The University of Alabama Football and Crimson Tide Sports Source
April 25, 2024
November 27, 2015
Iron Bowl 80
Both of these teams have been playing football since the 1890s and they played each other until 1907. Then the series was suspended over per diem for the visiting team. They would not play for 41 years then at long last the Alabama general assembly, boosters and others got together and some say forcing the renewal of the series in 1949. It was played in Birmingham, hence the name Iron Bowl, until the 1980s, when Auburn insisted on a home and home series. That’s where we stand today.
Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant once referred to Auburn as that cow college on the other side of the state. Bryant did not like losing to Auburn and reeled off nine straight 1973-81. Auburn ruled the roost winning six straight 2000-07. The series has become amazingly competitive of late.
Alabama won last year in a shootout 55-44 the highest scoring game ever played between the two. It was a game in which Auburn Coach Gus Malzahn said Auburn should have scored 60, as his team bogged down in the red-zone settling for five field goals. Last year Alabama was often forced to outscore opponents because their defensive secondary was so suspect. That’s the nicest way to put it.
Over the last several years, five or so as the fast-tempo, hurry up, no huddle offenses have come into vogue, it has been surmised that these are Alabama Coach Nick Saban’s kryptonite. Gus Malzahn is one of the architects of that style of offense and has been a thorn in Saban’s and Alabama’s side since 2010.
This year Alabama has figured out how to substitute players quickly, which these offenses were designed to prevent. The Tide defensive secondary has grown over the course of the year and the young players have taken some licks but have emerged as a force to be reckoned with.
That brings us to Iron Bowl 2015. Alabama is returning to the scene of the infamous “Kick Six.” The 2013 team left Auburn having lost under the most unlikely of circumstances and then fell to Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl. Not a really good way to end the season. This year, Auburn was supposed to be the team to beat in the SEC. Interestingly, the media picked Alabama to win the SEC west and Auburn to win the SEC. Auburn quarterback Jeremy Johnson was touted as a Heisman Trophy candidate.
Things did not go as scripted for Auburn. They come into the game 6-5, last in the SEC west and in the mood to play spoiler. If Auburn beats Alabama tomorrow it will be the biggest upset in the series. For Tide fans, no matter how it happens, it will wreck the holidays and just leave a very bad feeling in west Alabama and the whole of the Bama Nation. The question that must be asked is can Auburn defeat Alabama?
The answer is yes, anything is possible. Auburn will come out tomorrow fired up. They’ll have the eagle, Cam Newton and a huge crowd behind them. Alabama will have to weather the storm and figure out a way to run on a defense that will be stacked to stop the run. Auburn on the other hand will have to find a way to move the ball on the Alabama defense, which has been stout this season.
I don’t think Auburn can pull the upset. Though the game will probably be closer that people expect, but Alabama will win. My guess Alabama 35 Auburn 20.
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