Everyone's favorite college football games are the rivalry games. Two teams who hate each other face off in a stadium divided right down the middle.
To some teams, their fans, and their players, the rivalry game or games are more important than wins and losses, or going to a bowl game.
Nowhere in the United States is that more true than in the heart of Dixie when the Alabama Crimson Tide face in-state rivals the Auburn Tigers in the Iron Bowl.
The Iron Bowl gets its name from when it was played in Birmingham, Alabama. Birmingham is the center for Alabama's iron and steel production. The two teams met in Birmingham in 1893 for the first Iron Bowl, which Auburn won 32-22. In 1907 the series was suspended and wouldn't be renewed until 1948.
Alabama has the longest win streak in the series at nine games, but Auburn currently has won six in a row over the Tide. Bama leads the series 38-33-1
No other game comes close to the animosity of the Iron Bowl. Nowhere else in college football is there such love for one's team and pure hatred of the other.
- B/R Ticket Guide
Perhaps what makes this rivalry so great, unlike Texas and Oklahoma or Ohio State and Michigan, is that these two teams are in the same state. Fans of these two opposing teams work and even live together.
The Iron Bowl is not like other rivalries in the sense that Alabama and Auburn fans see each other every day—that's not always the case with many other rivalries. In no other rivalry do opposing fans come in contact with each other as much as they do in Alabama.
The Iron Bowl is a Civil War that erupts every year at the beginning of football season.
On the last weekend of football season, the state of Alabama comes to a standstill. All across the state, stores put signs in their doors saying, "Closed for the Iron Bowl." The day of the game, friendships and sometimes even marriages are put under strain.
On game day, perhaps the only thing more talked about than what happened in years past is what will happen next year.
The Iron Bowl is not just a one-week deal—it is a year-round rivalry. It is not uncommon to open a newspaper during March, when the rest of the nation is fawning over basketball, and see the sports section littered with news and predictions about Alabama and Auburn football.
In the great state of Alabama, people wear their football gear all year. It is common to see a Bama fan wearing a shirt reading, "I hate Orange" in May when baseball is in full swing.
It isn't just the legendary figures of Paul "Bear" Bryant, Shug Jordan, Joe Namath, or Bo Jackson that make this rivalry so great. It is the simple truth that in Alabama we have no professional sports teams. Fans in Alabama realize college football may be the closest thing we ever have.
Quite frankly, we wouldn't want it any other way.
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about 1 month ago
A very fitting and apt description of a classic rivalry.
Keep up the good work!
BT
from about 1 month ago
Thanks for the comment. I noticed you are from Dixie so if you don't mind me asking, where?
about 1 month ago
ROLL TIDE, Baby!!!!
My 2 year old twins say ROLL TIDE everytime they see an elephant. And when asked what elephants eat ...... tigers, of course!
from about 1 month ago
I love it elephants eat tigers, I'll have to remember that one. Do you live in alabama and if so where?
from about 1 month ago
Cody,
We live in the panhandle of Florida now because of my husbands job. However, when the twins were born I choose a hospital in Dothan so that my kids could sing Hank Williams "I was one of the chosen few to be born in Alabam."
from about 1 month ago
Okay. My daddys family is from the florida panhandle They are from Brat and Jay, the rest of his and part of my mamas family are from escambia county alabama and baldwin county: stockton, flomaton, atmore and brewton. So I know the area pretty well
about 1 month ago
Nice article! Not to demean your article (or that of anyone else who strives to explain the Iron Bowl) but I do not believe there are words to describe this rivalry. It has to be experienced.
We have lived it, yet we cannot accurately portray ourselves.
At the age of 56, I still remember neighborhood and school ground fights over the Iron Bowl -- and I was in the 4th grade, living in Columbus, GA! It was not until the 7th grade that I realized that there was University of Georgia. All we knew was Bear Bryant and Shug Jordan.
My heart swells with pride when I hear a 2 year old grandchild say "Roll Tide!" It begins early.
Again, loved the article Cody!
Papa
from about 1 month ago
Thats right Roll Tide Roll! Thanks I apreciate the comment and I agree with you there just isn't words to describe the atmosphere of the game and the whole state Its something truly amazing.
about 1 month ago
Great article Cody. I completely agree that the Iron Bowl is the greatest rivalry in college football. I hear all the time about OU & Mich and Army Navy, and back in the day OK & Neb. But none can compare to Alabama & Auburn.
Perfect example: This week a new gal was hired where I work @ the Harley dealership. All was OK until she started talking football, specifically Auburn football. Now thats not going to fly in a shop full of Bama fans. ( Not sure she's gonna make it their..lol)
But you made the point perfectly clear, we live together, work together, and both my neighbors to the right are Auburn fans and we hate them! Boy do we need to stop this run Auburn has had. I have had the pleasure of attending 4 Iron Bowls, 1 in Birmingham, 1 in Tuscaloosa, and 2 in Auburn. How sweet it was to get that first win on the plains! Words just do not describe the atmosphere at the Iron Bowl. 365 days a year are focused on one 60 minute game! Then we start the count down over again.
I love Alabama Football and I'm very excited about this years class and ROLL TIDE ROLL !!
"Give'm Hell Alabama"
Jim .. Prattville, Alabama
from about 1 month ago
Jim, I couldn't agree with you more. Roll Tide, and that streak they have, it ends this year.
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