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"