the “The Fumble” in 1997, it’s a fixture that never leaves anyone wanting more.
Iron Bowl Overview
With 36 SEC titles, the vast majority in the hands of the Alabama Crimson Tide, the Iron Bowl is a fixture in the college football calendar that draws attention from across the US. The history of the Iron Bowl has its roots in the 1860s, when each university competed heavily for reconstruction funds following the Civil War. Nowadays, these rivalry games are even more exciting, with sports betting options available at https://www.bovada.lv/sports/football.
With Auburn not receiving any grant, and Alabama professors lobbying against them receiving any for decades after, the matchup has often been known as one of the fiercest college football rivalries. The teams first met in 1893, and games have been spectacles ever since, with each side now having stadiums with more than an 80,000 capacity.
Across the last 25 years, the Iron Bowl has really grown from a great contest to a legendary one. So many storied games have taken place we’ve hardly got space for them all, with last-minute winners and insane drama becoming the norm. With the next Iron Bowl CBS game always around the corner, there’s every reason to tune in to what could be the next thrilling installment.
2019: Auburn 48, Alabama 45
A real neck-and-neck match, 2019 is perhaps best remembered for the emergence of Mac Jones as a future superstar at quarterback, who replaced the injured Tua Tagovailoa. With Auburn losing with just 1:04 left on the clock, the Tigers decided on the novel approach of playing their punter out wide, leading Alabama to concede a penalty for having too many players on the field. Snatching a first down, the Tigers used this to run out the clock, knocking Alabama out of playoff contention for the first time since 2014.
1997: Auburn 18, Alabama 17
What a game this was. Often called “The Fumble” for Ed Scissum’s fumbled pass on what could have been a game-sealing first down for the Crimson Tide, the game is remembered for its last-minute drama. This includes the famous game call by Jim Fyffe where he repeated “long enough, high enough, It’s good! It’s good! It’s good! It’s good! It’s good! It’s good!” on Auburn’s win stealing field goal.
2005: Auburn 28, Alabama 17
2005 became known as “The Sack Game”, and for a good reason. Poor Alabama Quarterback Brodie Croyle got destroyed by the Auburn defense, being sacked eleven times as the Auburn Tigers surged to victory. Not that Croyle would let that keep him down for long, playing a massive role in the Crimson Tide’s Cotton Bowl victory the following year.
2010: Auburn 28, Alabama 27
In one of the most fierce meetings in college football history, Alabama scored 24 unanswered points, taking what should have been an unassailable lead in front of 101,000 at the Bryant-Denny Stadium. But it wasn’t. Led by a brilliant performance from Auburn’s Heisman trophy-winning quarterback Cam Newton, in what came to be known as “The Camback”, Auburn came back to win 28-27 in a win that would be crucial to their undefeated National Championship that season.
2013: Auburn 34, Alabama 28
In what was perhaps the most dramatic Iron Bowl ever (though that one’s far too tough for us to call), Auburn seized a last-minute win. Alabama came into the game as massive 10-point favorites and as the nation’s No.1 ranked team. Level at 28-28, and with only one second remaining, Alabama attempted to go for the last-minute win, giving Adam Griffith a 57-yard field goal attempt.
After kicking the football just yards short, the ball fell into the waiting hands of cornerback Chris Davis in the end zone. From there, Davis sprinted 109 yards, receiving multiple blocks, to score a touchdown and secure an incredible victory for the Tigers. Quickly earning the name “The Kick Six”, 87,000 fans at the stadium and 11.8 million on TV watched what would later be named ESPN’s ESPY best game of any sport that year.
