Alabama Fan Sets the Iron Bowl Straight

This article is long overdue.  I have seen the Auburn faithful spin the Iron Bowl statistics far too long. They've gotten away with it recently because of "6."  As a result, the orange and blue nation has published articles ad nauseum of how Auburn has "dominated Alabama" throughout their great history together. But the Tide has turned, and now is the time to set straight the Iron Bowl history, and put this great rivalry in perspective.

To begin, the Auburn people are famous for using "selective statistics" to support their argument for their "dominance over Alabama." Initially, they'll pit head-to-head records by decade to "prove" how they have "dominated" the series since the beginning.  The article below is one example.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/283671-flag-wars-an-auto-anatomy-of-the-rivalry-between-auburn-and-alabama/page/2

Then, they boast about what they did "before Bear came" to Alabama, and what they've accomplished against us "after Bear left."  This argument isn't even worthy of a response.  But it gives me great joy to know that the men and women of Auburn can't even MENTION the coach Bryant era. 

Yes, it was that bad for the Auburn faithful; as head coach of The University, he won 19 games against Auburn in 25 years, and during that span, he won nine in a row, five in a row, and four in a row!

But, to be truthful, that ISN'T what digs at Auburn's side.  What digs at their side is the championships.  It's the national championships and the conference championships.  Coach Bryant won 13 conference titles and six national titles.  Auburn will never have a coach that accomplishes that feat.  But they're not alone; no one in the entire country will ever have a coach that will accomplish that feat.  Not in my lifetime.

But let's set another record straight.  Despite their lack of championships, be it national or in the conference, the Auburn people share a passion for their football program that takes a back seat to no one!  They live and die for all things Auburn football, and as a die-hard fan of college football and everything that surrounds it, I truly respect it. It's what makes this rivalry so great, and it's what makes high school football in the state of Alabama so great.

However, that love for all things Auburn has caused some to lose a little perspective.  But it's understandable, and it's one of the reasons for writing this article.  And so, with that, here are the major myths dispelled.

Here is one of the famous quotes I've seen through the years: "The Bear was hired to end Auburn's dominance."

Part of the reason that coach Bryant was hired was to beat our rival.  If you don't beat your rivals, you get fired.  You guys know that as well as we do.  But that was only a very small part of the reason, and I'll explain why.

From 1892 until Coach Bryant was hired in 1958, Alabama was the face and flag bearer of football in the South.  In 1922, Alabama was the first team to win above the Mason-Dixon line when we beat mighty Penn (considered of the best teams in the country) in Pennsylvania.  And, as it has been heavily recorded, Alabama was the first team to be invited to and win the Rose Bowl in 1926. 

That win was considered one of the most important moments in the HISTORY of the South at the time, as the team witnessed massive celebrations at every stop across the South on their train ride home from California, congratulating the first of our six national championships before the Bryant Era. 

But, more than anything else, Coach Bryant was hired to return Alabama to NATIONAL prominence, which has been ingrained in The University ever since the great George Denny became president in 1912.  Our focus is, and always will be, to be the best in the COUNTRY.  And when that happens, being the best in our state will fall in line.

Coach Bryant has forever changed the landscape of college football in the entire country, let alone the landscape of our great rivalry.  But while we're speaking of coach Bryant's dominance, did you Auburn fans know that, during the first six games of his nine-game winning streak, Auburn scored only six touchdowns! In six years! The only other scoring Auburn did was kick four field goals during that span.  Now that's dominance, and I would DEFINITELY hate Alabama because of it, if I were an Auburn fan.

But don't lose perspective, friends of the orange and blue.  Coach Bryant only won HALF of our national titles (I know, I know: The Auburn faithful has written dissertations on how Alabama really hasn't won 12 national titles.  My only response is to check out the NCAA Web site and let me know how many national titles they say we, and Auburn, have). 

We won many before he was hired, and we'll win many more in the post-Bryant era. 

Ask ANY coach in the country: they coach the game to win conference and national championships. Everything else is secondary.  Gene Chizik is at Auburn for one reason: to win a championship.

Now, since this fact is true, and Auburn holds the edge over Alabama (for now) over the past 20 years, what has Auburn done with their recent "dominance" over Alabama?  Here's what Auburn has won in the past 20 years: one conference championship in 1989 and one conference championship in 2004.  In other words, they won two conference titles in 15 years, and only one of them during one of the darkest periods in the history of their arch rival, if not the darkest period.  It's called epic fail , and the outlook doesn't look good.

I was honored to experience our 12th national title in the 1993 Sugar Bowl, and let me tell you, Auburn men and women, THERE IS NOTHING LIKE IT IN THE WORLD.  Do you want to know why Alabama fans are crazy?  Do you want to know why we have so many sidewalk alumni (which I love how you guys try to spin it as something that's a bad thing.  So what if a person from another school wants to be a fan of the Alabama football program? Are we supposed to turn them down at the door, or in their homes, or at the game?)?

Until we hired coach Saban, do you want to know why we continued our tireless search for a coach who would believe in himself and in the players he recruits enough to get us back to NATIONAL PROMINENCE after coach Bryant retired?  It is because we have been to the top.  It's because we've sat at the table of the best team in the country, and we want our seat back.  It's two words: national championships. 

It's two words that will forever separate Alabama and Auburn.

Everyone likes a winner, and it's too difficult to put into words the feeling of being there as your team is crowned as the best team in the entire country, but no other feeling compares to it; outside of becoming a Christian, getting married, and having children.  But the last part is just my personal opinion.

But for a minute, let's put aside national titles.  What's the only other thing that will make for an acceptable season?  Conference championships.  I have debated with the Auburn faithful—more times than I can count—about whether or not we can say our team had a successful season if it didn't win the conference title.  My thought is this: If your goal is to win the SEC title, and you don't win it for that given year, then you didn't reach your goal.  If you didn't reach your primary goal—the thing you wanted the most—you didn't have a successful season.

I will never believe there was ever an Auburn team who's primary goal wasn't to win the conference title, especially since the title game's inception in 1992.  But it's all subjective.

However, I submit that, if you seek to claim an edge over Alabama's football program, start with winning the Western Division and getting to Atlanta.  In other words, have you been a frequent or consistent visitor of the SEC championship game? 

You can start by going three years in a row, and going four times in five years.  Auburn has attended only three times in 11 years, and won it only once in 2004.

Including this year's SEC championship game, Alabama will have made back-to-back trips to the title game twice now.  The goal is to not be a flash in the pan.  You've got to strive to be a consistent winner.  The great tradition of Alabama is due to winning consistently, and dominating your opponents consistently.  Alabama does not play a team on its schedule that it has a losing record against.

Here's a final note to the supposed decade dominance, and selective statistics: The Auburn people claim they have dominated every decade before and after the coach Bryant era.  That's not true. In the '90s, Alabama holds that edge 7-3. 

My other problem with that argument is, why do people from Auburn pick decades to argue how "Auburn has dominated Alabama"?  You're twisting statistics to make something appear to be there that's not really there.  Here's what I mean: You say that Auburn dominated Alabama in the '80s.  But if you add two years to both sides of the '80s (1978-79 & 1990-91), Alabama holds the edge 8-6. 

You see what I'm doing? I'm twisting statistics.  Decades are nothing but years grouped in tens for dating purposes.  That's why everyone uses the TOTAL number of games played: because everything else is arbitrary .  Besides, even if I didn't add those four years, Alabama still wasn't dominated by Auburn in the '80s.

In conclusion, my honest wish is that both teams will one day be great as they renew their annual game in the Iron Bowl, and make this great rivalry an even greater one, as it was in the early '70s, late '80s, and early '90s. "Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."

Roll Tide!