The 89th edition of the Iron Bowl between Alabama and Auburn will be played in Tuscaloosa at Bryant-Denny Stadium this Saturday. The last time the higher-ranked of the two teams lost in Tuscaloosa was in 2002 when the unranked Tigers beat No. 9-ranked Alabama. With the No. 13 Crimson Tide an 11.5-point favorite against unranked Auburn this time around, the team hopes recent history at home will repeat itself.
Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban was dominant at home against the Tigers, going 7-1, with the only loss being in 2010 against an undefeated and No. 1-ranked Auburn team led by Cam Newton that ended up winning the national championship.
Most of Alabama’s wins at home haven’t been particularly close either, as Alabama outscored Auburn 340-145 in Saban’s eight home Iron Bowl matchups, compared to just a 245-219 advantage when playing at Auburn. The Crimson Tide won by an average of 24.4 points per contest when playing in Tuscaloosa.
Saban has credited fans multiple times for helping bring an electric environment to Bryant-Denny and affecting Auburn.
“We had a great crowd and a great atmosphere,” Saban said after winning 52-21 over the Tigers in 2018. “Certainly thank everyone who contributed to that atmosphere. It was great to be a part of.”
Home field advantage at Bryant-Denny Stadium was a big part of Saban’s run from 2011-2022, during which he had more national championship wins (five) than losses at home (four). The dynasty Saban built rarely allowed inferior opponents to come into Tuscaloosa and win.
More often than not, whenever games are played at Bryant-Denny Stadium, the better team almost always wins, and fans rarely, if ever, see unexpected things happen.
Then there’s Jordan-Hare Stadium.
To say weird things happen in Auburn’s home stadium would be an understatement. A perfect example came just last week when No. 15-ranked Texas A&M traveled to Jordan-Hare to play against an unranked Auburn team that had struggled up to that point with a 4-6 record and 1-5 record in SEC play.
Saban knew that playing at Jordan-Hare Stadium, no matter how much better on paper the team was than the Tigers, was a dangerous task, issuing a warning to the Aggies during College Gameday.
“I would be alerting Texas A&M,” Saban said. “In my opinion, in 17 years of playing in Jordan-Hare, that place is haunted.”
However, the warning wasn’t enough. Auburn upset Texas A&M 43-41 in a wild game with four overtimes that ended with a wide-open Aggies receiver dropping the ball in the end zone on a 2-point conversion.
The weirdness is especially present during the Iron Bowl. Saban’s Alabama teams repeatedly fell victim to strange things that happened in Auburn, most notably the famous “Kick Six” play in 2013, which ended No. 1 ranked Alabama’s hopes of a three-peat.
But it wasn’t just 2013 that saw Alabama lose crushingly at Jordan-Hare. In the 2017 game in Auburn, the No. 1 Crimson Tide suffered its first loss of the season, a 26-14 defeat.
The 2019 Iron Bowl in Jordan-Hare once again saw some unordinary things contributing to Alabama’s 49-45 defeat, including quarterback Mac Jones coming in for injured Tua Tagovailoa and throwing two pick-sixes. The second pick-six was an especially absurd play, as a goal-line pass to running back Najee Harris bounced off his back and right into the hands of Auburn linebacker Zakoby McClain, who took it back the entire 100 yards for a pick-six that put Auburn up 37-31.
Near the end of the game, Alabama kicker Joseph Bulovas was lined up for a chip-shot 30-yard field goal to tie the game at 48, but the kick bounced off the left upright and was no good. The game ended with Auburn getting a first down after an Alabama substitution penalty for too many men on the field on fourth down.
Saban’s last two trips to Auburn in 2021 and 2023 finally saw luck turn in his favor. In the former trip, the No. 3-ranked Crimson Tide sneaked by unranked Auburn with a 24-22 win thanks to a 97-yard touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter by quarterback Bryce Young that forced overtime. Then, in overtime, Young connected with wide receiver John Metchie for the dagger 2-point conversion to escape Jordan-Hare with a win.
The 2023 version of the game saw No. 8 Alabama again sneak by unranked Auburn with a 27-24 win, this time thanks to the “Gravedigger” play in which quarterback Jalen Milroe completed a pass to wide receiver Isaiah Bond on fourth and 31 for a game-winning touchdown with just 32 seconds left in the game. Saban expressed his gratitude after the game for finally having a crazy play go his way in Auburn.
“There’s been some weird stuff that happened here,” Saban said. “And this is the first time I can remember it going in our favor.”
New head coach Kalen DeBoer won’t have to deal with the weird things that happen at Jordan-Hare just yet, as his first Iron Bowl will be at home in Tuscaloosa. DeBoer will hope the recent Iron Bowl history in Bryant-Denny will repeat itself, and the Crimson Tide can continue its success at home this season, having gone 6-0 at Bryant-Denny.
DeBoer also looks forward to experiencing the atmosphere on Saturday and the rivalry between the two schools on different sides of the state for the first time.
“It’s going to be an awesome environment, we know that,” DeBoer said. “I’ve heard stories of families being divided because of it. That’s what rivalry games are all about, and this is a rivalry that’s on another level.”
