The Iron Bowl

This picture shows the significance of the rivalry
 including what happens when Auburn fans and
Alabama fans live in the same house.

 

This past week in College Football was Rivalry Week.  There were many great rivalry games such as The Civil War between Oregon and Oregon St.  There was the game between Ohio St. and Michigan, Florida vs Florida St., and USC vs Notre Dame among all the other rivalries. The one that has significance for me is the Iron Bowl which is Alabama against Auburn.  This is a big rivalry to determine yearly football dominance of the state of Alabama.  The National Champions have come from the state of Alabama for the past three years (two for Alabama, one for Auburn) so it is always a big game to end the season. 

Serving an LDS Mission in Alabama I know how big this rivalry is.  Everywhere you go within the state there are a significant amount of Alabama fans as well as Auburn fans, more for one side depending on where you are.  There are many flags and banners at houses, decorations on cars and the people there aren’t afraid to be vocal about their team and why they are better than the other.  The Iron Bowl usually falls on the Saturday of Thanksgiving Weekend, but when I was there in 2010 it was the day following Thanksgiving.  Forget Black Friday sales or the retaliating from the feasts of the day before, the day was ruled by this game.  I would even say that the Iron Bowl is just as big if not bigger than Thanksgiving itself. My companion and I had better luck talking to people on Thanksgiving, whereas on Iron Bowl day, people were freaking out even more on us when we would knock on the door.

  The rivalry is so big that ESPN even decided to make an hour long video about it called Roll Tide/War Eagle.  It goes in depth about the history of the rivalry, what it means to the state, and of course a number of different opinions from fans and players from both sides. 

This week was the 77^th Edition of the Iron Bowl which was played in Tuscaloosa.  Alabama came into the game 10-1 and still in the hunt for back to back National Championships.  Auburn on the other hand was 3-8, eliminated from bowl contention and without a win in the SEC.  Still Auburn would like nothing more but to ruin Alabama’s chance for another championship.  I have heard even that Auburn would rather beat Alabama than win a national championship.  I don’t know for sure if that is true, but the game is played for both sides as if nothing else mattered but to beat their in-state rival.

On to the game, Alabama jumped out to an early start due to some key penalties by Auburn and put the ball in the end zone to go up 7-0.  As the game went on Alabama proved to be too much for the reeling Tigers.  With a 42-0 lead at half time, the Tide began to take their feet off the gas.  After they scored on their opening drive of the second half to go up 49-0, they put in their back up players who also drove up and down the field on the Tigers first team.  The score remained the same the rest of the game with Auburn not able to do anything on offense and another year of boasting on who was the better team went the way of the Crimson Tide. Even though the score showed that Alabama is the better team this year, the game each year is still one of the biggest rivalries in all of college football.  Roll Tide reigns supreme for now and looks as if they will continue to for years to come.  What will Auburn do to stop them and gain back state-wide supremacy?   Ask a fan or a player and they will say the result will be different next year and that the Tide better watch out because the Tigers are coming.  I hope this post helps to educate all who reads a little more about why this is one of the biggest Rivalries in the Sport.

The video below is the first part of The ESPN 30 for 30 film Roll Tide/War Eagle.  For the other parts they should all be on youtube as well. 

"http://www.youtube.com/embed/0ROiJGvKiP8"

 

Fight to the Finish

For those of you who haven’t been following College Football the past two weeks a lot has happened to determine the two teams that will play in the National Championship.  Two weeks ago, Number 1 seed Alabama lost at home in a close game to Texas A and M led by Freshman standout quarterback Johnny Manziel 29-24.  That game would have made many people believe that game would cost the Crimson Tide a shot at winning their 15^th National Championship.  They knew though that a loss by two of the top three teams that were ahead of them would put them right back in the championship picture.

This past week after the Tide rolled Western Carolina 49-0 that very thing happened.  The current top ranked team the Kansas State Wildcats traveled to play the unranked Baylor Bears.  At nearly the same time, the 2^nd rank Oregon Ducks were at home playing against the Stanford Cardinals.  At the end of the night the Bears beat K-State 52-24 and the Ducks went down 17-14 in Overtime.  With the top two seeds losing on the same night for the first time since 2007.  That leaves Notre Dame sitting on top of College Football and Alabama sitting right behind them with two weeks left.

Notre Dame finishes out the season this Saturday against an always competitive USC program and with a win they will secure a spot in the title game in Miami.  The Tide has a tougher test but a great shot nonetheless to meet them there.  They play this Saturday in one of the greatest rivalries in the nation, the Iron Bowl against the Auburn Tigers which I will talk about in a later post.  With a win they would go to the SEC Championship game against the 3^rd ranked Georgia Bulldogs with the winner, if both clubs are both at one loss, to head to Miami.

There is a lot to look forward to in the coming weeks of College Football.  Can Notre Dame and Alabama take care of business?  Or will another team sneak by them and create space for other teams to play on January 7^th in Miami? These next two weeks you won’t want to miss.  I am very excited to see what happens.  This is why I love College Football.   

(below is the current BCS Standing the top two teams at the end of the year will meet for the National Championship)
http://espn.go.com/college-football/bcs

Big Rivalry and Crazy Game 3

The big game this past weekend in College Football was the National Championship rematch between Alabama and LSU.  This was the third time in which the two teams have played within the past two years.  This was also the biggest game for both teams to keep their National Championship hopes for this year alive.  Anyone who missed this game, missed one heck of a game.

The two previous games were split between the schools in two highly competitive games. LSU won the game in Tuscaloosa, Alabama last November in Overtime 9-6 in a defensive battle in which neither team reached the endzone.  Alabama forced a rematch in the National Championship and dominated another defensive slugfest.  In that game Alabama held the LSU Tigers scoreless, not even allowing them across the 50 yard line. The Alabama Crimson Tide won that game 21-0 scoring the first touchdown between the two in the series late in the game.  So heading into Saturday there was a lot of hype to whom the better team is and who would win the rubber match.

Going into this game both squads were ranked high in the BCS Standings, Alabama ranked as the Number 1 team and LSU at 5.  Alabama was undefeated so far and the favorite to win their second straight National Championship, their third in four years.  LSU lost their only game earlier this year to the Florida Gators.  When it came to this game however, there was no question that this would be a highly competitive defensive war. 

Both teams this year once again have one of the best defenses in the Nation so a low scoring game with very few touchdowns was expected before the game was played.  The game lived up to expectations and defense ruled the game for both teams, however a stellar play on offense was the difference.  There was a total of five touchdowns between the two, compared to one in the previous two games combined.  With the score 17-14 for LSU late in the game, Alabama drove the length of the field and set up a screen pass from quarterback AJ McCarron to Freshman running TJ Yeldon with less than a minute left to score the game winning touchdown.  It was an amazing game played well by both teams in which I could go on and on with how great it was.  It was definitely a great way to end a great week of College Football and a game that I will never forget.