AL.com’s 150 years, 150 moments in college football (2024)

College football celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2019, and coaches, players and teams from the state of Alabama were heavily involved in telling that story.

Earlier this season, we counted down the 150 biggest moments — the greatest games, coaches, players, plays and controversies — in college football in the state of the Alabama. As part of looking back on 2019 and in case you missed it, we have compiled the complete list here.

Happy holidays, and here's to 150 more.

(NOTE: This list was compiled prior to the 2019 season, and thus does not include any “moments” from this fall.)

Senior Bowl photo

150. Tiger to Tider for Senior Bowl win (1994)

The Senior Bowl has been played in Mobile for nearly 70 years, but rarely has it had such a rich in-state flavor as did the 1994 edition of the annual North vs. South college all-star game at Ladd-Peebles Stadium. The North team held a four-point lead with less than three minutes remaining in the game, when Auburn quarterback Stan White fired a 50-yard touchdown pass to Alabama’s Kevin Lee to give the South a 35-32 victory. White was named the game’s Most Valuable Player after throwing for 174 yards and three touchdowns.

Birmingham News file photo

149. Kent Waldrep’s life-changing injury (1974)

Alabama was on its way to a fourth straight SEC championship when it met lowly TCU at Legion Field in Birmingham on Oct. 26, 1974. The Crimson Tide ran away with a 41-3 victory, but one play in the second quarter changed Kent Waldrep’s life forever — along with that of Alabama coach Paul “Bear” Bryant. The TCU running back was paralyzed from the chest down after landing on his head while being tackled by several Alabama defenders and nearly died from complications of the injury. Bryant was at Waldrep’s bedside when he awoke after surgery, and the two became so close that Waldrep sat with Bryant’s family at the coach’s funeral in 1983. Waldrep later became an advocate for the disabled, and helped draft the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990.

AP photo by Rogelio V. Solis

148. South Alabama shocks Mississippi State (2016)

South Alabama was widely viewed as a commuter school with a decent history in baseball and basketball before the football program launched in 2009. The Jaguars won their first 19 games while transitioning to FBS, then reached a bowl game for the first time in 2014. But the program’s signature win came in the 2016 opener, when they shocked Mississippi State 21-20 in Starkville. The Bulldogs led 17-0 at halftime, only to see the Jaguars storm back and take the lead on Dallas Davis’ 4-yard touchdown pass to Gerald Everett and the subsequent extra point with 57 seconds to play. Joey Jones’ USA team then held its breath as Mississippi State missed a chip shot field goal as time expired and the Jaguars were victorious.

Birmingham News file photo

147. Jacksonville State wins national title (1992)

Bill Burgess and the Gameco*cks took home a national championship in their final season as a member of NCAA Division II, knocking off unbeaten Pittsburg State at Braly Stadium in Florence. JSU did it with defense, holding Harlon Hill Trophy winner Ronald Moore to just 83 yards rushing — less than half his average per game. Moore did return the opening kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown, but Jacksonville State rushed for 390 yards in rallying for the victory. Terence Bowens’ 5-yard touchdown run in the third quarter gave the Gameco*cks the lead for good, and JSU’s Eric King batted down Pittsburg State’s last-second pass to clinch the victory. Though it would soon after move up to Division I-AA (now FCS), Jacksonville State became the first Division II program to win national titles in football, baseball and men’s basketball.

Birmingham News file photo

146. Alabama gets jobbed in Happy Valley (1983)

What might have been one of the greatest comebacks in Alabama football history ended in bitter fashion on one of the most egregious blown officiating calls in recent memory. Facing reigning national champion Penn State at Beaver Stadium in State College, the Crimson Tide rallied from down 34-7 on the road against with three touchdowns to make it 34-28, and had the ball inside the Penn State 10 late in the game. Alabama quarterback Walter Lewis threw what appeared to be a go-ahead touchdown pass to tight end Preston Gothard in the back of the end zone, but officials ruled that he was out-of-bounds and the score was disallowed (there was no instant replay review in college football at the time). Penn State stopped Alabama on the next play and emerged with the six-point win. One of the officials on the crew (though not the one who ruled Gothard out of bounds) was later revealed to be Don Guman, the father of former Nittany Lions star Mike Guman, who was famously stopped by Alabama on the “Goal Line Stand” in the 1979 Sugar Bowl. Because Penn State was an independent at the time, the Nittany Lions supplied their own officials for home games.

Birmingham News file photo by Joe Songer

145. A Heisman hire at Auburn (1895)

Most people know him only as the namesake for college football’s signature individual award, but John Heisman had a very successful career as both a player and coach in the late 19th century/early 20th century. After getting his coaching start at Oberlin and Buchtel in his native Ohio, Heisman came south to take over the program at what was then Alabama Polytechnic Institute in 1895. Playing schedules of only three or four games per year, Heisman’s Auburn teams posted a 12-4-2 record in five seasons. However, he gained notoriety as an innovator, developing such strategies as the “hard count” — calling dummy signals to draw opposing teams offsides — and the hidden ball trick, in which a player would hide the ball under the bulky sweaters commonly worn in the game of that time. Heisman was hired away by Clemson in 1900, then moved on four years later to Georgia Tech, where he achieved great acclaim as the “undisputed master of Southern football.” Upon Heisman’s death in 1936, New York’s Downtown Athletic Club (of which Heisman had served as athletic director) re-named its award for the outstanding player in college football in his honor.

Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

144. Rocky Block (2009)

National championships can often swing on one play at midseason, and that was certainly the case with Nick Saban’s first Alabama title team in 2009. The heavily favored Crimson Tide found itself in a 12-10 battle with Lane Kiffin and upstart Tennessee at Bryant-Denny Stadium, and a fumble by eventual Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram gave the Volunteers the ball back with a chance to take the lead and win the game. Tennessee quarterback Jonathan Crompton hit tight end Luke Stocker at the Alabama 27 to set up a potential game-winning field goal in the final seconds. That was when 350-pound Alabama defensive tackle Terrence “Mount” Cody stepped forward and blocked Daniel Lincoln’s 44-yard field goal attempt — his second blocked kick of the day — to preserve the two-point win. Alabama stayed unbeaten at 8-0, and went on the win its first national title in 17 years.

Wikimedia Commons

143. First Blue-Gray All-Star Classic held (1939)

The air was heavy with Civil War metaphors as the first college all-star game held in the state of Alabama took place some 74 years after the great conflict, in the city known as the “Cradle of the Confederacy.” Montgomery’s Cramton Bowl was the site of the first 62 of 63 editions of the Blue-Gray All-Star Classic, which pitted North vs. South and was typically contested on Christmas Day. The first game was played on Jan. 2, however, and Alabama’s Frank Thomas and Auburn’s Jack Meagher directed the Gray squad. Purdue’s Tony Ippolito scored the game’s only touchdown on a 2-yard run in the second quarter, giving the Blue a 7-0 victory before a crowd of 8,000. The Blue-Gray game was eventually outshined by Mobile’s Senior Bowl, and its position on Christmas Day meant that it rarely was able to secure Alabama or Auburn players (who were usually playing in bowl games the following week). The game survived until 2003, when a lack of a television sponsor ended its six-decade run.

Birmingham News file photo

142. Bill Curry and the brick (1988)

Alabama fans have been known to take certain losses especially hard, and rarely was that more true than after a 22-12 loss to Ole Miss on homecoming in 1988. The Crimson Tide was held without a completion — with two quarterbacks combining to go 0-for-11 with three interceptions — and the Rebels scored twice in the final minute to win the game. When Alabama coach Bill Curry arrived at the football complex the following morning to tape his weekly television show, he found that someone had thrown a brick through one of the side windows of his office. The brick-thrower was never caught, and many wondered if Curry — a Georgia Tech man whose hiring at Alabama had been widely criticized — had staged the incident to engender sympathy from the more-reasonable portion of the fan base. Alabama bounced back to beat Tennessee the following week, and finished the season at 9-3. A little more than a year later, however, Curry resigned to take the job at Kentucky.

Birmingham News file photo by Frank Couch

141. UAB stuns Saban, LSU in Baton Rouge (2000)

Just five years after forming its football program, UAB made an aggressive move into the FBS (then Division I-A) ranks in 1996. Having hired veteran coach Watson Brown to run the program, the Blazers slogged along as a semi-competitive team for the next four years. Brown’s program-building finally bore fruit in the third game of the first year of the new millennium, when UAB stunned LSU and first-year coach Nick Saban 13-10 on a September Saturday night in Baton Rouge. Tigers quarterback Josh Booty threw four interceptions, the last snared by UAB’s Chris Brown and returned to the LSU 17 with 25 seconds remaining. After two short runs and two timeouts, UAB’s Rhett Gallego drilled a 32-yard field goal on the game’s final play to give the Blazers the win. UAB would finish that season at 7-4, its first winning record on the Division I level.

AP photo

140. Re-born UAB wins Conference USA title (2018)

In just their second season since the program was restored after a two-year hiatus, the Blazers captured their first-ever Conference USA championship. UAB won its first seven conference games, but a 27-3 blowout loss at Middle Tennessee in the regular-season finale cost the Blazers home field advantage in the league championship game. So the Blazers went right back to Murfreesboro, Tenn., and were victorious the second time, winning 27-25 behind 156 yards rushing by Spencer Brown. Nick Holt’s 28-yard field goal with 3:03 remaining provided the winning points for UAB, which capped an 11-3 season with a 37-13 win over Northern Illinois in the Boca Raton Bowl.

LSU Athletics

139. Auburn loses ‘Earthquake Game’ at LSU (1988)

After combining to win the two previous SEC championships, Auburn and LSU squared off at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge on Oct. 8, 1988. Auburn came in 4-0 and ranked No. 4 in the country, while LSU was 2-2 and unranked after back-to-back losses to Ohio State and Florida. In a near defensive stalemate, Auburn’s Win Lyle kicked a pair of field goals — one just before halftime and the other with 10:18 left in the game — to give his team a 6-0 lead. LSU quarterback Tommy Hodson then drove his team 71 yards for a touchdown, an 11-yard pass to a wide-open Eddie Fuller in the end zone on fourth-and-10 with 1:41 left. The crowd at Tiger Stadium erupted so loudly that the seismographs at the campus geoscience lab registered it as an earthquake, forever giving the game its name. David Browndyke’s extra point gave LSU a 7-6 victory. It would be the lone regular-season loss for Auburn, probably costing the Tigers a shot at a national championship.

Vincent Laforet/Allsport

138. Shaun Alexander runs wild in Baton Rouge (1996)

Alexander had never even started for Alabama when he suddenly became a household name on Nov. 9, 1996, against LSU at Tiger Stadium. Beginning the game as the Crimson Tide’s third-string tailback behind Dennis Riddle and Curtis Alexander (no relation), Shaun Alexander set an Alabama school record with 291 yards and four touchdowns on just 20 carries as the Crimson Tide routed LSU 26-0 for its 14th win in 15 trips to Baton Rouge. After a scoreless first quarter, Alexander ran for a 17-yard touchdown and a 7-0 Alabama lead at halftime. He added scoring runs of 73 and 72 yards — the former coming on the first play of the drive — in the third quarter to make it 19-0. He capped his evening with a 12-yard TD run in the fourth quarter, cementing his place in Alabama lore as a redshirt freshman. The win gave the once-beaten Crimson Tide the tiebreaker over the twice-beaten Tigers in the SEC West race, which it would need after a stunning upset loss to Mississippi State the following week.

Birmingham News file photo by Philip Barr

137. Tommy Tuberville escapes from ‘pine box’ to take Auburn job (1998)

A week before his Ole Miss team was set to face arch-rival Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl, Tommy Tuberville denied rumors he would soon be headed to Auburn. Tuberville uttered the infamous phrase that if he ever left Ole Miss, it would probably be when he was carried out in a “pine box.” The Rebels lost to the Bulldogs 28-6 on Thanksgiving night, and two days later Tuberville was resurrected, er, introduced as head coach at Auburn. Tuberville’s first Tigers team went 5-6, but he then reeled off eight straight winning seasons, highlighted by a 13-0 finish and an SEC championship in 2004 and six straight wins over Alabama from 2002-07. He resigned following a 5-7 finish in 2008, but posted an 85-40 record overall in 10 seasons — 7-3 against Alabama.

Wikimedia Commons

136. Auburn’s unbeaten, nearly unscored-upon juggernaut (1913-14)

Largely because he coached in the football dark ages of the pre-SEC era, Mike Donahue probably isn’t regarded among the greats of the game in the state of Alabama. But what his Alabama Polytechnic Institute teams did in 1913 and 1914 stands alongside what any team in the state has accomplished in terms of dominating the opposition. Donahue’s teams went a combined 16-0-1, outscoring opponents by a total score of 417-13. The 1913 team went 8-0, allowing its only points in a 14-6 win over Vanderbilt on Nov. 15 and a 21-7 defeat of Georgia in the regular-season finale a week later. The 1914 squad was even more defensive-oriented, not allowing a single point all year, but finishing 8-0-1 thanks to a scoreless tie with Georgia. Donahue also coached basketball, baseball, track and tennis at Auburn before leaving for LSU in 1923. His .743 winning percentage in football remains the best in Auburn history nearly 100 years later. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951, and Donahue Drive — which runs right past Jordan-Hare Stadium — is named in his honor.

Birmingham News file photo

135. Alabama’s last Rose Bowl championship (1946)

The Crimson Tide was a regular visitor to Pasadena in the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s, playing in the Rose Bowl a total of six times in 21 years and winning four of them (there was also a tie). Frank Thomas’ 1945 “War Babies” team — led by All-Americans Harry Gilmer and Vaughn Mancha — was as dominant as any of them, outscoring nine regular-season opponents by a combined score of 396-66. That set up a matchup with Southern Cal at the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day, and things didn’t go well for the Trojans. Gilmer ran for 116 yards and also caught a touchdown pass, as Alabama outgained USC 351 yards to 41 and built a 34-0 lead before the Trojans tacked on two meaningless touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Coincidentally or not, the Rose Bowl soon after made an exclusive agreement with the Pacific Coast Conference (the progenitor of the Pac-8/10/12) and the Big Nine (which became the Big Ten) to provide teams for the game each year. An SEC team would not play in the Rose Bowl game again until 2018, when Georgia beat Oklahoma in overtime in a College Football Playoff semifinal.

Birmingham News file photo by Tom Self, Charles Nesbitt

134. Derrick Thomas dominates Penn State (1988)

Thomas’ incredible 1988 season reached its zenith on Oct. 22 at Legion Field in Birmingham against Penn State. The All-America linebacker terrorized quarterback Tony Sacca and the Nittany Lions in an 8-3 Crimson Tide victory, totaling eight tackles and three sacks, breaking up two passes and recording a game-clinching safety in the fourth quarter. Alabama held Penn State to just 169 yards and eight first downs, but led just 6-3 before Thomas dumped Sacca in the end zone with 10:43 left to give the Crimson Tide a bit of breathing room. Thomas ended the season with an unofficial national record of 27 sacks (which didn’t become an official NCAA record until 1991) and 54 for his career. He won the Butkus Award as the nation’s top linebacker and enjoyed a legendary NFL career with the Kansas City Chiefs before his untimely death following a car accident in early 2000.

Troy Athletics

133. Troy State wins national title on Clem’s clutch kick (1984)

In what might be one of the most clutch kicks at any level in college football history, Troy State’s Ted Clem drilled a 50-yard field goal as time expired to give the Trojans an 18-17 victory over North Dakota State and the NCAA Division II championship in McAllen, Texas, on Dec. 8, 1984. Coach Chan Gailey’s Trojans finished that season 12-1, with their only loss 13-10 at North Alabama in October. But they won their final five games, including 42-39 thriller over arch-rival Jacksonville State to end the regular season, plus playoff wins over Central State, Towson State and finally North Dakota State. Quarterback Carey Christensen led the Trojans on the game-winning drive, which stalled out at the NDSU 32 with eight seconds left. Clem rushed onto the field and nailed the game-winner, giving Troy its first national title since an NAIA championship in 1968. Gailey left after that season to begin a long career as an NFL coach, but Clem was still around three years later in 1987 when the Trojans won their second — and last — Division II title, albeit in less-dramatic fashion with a 31-17 win over Portland State.

Auburn Athletics

132. Auburn stuns top-ranked Georgia (1942)

The Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry has known its share of stunning upsets over the years, but Auburn’s 27-13 victory over top-ranked Georgia ranks up there with any of them. Though technically a home game for Georgia, the contest took place at A.J. McClung Stadium in Columbus, which is far closer to Auburn than Athens. Wally Butts’ Bulldogs came in 9-0 and ranked No. 1 in the nation, having ripped through Florida and Chattanooga by a combined score of 125-0 the previous two weeks. Jack Meagher’s Tigers were 4-4-1 and coming off a 41-14 loss to Georgia Pre-Flight (a war-time team stocked with college stars). Georgia had a backfield featuring eventual Heisman Trophy winner Frank Sinkwich and all-time great Charley Trippi, but the Bulldogs’ legendary twosome was outshined on this day by Auburn’s Monk Gafford and Jim Reynolds. The Tigers rushed for 355 yards to just 37 for the Bulldogs, 31 of that by Sinkwich, who also fumbled in his own end zone to Auburn its final touchdown. The loss cost Georgia a shot at the national title; they instead settled for a 9-0 victory over UCLA in the Rose Bowl and a No. 2 finish behind Ohio State.

Albert Cesare/Associated Press

131. Auburn beats Ole Miss on bad break (2014)

Auburn and Ole Miss were ranked No. 3 and No. 4 in the initial College Football Playoff rankings in late October 2014, and it just so happened they were set to meet in Oxford on Nov. 1. The game played out as an instant classic, a 35-31 Auburn victory defined by one wild play — and wildly unfortunate, at least for Ole Miss — at the end. Rebels receiver Laquon Treadwell looked headed for a game-winning touchdown with 1:30 left when Auburn linebacker Kris Frost grabbed him from behind just before he crossed the goal line. Frost’s feet got tangled up with Treadwell’s, breaking his left leg and dislocating his ankle. Adding insult to (literal) injury, Treadwell fumbled the ball and Auburn’s Cassanova McKinzy fell on it in the end zone. A lengthy replay review overturned what was initially ruled a touchdown, and Auburn ran out the clock for the victory. The Tigers could not sustain their momentum, however, losing four of their final five games to fall out of the SEC and national championship races.

Vasha Hunt/AL.com

130. AJ to T.J. for Alabama win over LSU (2012)

Alabama and LSU had met twice in the previous year — splitting those two games — before the No. 2 Crimson Tide ventured to Baton Rouge to take on the No. 5 Tigers on Nov. 3, 2012. LSU led 17-14 when AJ McCarron and Alabama took over at their own 28 following a missed field goal with 1:24 remaining. Five plays later, the Crimson Tide was in the end zone, with T.J. Yeldon grabbing a swing pass from McCarron and rambling 28 yards for the touchdown with 51 seconds remaining. LSU could not answer, and eventual national champion Alabama had a 21-17 victory that remains one of the more exciting in the rivalry’s history.

AL.com file photo

129. Senior Bowl moves to Mobile (1951)

The first edition of the pre-eminent college football all-star game was actually played in Jacksonville, Fla., in 1950, but a group of businessmen led by Finley McRae secured the game the following year for Mobile’s then brand-new Ladd Memorial Stadium. The South beat the North 19-18 on Jan. 6, 1951, with Vanderbilt’s Bucky Curtis earning Most Valuable Player honors. Nearly 70 years later, the game is still played in Mobile, and still played at Ladd (which is now known as Ladd-Peebles Stadium). Over the years, it has featured the likes of Hall of Famers Bubba Smith, Terry Bradshaw, Dan Marino and LaDainian Tomlinson, as well as such Alabama and Auburn luminaries as Pat Sullivan, Bo Jackson, Derrick Thomas and Shaun Alexander.

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

128. Troy scores an all-time upset at LSU (2017)

After nearly pulling off a stunner at eventual national champion Clemson the previous year, Troy finished the job against No. 18 ranked LSU a year later. The Trojans jumped out to a 17-0 lead early in the second half and led 24-7 midway through the fourth quarter before LSU scored two touchdowns to get back in the game. Blace Brown intercepted LSU quarterback Danny Etling with 5 seconds remaining — the Tigers’ fourth turnover of the game — to seal a 24-21 victory for Troy. The Trojans continued their giant-killing ways the following year, winning 24-19 at Nebraska in Week 2 on their way to a third straight 10-win season under Neal Brown.

Robin Conn/Huntsville Times file

127. Auburn edges Mississippi State in forgettable 3-2 game (2008)

In a game that might have set college football back 30 years, Auburn edged Mississippi State 3-2 on Sept. 14, 2008, in Starkville. The Tigers’ only points came on a 36-yard field goal in the second quarter, while the Bulldogs didn’t score until Auburn’s Ryan Pugh was called for holding in the end zone — resulting in a safety — in the fourth quarter. Mississippi State was putrid offensively, gaining just 116 yards and going 0-for-14 on third down. Auburn was 3-0 and ranked in the Top 10 after the win over Mississippi State, but would finish 5-7. By season’s end, both coaches — Auburn’s Tommy Tuberville and Mississippi State’s Sylvester Croom — would be out of work.

Rick Stewart/AllSport

126. Jay Barker leads Alabama to shootout win over Georgia (1994)

Alabama and Georgia gave a sellout crowd at Tuscaloosa’s Bryant-Denny Stadium their money’s worth on Oct. 1, 1994, with the Crimson Tide scoring a 29-28 victory. In a rare passing display for that era, quarterbacks Eric Zeier for Georgia and Jay Barker for Alabama combined for 659 yards and six touchdowns in the game. The Bulldogs led 21-7 in the second quarter, but clung to a 28-26 lead when Alabama took over at its 49 with 2:10 remaining. Barker quickly moved the Crimson Tide into position for Michael Proctor’s 32-yard field goal with 1:12 remaining, which gave Alabama the one-point win. The Crimson Tide went on to finish 12-1, winning the SEC West championship for the third straight year. Barker finished No. 5 in the Heisman Trophy balloting. Zeier ended his career as the SEC’s all-time leading passer with 11,153 yards (he still ranks sixth).

Glenn Baeske/Huntsville Times file

125. Ray Perkins leaves Alabama for the NFL (1987)

Ray Perkins stepped into an all-time pressure cooker when he left the NFL’s New York Giants to take over at Alabama for his mentor, Paul “Bear” Bryant, in 1983. Perkins compiled a 32-15-1 record in four seasons in Tuscaloosa, winning a pair of memorable Iron Bowls, but never coming particularly close to an SEC or national championship. He resigned on New Year’s Eve 1986 to return to the NFL as head coach of the moribund Tampa Bay Buccaneers, of whom Alabama booster Hugh Culverhouse was owner. Perkins got a huge raise in the deal — his salary doubled from $500,000 to $1 million — but he didn’t make it through four years in Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers posted a 19-41 record, never winning more than five games, before Perkins was fired late in the 1990 season. He returned to college with one season at Arkansas State in 1992, then spent several more years as an NFL assistant. Most recently, he coached on the junior-college level and as a volunteer high school assistant in his native Mississippi.

Birmingham News file photo

124. Auburn's 'Amazin's' knock off No. 4 Tennessee

Not much was expected of the 1972 Auburn Tigers following the departure of Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Pat Sullivan and All-America wide receiver Terry Beasley. Shug Jordan’s Tigers staggered through the season’s first two weeks, winning low-scoring games against terrible Mississippi State and Chattanooga teams before welcoming No. 4 Tennessee to Birmingham’s Legion Field on Sept. 30. The Tigers slammed Volunteers quarterback Condredge Holloway for a 10-yard loss on the first play of the game and never let up, claiming a hard-fought 10-6 victory. Terry Henley’s second-quarter touchdown provided all the offense needed for Auburn, which allowed Tennessee past its 30-yard line only twice all day. The Auburn team, dubbed “The Amazin’s” by fans and sports writers, finished 10-1 and No. 5 in the country.

University of Alabama athletics

123. Alabama bottoms out under Ears Whitworth (1955-57)

There haven’t been many fallow periods for Alabama football in the last century, but the mid-to-late 1950s were the absolute nadir. Head coach Harold “Red” Drew was fired after a 4-5-2 showing in 1954, and replaced with J.B. “Ears” Whitworth, a popular former Crimson Tide player from the 1930s who had been coaching at Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State). Whitworth’s tenure at Alabama was an unmitigated disaster, plagued by player discipline problems and a series of embarrassing losses. His first Crimson Tide team went 0-10, the only winless full season in program history. The 1956 and 1957 teams each went 2-7-1, losing to Auburn by a combined 73-7. Whitworth’s Alabama teams also went scoreless vs. Tennessee for three straight years. Having seen enough, Alabama president Frank Rose confirmed in early November that Whitworth would not be retained for 1958. That move, of course, opened the door for the return of another former Crimson Tide player, this one much more successful — Paul “Bear” Bryant. In a sad postscript, Whitworth died a little more than two years later following a heart attack at age 51 while working as an assistant coach at Georgia.

Eric Schultz/Huntsville Times file photo

122. Lutzie’s career cut short (2012)

Rarely has a more popular player come through the Auburn football program than Philip Lutzenkirchen, who played tight end for the Tigers from 2009-12. He scored five touchdowns as a sophom*ore in Auburn’s national championship season of 2010, none bigger than his 7-yard catch from Cam Newton in the fourth quarter at Alabama to cap the Tigers’ 28-27 comeback victory. “Lutzie” added another solid season in 2011 with 24 receptions and seven touchdowns, and looked poised to close out an historic career as a senior. But halfway through the 2012 season, Lutzenkirchen’s career was cut short due to a hip injury, which began as a torn labrum his junior year and developed into painful bone spurs. Despite his truncated career, Lutzenkirchen set the Auburn all-time record with 14 touchdown catches. Tragically, his life ended less than two years later in an alcohol related automobile accident on June 26, 2014 (Lutzenkirchen was a passenger in a vehicle being driven by a friend). His father, Mike, founded the “Lutzie 43” Foundation, and travels the country speaking to young people about the dangers of distracted and impaired driving.

Chip English/Press-Register file photo

121. Alabama lands a whopper of a recruiting class (2008)

The Alabama dynasty under Nick Saban might have had its true beginning on Feb. 6, 2008, in various high school auditoriums around the Southeast. That was the day the Crimson Tide landed one of the greatest recruiting classes in college football history, a group that included Julio Jones, Mark Ingram, Dont’a Hightower, Marcell Dareus, Mark Barron, Courtney Upshaw, Barrett Jones and Terrence Cody, among others. Several of those players played major roles with the Alabama team that went 12-2 and snapped a six-game losing streak to Auburn in 2008, and some of them were still on the team when the Crimson Tide won its third national championship in four years in 2012. Alabama has piled on several more No. 1 recruiting classes in the years since, but it’s difficult to imagine any group having as long-lasting and deep an impact as the 2008 class, which set the foundation for arguably the greatest sustained run of college football dominance in the game’s history.

Birmingham News file photo

120. Bryant's student beats the master (1968)

Not many of Paul “Bear” Bryant’s former assistant coaches had a great deal of success against him when they became head coaches, but a major exception took place in the Jan. 1, 1968 Cotton Bowl. Gene Stallings, who played for Bryant at Texas A&M and coached for him at Alabama, coached his Aggies to their first Southwest Conference championship since Bryant’s departure. The Crimson Tide, led by quarterback Ken Stabler, had failed to win the SEC for the first time in four years. Texas A&M took the lead just before halftime on a touchdown pass from Edd Hargett to Tommy Maxwell, then held on late for a 20-16 win when Northport native Curley Hallman intercepted Stabler in the final 30 seconds. A gracious Bryant eschewed a post-game handshake, instead raising a jubilant Stallings over his head in a “bear” hug.

Birmingham News file photo

119. At long last, Sullivan vs. Manning (1971)

Auburn and Ole Miss didn’t play in the regular season between 1953 and 1972, which means two of the greatest quarterbacks in SEC history almost didn’t get a chance to face each other. Luckily, the Gator Bowl invited Pat Sullivan’s Tigers and Archie Manning’s Rebels to play square off at the end of the 1970 season, Manning’s senior year and Sullivan’s junior campaign. Ironically, neither head coach participated in the game, as Ole Miss’ John Vaught was recovering from a heart attack, and Auburn’s Shug Jordan had undergone an emergency appendectomy. Nevertheless, the game did not disappoint from either a competitive or quarterbacking standpoint. Auburn won 35-28 behind 351 yards and three touchdowns from Sullivan. Manning, despite playing with a brace on his broken left wrist, passed for 180 yards and a touchdown, and also ran for 95 yards and a score.

Scott Halleran/Allsport

118. Tie with Georgia ruins Auburn's winning streak (1994)

Auburn won the first 20 games of Terry Bowden’s tenure, going 11-0 in a probation-riddled 1993 season and then winning the first nine games of 1994. The Tigers looked to be well on their way to a 21st straight against Georgia, leading 23-9 early in the third quarter at Jordan-Hare Stadium behind 186 yards and two touchdowns rushing from Stephen Davis. The Bulldogs rallied, however, tying the game 23-23 on a pair of Eric Zeier touchdown passes in the second half. Auburn had a chance to win in the final seconds, but Matt Hawkins a 44-yard field goal attempt with 8 seconds left, and the game ended in a tie. Overtime would not come to the SEC until two years later. Auburn’s unbeaten streak — and its season — ended the following week against undefeated Alabama in Birmingham.

AP photo by Dave Martin

117. Tie with Tennessee ruins Alabama's winning streak (1993)

Alabama was defending national champion, ranked No. 2 nationally and riding a 28-game winning streak when Tennessee rolled into Birmingham’s Legion Field Oct. 17, 1993. For most of the afternoon, it looked like Alabama was headed for its first loss in more than two years. Tennessee led 17-9 when Alabama took the ball at its 18-yard line with 1:44 to play. Jay Barker calmly drove the Tide 82 yards in 11 plays, keeping for a 1-yard touchdown to pull Alabama within 17-15 with 21 seconds left. The Crimson Tide then put the ball and the game in the hands of the best player on the field, as wide receiver David Palmer lined up at quarterback and kept on a sweep for a two-point conversion and a 17-17 tie. The Crimson Tide would go on to finish a mere 9-3-1 that season, but extended its unbeaten streak over one of its hated rivals to eight years.

Julie Bennett/AL.com

116. Turkey Day tradition is born in Montgomery (1924)

In what is regarded as the original “classic” between Historically Black Colleges & Universities, Tuskegee beat Alabama State 28-7 at Montgomery’s Cramton Bowl on Nov. 15, 1924. The Golden Tigers and Hornets would go on to meet every year through 1970, and then most years until 2012, playing the game on or around Thanksgiving Day. Tuskegee opted out of the Turkey Day Classic beginning in 2013, in order to participate in the NCAA Division II playoffs. Alabama State then moved the Turkey Day Classic to its own Hornet Stadium, and has has hosted a rotating group of opponents in recent years, including Stillman, Miles, Edward Waters and Mississippi Valley State. Tuskegee and Alabama State resumed their rivalry in 2017, but now play in early September.

Todd J. Van Emst/Auburn Athletics

115. Auburn makes an (at least initially) unpopular hire (2008)

Nine days after Tommy Tuberville’s resignation, Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs got off a plane on Dec. 13, 2008, with Gene Chizik in tow to become the Tigers’ next head coach. Auburn fans were stunned, and one even went so far as the heckle Chizik and Jacobs in view of TV cameras. Chizik had been Auburn’s defensive coordinator from 2002-04 and had been part of a national championship staff at Texas in 2005, but had compiled a 5-19 record in two seasons as head coach at Iowa State. Chizik’s first Auburn team went 8-5, but his second went 14-0 and won the school’s first national championship in 43 years. Things went downhill from there, however, and Chizik was fired at the end of the 2012 season.

Birmingham News file photo by Edward Jones

114. Del Greco kicks Auburn to Sugar Bowl victory over Michigan (1984)

Once-beaten Auburn met 9-2 Michigan in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 2, 1984, a game overshadowed by Nebraska’s quest for perfection vs. Miami in the Orange Bowl that same night. The Tigers had managed just a pair of Al Del Greco field goals through three quarters, and trailed 7-6 when they took the ball at their 38 midway through the fourth. Auburn marched methodically with a 15-play drive, including a key 6-yard run by Lionel James on fourth-and-2. Del Greco lined up for a chip-shot 19-yarder with 21 seconds left, and drilled it through the uprights to give Auburn a 9-7 victory and an 11-1 season. No. 2 Texas — which dealt Auburn its only defeat of the season — had lost earlier in the day to No. 4 Georgia in the Cotton Bowl, and Miami beat top-ranked Nebraska 31-30 in the Orange Bowl. Despite being the highest-ranked team that won that day, the No. 3 Tigers were denied the national title when the Hurricanes jumped from No. 5 to No. 1 after beating the seemingly unbeatable Cornhuskers.

Wikimedia Commons

113. The Blue-Gray Classic integrates under pressure (1965)

The Blue-Gray All-Star Classic was an all-white affair for nearly 25 years, and like most institutions only integrated when it became an economic necessity. NBC dropped the game from its TV schedule in 1963 under pressure from sponsors, forcing the Montgomery Lions Club to finally join the 20th century and integrate. Two years later, four black players — Purdue end Jim Long, Iowa tackle Bill Briggs and the Florida A&M duo of halfback Eugene Thomas and tackle Johnny Holmes — participated in the 1965 Blue-Gray Classic, which was televised by CBS. The Gray team won 23-19 behind Texas A&I quarterback Randy Johnson, who became the starter for the expansion Atlanta Falcons the following year. Typically played on Christmas Day, Blue-Gray Classic continued on as a showcase for small-college players, including many from historically black schools. Mississippi Valley State’s Jerry Rice was Most Valuable Player of the 1984 game, when he caught two touchdown passes in a 33-6 Gray victory.

Vasha Hunt/AL.com

112. Alabama 'steals' two hometown recruits from Auburn (2013-14)

If ever it appeared Auburn had the inside track to sign a pair of five-star recruits, it was with Auburn High School linebackers Reuben Foster and Rashaan Evans in 2013 and 2014. Evans was the son of a former Auburn running back, while Foster — a year older than Evans — merely had the Auburn logo tattooed on his arm. Nevertheless, the two both signed with Alabama. Foster’s recruitment was particularly circuitous, as he first committed to Alabama before de-committing and pledging to Auburn, before ultimately re-committing to Alabama. Evans kept his plans close to the vest, not announcing for either school before putting on a Crimson Tide hat on national signing day. Foster and Evans contributed to Alabama’s 2015 national title team, then Foster was a unanimous All-American and Butkus Award winner the following year. Evans then starred on the Crimson Tide’s national title team in 2017, when he was named All-American. Both were first-round NFL draft picks.

Birmingham News file photo by Bernard Troncale

111. Simply 'The Sack' (1986)

Alabama had never beaten Notre Dame when the Fighting Irish visited Legion Field on Oct. 4, 1986. The Crimson Tide left with not only a 28-10 victory, but one of the iconic moments in program history. It was in the first quarter when Cornelius Bennett, Alabama’s All-America linebacker, slammed Notre Dame quarterback Steve Beuerlein to the turf in a play known ever after as “The Sack.” Beuerlein stayed in the game despite a concussion (sports medicine was different in those days), but the day belonged to Alabama. Greg Richardson ran a punt back 66 yards for a touchdown and Mike Shula threw three touchdown passes as the Crimson Tide improved to 4-0. The image of Bennett annihilating Beuerlein has since been immortalized as one of artist Daniel Moore’s most popular paintings.

AL.com file photo

110. Wallace Wade walks (1930)

Wade was the first great football coach in Alabama history, leading the Crimson Tide to four Southern Conference championships and three Rose Bowls from 1923-30. But he was by many accounts a disagreeable man, and never quite got along with university president George Denny. After back-to-back disappointing seasons in 1928 and 1929, Wade decided he’d had enough and agreed to a five-year contract at Duke, to begin with the 1931 season. That meant he had one last hurrah at Alabama, and his 1930 team went 10-0 and smashed Washington State 24-0 in the Rose Bowl. He coached a total of 16 years at Duke (minus four years of military duty during World War II), retiring after the 1950 season with 110 victories and six conference championships. Duke’s stadium was named in his honor in 1967.

Julie Bennett/AL.com

109. Auburn collapses under Gene Chizik (2012)

The Tigers were on top of the football world in early 2011, having just won the program’s first national championship in more than 50 years following an undefeated season under third-year coach Gene Chizik. The Tigers slipped to 8-5 in 2011, but still managed to win the Chick-fil-A. A turbulent offseason included the departure of both coordinators (including Gus Malzahn taking the head-coaching job at Arkansas State), the suspension and transfer of star running back Mike Dyer and the shooting death of former players Ed Christian and LaDarius Phillips. Things got no better once the 2012 season started, as the Tigers lost seven of their first eight games, many of them in blowout fashion. After getting blanked by arch-rivals Georgia (38-0) and Alabama (49-0) in November and finishing 0-8 in the SEC, Chizik was fired, a mere two years after winning a national title.

Birmingham News file photo

108. Southern Miss ends Alabama’s streak (1982)

By midway through the 1982 season, the cracks had begun to show in the Alabama dynasty of coach Paul “Bear” Bryant. The Crimson Tide lost to Tennessee and LSU, the first time in five years it had lost multiple SEC games in the same season. But the biggest shocker came on Nov. 13, when a Southern Miss team led by dynamic quarterback Reggie Collier beat Alabama 38-29 at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The Golden Eagles — who had tied Alabama 13-13 the previous year in Birmingham — scored the first four times they had the ball in dealing the Crimson Tide its first on-campus loss since 1963, snapping a streak of 57 straight victories. Alabama also lost to Auburn two weeks later, and Bryant announced his retirement a short time after that.

Patricia Miklik/The Montgomery Advertiser via AP

107. Auburn, Georgia go to overtime (1996)

Tie games were a matter of routine in major college football for more than 100 years, before the NCAA finally adopted an overtime system prior to the 1996 season. As it happened, the first overtime game in the SEC occurred in the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry on Nov. 16 at Jordan-Hare Stadium. And it was a wild one. Georgia trailed by 14 points at halftime, but scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter — including a game-tying touchdown pass from Mike Bobo to Corey Allen on the final play of regulation. Both teams scored touchdowns and added extra points in the first three overtimes, then Torin Kirtsey’s 1-yard run gave the Bulldogs a 56-49 lead in the fourth extra period. Auburn had a shot to tie, but Dameyune Craig was stopped a yard short on fourth down to end the game. The two teams combined for not only 115 points, but 189 plays, 1,095 yards and 60 first downs. The game also remains famous for an incident that occurred in the first quarter, when Georgia’s live mascot, UGa V, tried to take a bite out of Auburn wide receiver Robert Baker on the sideline following a touchdown.

Mark Almond/AL.com

106. Magic City Classic comes into its own (1945-1946)

Alabama State and Alabama A&M, the two largest historically black colleges in the state, first met in football in 1924 (with ASU winning 30-0), but didn’t become annual rivals until the end of World War II in 1945. The game — by then dubbed the “Magic City Classic” — truly came into its own the following year, when it moved permanently into Birmingham’s Legion Field. Alabama A&M dominated the series in the 1960s and 70s, though Alabama State had the upper hand for much of the 1980s and 90s. The teams have been evenly matched most of this decade, alternating victories the last four years. The Bulldogs officially lead the all-time series 40-34, with four ties. The Magic City Classic is regarded as among the most successful annual HBCU games in the country, routinely drawing crowds of 60,000-plus on game day and more than 200,000 spectators for associated festivities such as post-game concerts, comedy performances, fraternity and sorority step shows, the pre-game parade and the always much-anticipated Battle of the Bands.

AL.com file photo

105. Richmond’s Revenge (1968)

Richmond Flowers Jr. is one of the greatest athletes ever produced by the state of Alabama, a football star and world-class track and field star at Montgomery’s Sidney Lanier High School in the mid-1960s. In any other era, he’d probably have been a shoo-in to play football at Alabama. However, his father, Richmond Sr., was the state’s attorney general, and a bitter political rival of then Gov. George Wallace. After his father was booed during an appearance at a track meet in Mobile, the younger Flowers decided to leave the state and attend Tennessee, which was then a burgeoning track power. Flowers was a three-time All-American hurdler for the Volunteers, though a hamstring injury kept him out of the 1968 Olympics. However, he also made his mark on the football field, finishing his career as Tennessee’s all-time leading receiver and helping the Volunteers to wins over Alabama in both his junior and senior seasons. Flowers caught six passes for 57 yards in a 24-13 victory over the Crimson Tide in Birmingham in 1967, and scored the only touchdown on a 1-yard run in a 10-9 win the following year in Knoxville.

Photo courtesy of Paul W. Bryant Museum

104. Lee Roy Jordan dominates Oklahoma (1963)

The Crimson Tide and Sooners had never played prior to a sunny New Year’s Day 1963 in Miami’s Orange Bowl, a game remembered because President John F. Kennedy was in the audience and because of an astounding defensive performance by Alabama middle linebacker Lee Roy Jordan. The All-American from Excel was credited with 31 tackles — 15 solo, 16 assists — as Alabama routed Oklahoma 17-0 to complete a 10-1 season. Sophom*ore quarterback Joe Namath also passed for a touchdown for the Crimson Tide, which finished No. 5 in polls, which were released prior to the bowl games. Alabama would not beat Oklahoma again until the 2018 Orange Bowl.

Photo courtesy of the Paul W. Bryant Museum

103. Alabama knocks off powerhouse Penn (1922)

Southern college football was mostly an unknown quantity in the first 25 years of the 20th century, though Georgia Tech began enjoying success against teams from outside the region in the late 1910s. Alabama football began to mature in 1919, when the school hired a young Ohio native named Xen C. Scott to run the program. Scott’s first two teams went a combined 18-2, before backsliding to 5-4-2 in 1921. It was an otherwise non-descript 1922 team that put Crimson Tide football on the national map, scoring a 9-7 win over Ivy League power Pennsylvania at Franklin Field in Philadelphia on Nov. 4. So stunning was the Alabama win over Penn that Philadelphia Inquirer sports writer Perry Lewis wrote that the Crimson Tide "[flooded] the eyes of the Quakers with tears, and [inundated] the new stadium beneath a Niagara of grief, desolation and blasted hopes.” Scott did not get to build on his breakthrough win at Alabama, as he was forced to resign following the season due to an advanced case of cancer. He died less than two years later at age 41.

Birmingham News file photo by Frank Couch

102. Legion Field hosts its first game (1927)

Birmingham’s reputation as the “Football Capital of the South” began in earnest on Nov. 19, 1927, when Legion Field hosted its first college football game. Built at a cost of $439,000 (about $6.5 million in modern dollars) and with enough seats for 21,000 fans, the stadium was hailed as an architectural marvel. Though Legion Field would host numerous Iron Bowls and other games between college football powers over the years, the first game featured Birmingham-Southern and Howard College (now Samford). Howard emerged with a 9-0 victory, or as Birmingham News sports writer James Saxon Childers described it, “the lads from East Lake tied a rather hard knot in the tail of the Methodist Panther.” The assembled crowd of 17,000 apparently got itself into such a lather that Childers devoted two paragraphs of his front-page game story to the dangers of throwing seat cushions from the stands, which the patrons at that first game apparently engaged in quite lustily. Legion Field, of course, is still up and running, home each season to the Magic City Classic between Alabama State and Alabama A&M and — for one more year — the UAB Blazers.

Press-Register file photo

101. Bryant makes his Alabama debut in Mobile (1958)

The 1958 season marked the return to Alabama of one Paul “Bear” Bryant, who took over as head coach at his alma mater after several seasons at Kentucky and then Texas A&M. As it happened, his first game as Crimson Tide head coach was not in Birmingham or Tuscaloosa, but in Mobile, where Alabama was set to meet eventual national champion LSU at Ladd Memorial Stadium on Sept. 27. The Crimson Tide took an early lead on a Fred Sington field goal, only to fade in the second half as the Tigers claimed a 13-3 victory. Billy Cannon, who would go on to win the Heisman Trophy as a senior in 1959, ran for 86 yards and a touchdown in the game. More notable was what happened off the field, as a large section of the end zone bleachers collapsed late in the first quarter, injuring more than 80 fans (some seriously) and delaying the game for several minutes.

Robert Adams/Birmingham News file

100. An early Iron Bowl shocker (1949)

When you think of great Iron Bowl upsets, naturally the ones that come to mind are 1972, 1984, 2001, 2002 and 2013, among others. But considering the relative strengths of the two teams, 1949 might top them all. The Alabama-Auburn rivalry had only been revived the previous year after 40-plus years of dormancy, and the Crimson Tide had trounced the Tigers 55-0 in 1948. Alabama came into the 1949 game at Legion Field with a record of 6-2-1, while Auburn limped in at 1-4-3. And yet, behind touchdowns from Bill Davis (on an 11-yard run) and Johnny Wallis (on an interception return), the Tigers stunned the Crimson Tide 14-13. Alabama scored late to pull within a point, but Ed Salem’s point-after was no good and Auburn had beaten the Crimson Tide for the first time since 1904. The Tigers pulled off what Birmingham News sports editor Zipp Newman wrote was the sweetest Auburn victory in the program’s first 58 years.

G.M. Andrews/Press-Register file

99. Alabama snaps Iron Bowl streak in dominating fashion (2008)

Frustration was boiling over for the Alabama fanbase in the early days of the 21st century, with a series of coaching changes and NCAA sanctions compounded by six consecutive losses to Auburn from 2002-07. Nick Saban’s hiring in the final year of that streak promised better days ahead, and the Crimson Tide delivered in a big way at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Nov. 29, 2008. Top-ranked Alabama won 36-0 behind 210 yards and three touchdowns rushing from Glen Coffee and Mark Ingram to finish off a perfect regular season. Auburn, which came in guaranteed a losing season at 4-7, totaled just 170 yards of offense and fumbled three times. Alabama went on to lose the SEC championship game to Florida and then in the Sugar Bowl to Utah to finish 12-2, but won the national championship the following year. Tuberville resigned at season’s end after 10 years, but the Tigers won their own national title two years later.

Blake Sims/Birmingham Post-Herald via AP

98. Carnell Williams chooses Auburn (2001)

Carnell Williams was already a star before he left Etowah High School, in part because of the nickname “Cadillac” that had been bestowed on him by Birmingham TV personality Mike Raita. The drama of his recruitment in 2001 only added to his burgeoning legend. Williams committed to Tennessee during an official visit in early January, but Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville visited him at home the next day. Williams then made an official visit to Alabama on the weekend before signing day, setting his commitment announcement for the following Monday. Before a packed house of media and fellow Etowah High students, Williams pulled off his letter jacket to reveal an Auburn jersey underneath. It is not overstating it to say Williams signing with Auburn helped flip the direction of the Iron Bowl rivalry. Though injuries knocked him out of the big game his first two seasons, he scored on an 80-yard touchdown on the first play of the 2003 Iron Bowl at Jordan-Hare Stadium, sparking a 28-23 Auburn win. The Tigers beat the Crimson Tide again in Williams’ senior year, and were halfway to their streak of six straight victories.

AP Photo/Chris O'Meara

97. Auburn’s twin upsets of Florida (1993-94)

Auburn reeled off victories in the first 20 games of the Terry Bowden era, including a pair of victories over a Florida program that was then in the midst of four consecutive SEC championships. On Oct. 16, 1993, the Tigers showed that they could stick together through NCAA sanctions, pulling off a 38-35 victory over the fourth-ranked Gators on the strength of Scott Etheridge’s 41-yard field goal with 1:21 to play. Auburn won in even more dramatic fashion in Gainesville on Oct. 15, 1994, with Patrick Nix connecting with Frank Sanders on an 8-yard touchdown pass with 30 seconds left as the No. 6 Tigers stunned the No. 1 Gators 36-33. Nix had perhaps his finest game at Auburn, completing 28 of 51 passes for 319 yards and three touchdowns. Auburn finished that year 10-1-1 after tying Georgia and losing to Alabama, for a pretty solid 20-1-1 showing in their first two seasons under Bowden.

Birmingham News file photo

96. Namath’s first knee injury (1964)

Joe Namath was acclaimed for his athleticism early in his Alabama career, as gifted a runner and thrower as many had ever seen in the college game to that point. But Namath’s long legacy of injuries began during a 21-0 victory over North Carolina State in Tuscaloosa on Oct. 10, 1964. On a second-quarter play in a scoreless game, Namath rolled to his right and went down without being hit. He was treated on the field and helped to the sideline, ceding the rest of the game to back-up quarterback Steve Sloan. The extent of Namath’s injury was downplayed by coach Paul “Bear” Bryant at the time, but later tests would reveal he’d torn cartilage and damaged at least one ligament. Amazingly, he started the following week against Florida, but left the game early when the injury flared up. He then sat out two weeks before coming off the bench in victories vs. Georgia Tech and Auburn. Sloan started the Orange Bowl vs. Texas, but Namath entered with No. 1 ranked Alabama down by 14. He led a furious comeback before being stopped at the goal line in the final minute of a 21-17 Crimson Tide loss. Shortly after that, Namath was on to the New York Jets and a legendary career in pro football.

Hal Yeager/Birmingham News file

95. Auburn goes pick-six crazy vs. LSU (1994)

Perhaps no game ever turned so sharply on defense and inexplicable coaching strategy as Auburn’s 30-26 victory over LSU at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Sept. 17, 1994. The Tigers trailed 23-9 early in the fourth quarter — with their only touchdown on a Chris Shelling fumble recovery in the end zone in the first half — before going pick-six crazy thanks to a big assist from LSU quarterback Jamie Howard and coach Curley Hallman. With 12:14 remaining, Ken Alvis picked off Howard and returned the ball 43 yards for a touchdown to make it a 23-16 game. LSU kept throwing, and Fred Smith pulled off a pick-six to tie the game 23-23 with 11:02 left. LSU took a 26-23 lead on Andre LaFleur’s 22-yard field goal with 5:26 left, then forced an Auburn punt. Facing third-and-four at the LSU 32 with two minutes left and no timeouts for Auburn, Howard threw the ball AGAIN, with Brian Robinson intercepting it and going 41 yards for the winning touchdown. Auburn won despite being outgained 407 yards to 165, thanks largely to the generosity of Hallman (who would be fired after the season) and the snakebitten Howard, who threw five interceptions.

Joe Songer/Birmingham News file

94. Alabama hires Shula over Croom (2003)

After the sudden departure of Dennis Franchione to Texas A&M following the 2002 season, and the off-field meltdown of Mike Price less than six months later, Alabama did not have a wealth of choices in making its second coaching hire of the offseason. The Crimson Tide was also in the midst of NCAA sanctions, limiting the pool of realistic candidates even further. Consequently, Alabama athletics director Mal Moore looked to stay “in-house” by hiring a Crimson Tide alum, narrowing his final three choices to veteran NFL assistants Richard Williamson, Sylvester Croom and Mike Shula. Moore passed on the opportunity to make history by hiring Croom, who would have been the first African-American head football coach in SEC history. Instead, Moore chose the younger (and white) Shula, who had never coached in college or even publicly expressed a desire to do so. Shula had ups and downs in four years as Alabama’s head coach, going 26-23 before being fired at the end of the 2006 season. Croom was hired the following year by Mississippi State, and went 21-38 with just one winning season among five in Starkville (he did, however, beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa in 2006, which might have hastened Shula’s departure). Both Shula and Croom went back to jobs as NFL assistants after coaching in college, with Croom retiring following the 2017 season and Shula still working as offensive coordinator of the New York Giants.

Birmingham News file

93. Alabama runs wild vs. Virginia Tech (1973)

Before the Tua Tagovailoa-led teams of recent years at least, the 1973 Alabama Crimson Tide was regarded as the greatest offensive machine in program history. That team — which won the UPI national championship that season — reached its zenith on Oct. 27, 1973 against Virginia Tech at Denny Stadium. The Crimson Tide hammered the Hokies 77-6, grinding out 828 yards of offense, 743 rushing yards and averaging 11.8 yards per carry — all three school, SEC and NCAA records at the time. (Houston smashed the total offense record by rolling up 1,021 yards in a 95-21 victory over hapless SMU in 1989, while Oklahoma topped the rushing mark by posting 768 in a 63-14 win over Kansas the previous year). Against Virginia Tech, Alabama had four different players top the 100-yard rushing mark — James Taylor with 142, Wilbur Jackson with 138, Calvin Culliver with 127 and quarterback Richard Todd with 102. The rushing yards and yards per carry remain SEC and Crimson Tide records to this day.

Photo courtesy of Paul W. Bryant Museum

92. Alabama rolls in the Rose Bowl … again (1935)

Alabama enjoying success in Pasadena had become routine by the mid-1930s, as the Crimson Tide won Rose Bowls following the 1925 and 1930 seasons and had tied Stanford following the 1926 season. Led by All-Americans Don Hutson and Dixie Howell, Alabama rolled to another undefeated season under coach Frank Thomas in 1934, pitching five shutouts and again earning an invitation to the Rose Bowl. Facing a powerful 9-0-1 Stanford team, the Crimson Tide unleashed what the Los Angeles Times’ Braven Dyer called the “most amazing aerial attack ever seen in the Rose Bowl.” In a 29-13 Alabama win, Howell threw touchdown passes of 54 and 59 yards to Hutson and also ran for scores of 5 and 67 yards. The Crimson Tide trailed 7-0 after a quarter, but scored 23 points in the second period to take control of the game. As many know, the “other” end opposite Hutson on that Alabama team was none other than Paul “Bear” Bryant, who would go on to some acclaim as the Crimson Tide’s coach years later.

Dave Martin/AP photo

91. Tre Mason runs wild vs. Missouri (2013)

In a 2013 Auburn football season that featured the “Prayer at Jordan-Hare” and the “Kick Six” — in addition to a narrow defeat to Florida State in the BCS national championship game — the greatest individual effort likely took place in the SEC championship game in Atlanta on Dec. 7. Auburn running back Tre Mason piled up 304 yards and four touchdowns on 46 carries rushing — part of a 575-yard day on the ground for the Tigers — in a 59-42 victory over Missouri. Auburn led just 28-27 at halftime, but outscored Missouri 31-15 the rest of the way, including 14-0 in the fourth quarter. Both those touchdowns in the final period fittingly came on runs by Mason, who was named SEC Player of the Year after finishing with an Auburn record 1,816 yards and 23 touchdowns in 14 games.

Tom Self/Birmingham News file

90. Kenny Stabler’s Iron Bowl ‘Run in the Mud’ (1967)

The 1967 Iron Bowl wasn’t particularly meaningful in terms of SEC or national stakes, as neither Alabama nor Auburn were in any sort of championship race. However, the Dec. 2 game in Birmingham featured one of the more notable individual plays in Iron Bowl history — Kenny Stabler’s famed “Run in the Mud” that gave the Crimson Tide a 7-3 victory. Alabama came into the game at 7-1-1, but an early-season loss to Tennessee had moved the Crimson Tide out of the driver’s seat for a fourth straight SEC title (the Volunteers locked up the conference title by beating Vanderbilt 41-14 that same day). Auburn was 6-3 and had been blanked by Georgia 17-0 two weeks earlier. Wind and rain turned Legion Field into a quagmire, and Alabama’s offense was especially poor. The Crimson Tide turned the ball over twice, and didn’t cross midfield in a scoreless first half. Auburn finally broke the stalemate early in the third quarter, when John Riley connected on a 38-yard field goal. A bad punt snap by Auburn gave Alabama the ball on its 46 as the clock ticked inside 12 minutes. After a pair of short runs moved the Crimson Tide to the Auburn 47, the “Snake” called his own number on third-and-3. He faked a pitch and then cut inside before breaking free down the right side and racing for the touchdown. Alabama made its 7-3 lead stand up, and had one of the most hard-fought victories in Iron Bowl history.

Photo courtesy of Paul W. Bryant Museum

89. Bryant plays with pain vs. Tennessee (1935)

Any Alabama player who ever begged out of the lineup while Paul “Bear” Bryant was coach was no doubt reminded of how Bryant didn’t let any old injury keep him off the field during his playing days. During Bryant’s senior season of 1935, he suffered a fractured fibula in a season-opening 7-7 tie vs. Howard (now Samford). Three weeks later, he was back in the lineup at end against Alabama’s most-hated rival, Tennessee, in Knoxville. His injured right leg heavily taped, Bryant caught at least four passes for 60 yards that day, as Alabama won 25-0. Birmingham News sports editor Zipp Newman wrote that Bryant “on one leg was the best end this commentator has seen all year.” But was Bryant’s leg really broken? Apparently. Atlanta Journal Constitution columnist Ralph McGill composed a follow-up story on Bryant a few days later and wrote “I saw the X-rays.”

AP photo by Dave Martin

88. End of an Iron Bowl era at Legion Field (1998)

After a half-century of memorable Iron Bowls in Birmingham, Alabama and Auburn tangled for the final time at Legion Field in 1998. It was not a stellar season for either team. Auburn came it at 3-7 under interim coach Bill Oliver, Terry Bowden having resigned at midseason. Alabama was a mere 6-4 under second-year coach Mike DuBose, having already lost to SEC West rivals Arkansas and Mississippi State. The Tigers came out inspired behind true freshman quarterback Gabe Gross, building a 17-0 lead early in the second quarter. The Crimson Tide scored a pair of touchdowns late in the half to pull within 17-14, then took the lead for good on a 43-yard pass from Andrew Zow to Shaun Alexander in the third quarter. Alexander’s third touchdown of the day capped a 31-17 Alabama victory. The Iron Bowl series has been played on campus ever since.

Auburn athletics photo

87. Auburn, Syracuse play to Sugar Bowl deadlock (1988)

The only tie in the 85-year history of the Sugar Bowl remains a controversial one. Auburn trailed Syracuse by three with only one second to play, but had the ball on the Orangemen’s 13-yard line. Rather than go for the touchdown and the win, Tigers coach Pat Dye sent in kicker Win Lyle for a field goal try. Lyle was true on his 30-yard kick, which end the game in a 16-16 tie (overtime would not be instituted in college football until 1996). Auburn — which had also tied Tennessee early in the season — ended the year 9-1-2. Syracuse, on the other hand, finished 11-0-1, its outside shot at a national championship dashed by the tie against Auburn (Miami beat Oklahoma 20-14 in the Orange Bowl that same night to finish 12-0 and claim the title). Egged on by a local radio personality, furious Syracuse fans mailed 2,000 neckties to the man they dubbed Pat “Tie” Dye. The Auburn coach — who told reporters that if Syracuse “wanted to win, they should have blocked the field goal” — ended up signing 200 of the ties and selling them for $100 each, raising $20,000 for the school’s general scholarship fund.

Yeatman King/Birmingham News file

86. 'Too much Bama in me' (1954)

Tommy Lewis was a good enough fullback to have been elected an Alabama team captain and to have scored two touchdowns in the Crimson Tide’s 1953 Orange Bowl victory over Syracuse, but he’s best remembered for a momentary lapse of reason that took place a year later in a different bowl game. In the Jan. 1, 1954, Cotton Bowl vs. Rice, Lewis scored a touchdown to give the Crimson Tide an early lead. In the second quarter, Owls halfback Dicky Moegle — who had already run for a 79-yard touchdown earlier in the game — broke free for what looked like it was going to be a 95-yard score. Inexplicably, Lewis ran off the sideline and dove into Moegle’s legs as he crossed the 50-yard line, knocking him flat on his back. Moegle was awarded a touchdown on the play, one of three he scored in a 28-6 Rice victory. When asked by reporters why he came off the bench to tackle Moegle, Lewis — who was penalized five yards for illegal participation but was not ejected from the game — said “I guess I’ve got too much Bama in me.” Moegle, who was temporarily dazed but not seriously injured on the play, forgave Lewis almost immediately. The two later appeared together on the Ed Sullivan Show, where Lewis repeated the line that would stick with him until his death in 2014.

Auburn athletics photo

85. Auburn ends Georgia’s SEC reign (1983)

Georgia had won three straight SEC championships, 23 consecutive conference games and 24 home games in a row when the No. 4 Bulldogs welcomed No. 3 Auburn into Sanford Stadium on Nov. 12, 1983. Georgia had tied Clemson early in the season, but otherwise had an unblemished record. Pat Dye’s Tigers were 8-1, a mid-September loss to Texas their only disappointment. Auburn won 13-7 behind a Lionel James touchdown run, two Al Del Greco field goals and a defense that held Georgia to 51 yards rushing, clinching the victory when cornerback Jimmie Warren batted down John Lastinger’s fourth-down pass in the final minute. The victory secured at least a share of Auburn’s first SEC championship since 1957, a title the Tigers would win outright by beating Alabama 23-20 two weeks later in Birmingham. Auburn would finish off an 11-1 season by beating Michigan 9-7 in the Sugar Bowl, ending up No. 3 in the national polls behind national champion Miami and once-beaten Nebraska.

Tom Self/Birmingham News file

84. Alabama wins national title after chaotic New Year’s Day (1966)

A lot of things had to break perfectly for Alabama to win a second straight national championship following the 1965 season. The Crimson Tide shook off a one-point loss to Georgia in its opener and a midseason tie vs. Tennessee to carry an 8-1-1 record and a No. 4 national ranking into the Orange Bowl against unbeaten and No. 3 Nebraska. Alabama got some help elsewhere, as LSU beat No. 2 Arkansas 14-7 in the Cotton Bowl and UCLA knocked off No. 1 Michigan State 14-12 in the Rose Bowl. The Crimson Tide then throttled the Cornhuskers 39-28 in the Sugar Bowl, getting 296 yards and two touchdowns passing from Steve Sloan and 203 combined yards rushing from Les Kelley and Steve Bowman in one of the great team offensive performances of the Bryant era (Ray Perkins also caught nine passes for 159 yards and two TDs). When the polls came out a few days later, Alabama was indeed national champion for the third time in five years, garnering 37 first-place votes to 18 for Michigan State.

Mike Mercier/Huntsville Times file

83. Stallings steps down following Iron Bowl thriller (1996)

Alabama beat Auburn 24-23 in the Iron Bowl on a 6-yard touchdown pass from Freddie Kitchens to Dennis Riddle with 26 seconds remaining, and that was only the second most-dramatic thing that happened on Nov. 21, 1996, at Legion Field in Birmingham. Moments after the game ended, Alabama coach Gene Stallings announced his resignation effective at season’s end. Stallings cited family reasons for his decision, but over the years, stories have emerged of acrimony between the coach and the school's administration, including athletics director Bob Bockrath and president Andrew Sorensen. Alabama lost to Florida in the SEC championship game, but beat Michigan 17-14 in the Outback Bowl to cap a seven-year run under Stallings that produced 70 victories and the 1992 national championship. Though just 61 at the time, Stallings has never coached again. The Crimson Tide hired Mike DuBose as Stallings replacement, but fired him in 2000 after four uneven seasons.

AP photo by Brynn Anderson

82. Alabama, Auburn engage in offensive shootout (2014)

After years of defense-first battles of attrition, the Iron Bowl entered a new age on Nov. 29, 2014 at Tuscaloosa’s Bryant-Denny Stadium. The top-ranked Crimson Tide emerged with a 55-44 victory over the No. 15 Tigers, with the two teams setting game records for total points (99) and combined yardage (1,169). The Tigers led 26-21 at halftime and 33-21 early in the third quarter before Amari Cooper and Blake Sims took over the game. Sims hit Cooper on touchdown passes of 39 and 75 yards, and also ran for an 11-yard score as Alabama stormed ahead early in the fourth quarter. Cooper ended the day with an Iron Bowl record 13 receptions for 224 yards and three touchdowns, more than enough to offset a 456-yard passing day by Auburn’s Nick Marshall. Sammie Coates (5 receptions, 206 yards, 2 TDs) and Duke Williams (7-121) also had big days catching the ball for the Tigers, while the Crimson Tide’s T.J. Yeldon ran for 127 yards and two scores.

Eric Schultz/Huntsville Times file

81. Tyrone Prothro’s glory & agony (2005)

Tyrone Prothro was like a comet blazing across the sky for Alabama in 2005, shining brightly but briefly during a four-week span early in the season. The 5-foot-9 receiver turned in one of the great individual plays in college football history on Sept. 10 when he reached behind the back of Southern Miss defensive back Jasper Faulk to haul in a 42-yard pass from Brodie Croyle at the 1-yard line, sparking a 30-21 comeback win for the Crimson Tide (the catch won an ESPY for “Play of the Year”). Prothro caught seven passed for 134 yards in the game, and also totaled 133 yards in kick returns. The following week, he ran for 64 yards on just three carries in a 37-14 win at South Carolina. Alabama’s Oct. 1 game against Florida in Tuscaloosa would simultaneously be the best and worst day of Prothro’s football career. He caught five passes for 134 yards and two touchdowns — and also had a punt return for a touchdown called back by penalty — as the Crimson Tide routed the No. 5 Gators 31-3. But with Alabama up big in the fourth quarter, Croyle threw deep to Prothro in the end zone in an attempt for an exclamation point touchdown. Prothro landed awkwardly on his left leg, which collapsed inward as both lower leg bones shattered. Prothro underwent emergency surgery that night and was hospitalized nearly a month due to medical complications. He never played football again.

AP file photo by Dave Martin

80. North Alabama’s threepeat (1993-95)

Only one football-playing school in the state of Alabama has won three consecutive national championships. Coach Bobby Wallace and North Alabama pulled off the “threepeat” from 1993-95, posting a 41-1 record and winning the NCAA Division II championship all three years. The Lions’ only loss in that span came 17-14 in 1994 to Youngstown State, a team that went on to win the Division I-AA (now FCS) title that season. North Alabama’s signature player during their run was linebacker Ronald McKinnon, a three-time All-American who won the Harlon Hill Trophy (AKA the Division II Heisman) in 1995. McKinnon went on to play nine years in the NFL. North Alabama had some great teams after 2003, but never won another Division II title. The Lions moved up to Division I in 2018, and currently play as an FCS independent.

Frank Couch/Birmingham News file

79. Alabama’s Antonio Langham scandal (1993)

Antonio Langham was one of the signature players of Alabama’s 1992 national championship team, a first-team All-America cornerback whose interception return for a touchdown provided the winning margin in the SEC championship game against Florida. Langham was again a star for the Crimson Tide in 1993, setting the school record for interceptions at midseason. However, he was declared ineligible during the week of the SEC title game when it came to light he’d received money to sign with an agent in the hours after the previous season’s Sugar Bowl. After the NCAA found that head coach Gene Stallings and athletics director Hootie Ingram were slow to act in reporting Langham’s violations, the Crimson Tide was hit with NCAA sanctions for the first time in school history in 1995. Alabama was forced to forfeit eight victories in which Langham played in 1993, was stripped of a number of scholarships and was banned from postseason play in 1995.

Birmingham News file

78. Auburn’s Eric Ramsey scandal (1991-92)

The most successful sustained period in Auburn football history was undone in part by a “pay for play” scandal that broke early in the 1991 season. In June of that year, former Tigers defensive back Eric Ramsey alleged in a term paper that was made publicthat Auburn’s football program was “racist and condescending” to African-American players. That September, Ramsey unloaded another bombshell, that he’d been paid by boosters under an elaborate incentive program, and that he had secretly recorded meetings with assistant coaches Larry Blakeney, Steve Dennis and Frank Young in which the scheme —which involved two Auburn boosters funneling money to players through the football staff —was openly discussed. The Birmingham News printed a transcript of several of the tapes in November, on one of which Blakeney can be heard telling Ramsey to keep the arrangement quiet, uttering the infamous phrase “keep it down home, cuz.” The NCAA’s Letter of Inquiry arrived in November 1992, charging the football program with nine violations. Head coach Pat Dye — who had also been the Tigers’ athletic director during the time the violations occurred — resigned a few weeks later on the eve of the Iron Bowl. The following August, Auburn was hit with a two-year bowl ban, a TV ban for 1993 and the loss of 13 scholarships over a four-year period.

John David Mercer/Press-Register file

77. The Frozen Iron Bowl (2000)

Once the Iron Bowl moved to Auburn in 1989, it was only a matter of time before the game was played in Tuscaloosa as well. Alabama’s contract with the city of Birmingham finally expired after the 1999 season, clearing the way for the Iron Bowl to be played at Bryant-Denny Stadium the following year and on the Alabama campus for the first time since 1901. Unfortunately for Crimson Tide fans, their team was in the midst of a 3-8 season and head coach Mike DuBose had already been fired by the time the Iron Bowl rolled around. Doubly unfortunate, the game was played in some of the most miserable conditions in the history of the rivalry — temperatures in the high 30s and freezing rain throughout the afternoon. The only scoring of the game came on three Damon Duval field goals, as Tommy Tuberville's Tigers took a 9-0 victory, clinching the SEC West championship in the process. Alabama hired Dennis Franchione a short time afterward, but wouldn’t beat Auburn in Tuscaloosa until Nick Saban showed up later in the decade.

Birmingham News file

76. Philip Doyle kicks it to Tennessee (1990)

One of the more unlikely outcomes in the “Third Saturday in October” rivalry came on Oct. 20, 1990, at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville. Alabama came into the game at 2-3, having lost the first three games of the season amid a pile of injuries under first-year head coach Gene Stallings. Tennessee was 4-0-2 and ranked No. 3 nationally. Not many gave Alabama a chance, with ESPN’s Lee Corso saying earlier in the week that the Crimson Tide was a glorified high school team compared to Tennessee. Alabama had won four straight over Tennessee at that point, leading All-SEC center Roger Shultz to utter the famous line “We ought to pay property tax on Neyland Stadium because we own it." Nevertheless, Tennessee appeared to be on the verge of victory, lining up for a 50-yard field goal with 1:35 to play and the score tied 6-6. Alabama’s Stacy Harrison blocked Greg Burke’s attempt, and the ball rolled so far that the Crimson Tide was virtually in field goal range. Moments later, Philip Doyle hammered a 47-yard game-winner for a 9-6 Alabama victory. The Crimson Tide’s streak over the Volunteers eventually reached seven straight victories before a 17-17 tie in 1993. Tennessee started a seven-game win streak of its own in 1995.

Tom Self/Birmingham News file

75. Lawyer Tillman reverses Auburn’s Iron Bowl fortunes (1986)

Auburn had lost back-to-back heartbreaking Iron Bowls and looked to be on the verge of a third in 1986, when the Tigers trailed Alabama by 10 points entering the fourth quarter on Nov. 29 at Legion Field. Auburn scored on the first play of the final period to cut Alabama’s lead to four, then took over at its 23 with 4:54 to play. The Tigers marched 77 yards for the winning touchdown, a drive that included a 9-yard pass from Jeff Burger to Trey Gainous on fourth-and-3. Auburn reached the Alabama 7-yard line, and called a reverse to Scott Bolton. The only trouble was that Bolton wasn’t on the field, back-up Lawyer Tillman was. Tillman had never repped the play in practice, but ran it to perfection, diving into the end zone to cap a 21-17 Auburn victory. The win — which also included 145 yards and two touchdowns rushing from Brent Fullwood — would be the first of four straight by Pat Dye’s Tigers over Alabama. The Tigers went on face USC in the Citrus Bowl, winning 16-7 to finish 10-2. Alabama ended up 10-3 after beating Washington in the Sun Bowl. A few days later, Crimson Tide head coach Ray Perkins left for the NFL.

Birmingham News file

74. Namath denied at Orange Bowl goal line (1965)

Alabama has already been crowned national champion by the Associated Press at the end of the 1964 regular season, but had a chance to cap a perfect year when it faced No. 5 Texas in the first prime-time Orange Bowl on New Year’s Day. Steve Sloan started the game at quarterback with Joe Namath nursing a knee injury, but Namath limped onto the field after the Longhorns took a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter. Namath immediately led a touchdown drive, and pulled the Crimson Tide within 21-17 late in the game. Alabama drove all the way to the Texas 1-yard line, but Namath was stuffed short of the goal line on fourth down by Longhorns All-American Tommy Nobis (or at least that’s how officials ruled it; Namath and numerous teammates have been adamant over the years that Namath scored). Despite playing for the losing side, Namath was named the game’s Most Valuable Player after completing 18 of 37 passes for 255 yards and two touchdowns. The following day, Namath agreed with the American Football League’s New York Jets on a then-record $400,000 signing bonus.

AP file photo

73. Oliver pulls a stunner and heads to Auburn (1995)

Bill Oliver was considered the heir apparent to Gene Stallings as Alabama head coach by 1995, but any chance of that disappeared suddenly when Oliver jumped across the state to become defensive coordinator at Auburn shortly after the season ended. Oliver believed he’d been promised the Alabama job when and if Stallings stepped down, but any such arrangement was voided after athletics director Hootie Ingram resigned the previous summer amid NCAA sanctions. His relationship with Stallings having soured despite teaming up for the 1992 national championship, Oliver had filed retirement paperwork with the state of Alabama. Auburn coach Terry Bowden, who had fired defensive coordinator Wayne Hall at season’s end, quickly pursued the architect of Alabama’s legendary 1992 defense. Oliver — whose first job in coaching had been at Auburn under Shug Jordan in the late 1960s — signed on shortly after the new year. Stallings was apparently caught off guard by the move, but promoted Mike DuBose to defensive coordinator. Oliver was in his third year as Auburn’s defensive coordinator when Bowden resigned in the middle of the 1998 season, and finished that year as interim coach. Oliver retired when he was passed over for the permanent job in favor of Tommy Tuberville, and has not coached again since.

John Horgan Jr./Wikimedia Commons

72. The first Alabama-Auburn game (1893)

It wasn’t yet known as the Iron Bowl and it didn’t even take place in the fall, but Alabama and Auburn met for the first time in football on Feb. 22, 1893, at Birmingham’s Lakeview Park. Auburn had formed its team in 1892 under history professor George Petrie, the same year Livingston native W.G. Little had organized the first Alabama squad. In what the Montgomery Advertiser billed as “Auburn vs. Tuskaloosa” in the “Great Football Game at Birmingham,” Auburn won 32-22. Because the game was played in February, Auburn considered it the first game of the 1893 season, while Alabama considered it the 1892 finale. Thus began years of gridiron disagreement between the two schools. The game was moved to the fall in 1893, then stopped after 1895 before resuming in 1900 and being played every year through 1907. The rivalry was then called off for 41 years before being resumed at Birmingham’s Legion Field in 1948, and has been played every year since, nearly always in the regular-season finale.

Birmingham News file

71. Auburn makes a bold hire in Pat Dye (1981)

After eight straight losses in the Iron Bowl, Auburn turned to a man who had been groomed by its two most hated rivals to turn the program around. Pat Dye, an All-America lineman at Georgia and a long-time assistant at Alabama, was hired as Tigers head man in 1981. Dye — 41 years old at the time — had been a head coach at East Carolina for six seasons and at Wyoming for one, finishing with a winning record every year. The plainspoken country boy from Blythe, Ga., proved to be a perfect fit at Auburn, and enjoyed one of the greatest periods of sustained success in the program’s history over the next decade. Dye broke Alabama’s 9-game Iron Bowl winning streak in 1982 — beating mentor Bear Bryant in his final regular season game — and later won four straight against the Crimson Tide. He won or shared in four SEC championships, and narrowly missed out on a shot at a national title in both 1983 and 1988. Most importantly, he put the Tigers on equal footing with the Crimson Tide, both in terms of recruiting and on the field. An NCAA scandal and failing health prematurely ended his Auburn tenure after the 1992 season, but Dye remains synonymous with the Tigers, who named the playing surface at Jordan-Hare Stadium in his honor in 2005.

Alabama athletics

70. Alabama’s first game (1892)

Some 23 years after the first college football game was contested between Princeton and Rutgers, the University of Alabama got into the act on Nov. 11, 1892. The Cadets — as Alabama’s teams were then known — routed a team comprised of players from various Birmingham high schools 56-0 at Lakeview Park. William Little of Livingston — who attended prep school in New Hampshire — brought the game back south when he enrolled at Alabama in 1892. Little was appointed the team’s first captain, with E.B. Beaumont serving as head coach. Little also scored on a 30-yard run in the win over the high school team, which served as a warm-up for a game the following day against the Birmingham Athletic Club. The Cadets lost that game 5-4, but beat the Athletic Club 14-0 in December before finishing the “season” with a 32-22 loss to Auburn the following February.

Auburn athletics

69. Auburn’s first game (1892)

Auburn also played football for the first time in 1892, but its inaugural game was a doozy. Auburn — then known as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama — opened its first season by beating Georgia 10-0 on a rainy February day at Piedmont Park in Atlanta. As the Atlanta Constitution put it, the Auburn students “stormed Georgia’s capital with their mercy yells, songs, jokes and extravagant jollity.” Presumably, a football game also took place. The game was the brainchild of Auburn’s George Petrie and Georgia’s Charles Herty, who met as graduate school classmates at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. It was told for many years that Auburn’s “War Eagle” cheer originated during this game, but that tale has since proven to be apocryphal.

Hal Yeager/Birmingham News file

68. The Kick II/Third & Dumb (1997)

How you refer to the 1997 Iron Bowl depends upon which side your allegiances lie. For Auburn fans, it’s “The Kick II,” after Jaret Holmes’ 39-yard field goal with 15 seconds left, which gave the Tigers an 18-17 victory (Van Tiffin’s Iron Bowl game-winner in 1985 was “The Kick.”) For Alabama fans, it’s “Third & Dumb,” after the preposterous play call that set up Holmes’ game-winner. The Crimson Tide, which entered the game 4-6 and was already going to miss out on a postseason bowl, led 17-15 and was trying to run out the clock in the final minute. Rather than call a “safe” running play, Alabama offensive coordinator Bruce Arians called for a swing pass from Freddie Kitchens to Ed Scissum, who fumbled after a hard hit by Auburn’s Martavious Houston. The Tigers’ Quinton Reese recovered on the Alabama 33 with 48 seconds left. Auburn then got one first down to set up Holmes’ kick for the win. First-year Alabama head coach Mike DuBose said he didn’t know what the play call was on Scissum’s fumble, because he wasn’t wearing a headset on the sideline. Auburn clinched its first SEC West title with the win, and fans tore down the goal posts at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press

67. Cam cleared by NCAA (2010)

Auburn’s 2010 national championship run became engulfed in controversy late in the regular season, with star quarterback Cam Newton at the center of it all. Newton, who originally played at Florida before spending a year in junior college, signed with Auburn after also being vigorously pursued by Mississippi State (just how vigorously was the cause of all the consternation). In early November, news broke that the NCAA had been looking into Newton’s recruitment by the Bulldogs. A former MSU player alleged that Cecil Newton, Cam’s father, had solicited $120,000 to $180,000 in exchange for his son to sign with the Bulldogs. Auburn briefly declared Cam Newton ineligible during the week of the SEC championship game in early December, but the NCAA immediately reinstated him after no evidence was found of a financial arrangement between the Tigers and the Newtons. Within the next month, the younger Newton quarterbacked the Tigers to the SEC championship, won the Heisman Trophy and then led Auburn to its first national title in more than 50 years. Though “pay-for-play” suspicions continue to sully Newton’s Auburn career in some observers' minds, the NCAA closed its investigation into the matter the following October.

David J. Phillip/Associated Press

66. Franchione drops rope, heads for Texas A&M (2002)

Dennis Franchione was hired as Alabama’s coach under an NCAA cloud, the sanctions from the Albert Means scandal delivering a massive blow to the program a year into his tenure (rendering the Tide ineligible for the postseason in both 2002 and 2003). Franchione implored his Crimson Tide players to “hold the rope,” that is, stick together until the team emerged on the other side. A few days after Alabama ended its 2002 season with a loss at Hawaii, Franchione let go of the rope. He left Alabama for Texas A&M, a move the seemed unconscionable just a few years earlier. Worse, Franchione never returned to Tuscaloosa after accepting the job with the Aggies, telling his players he was leaving via videoconference. It was a move viewed as cowardly by Alabama fans, who never forgave Franchione — particularly after his replacement, Mike Price, was fired a few months later for off-field transgressions. Alabama fans got the last laugh on “Coach Fran,” who went 32-28 and never won a bowl game in five seasons with the Aggies (who were then in the Big 12) before resigning with a year left on his contract.

John Bazemore/Associated Press

65. Alabama blacks out Georgia's Blackout (2008)

Nick Saban’s Alabama program announced its presence with authority in the fifth game of the 2008 season, throttling Georgia 41-30 in Athens. The third-ranked Bulldogs were so confident entering the game that they decided to wear black jerseys, encouraging fans to also wear that color and “Blackout” Sanford Stadium. Alabama strength coach Scott Cochran, then not yet a Tuscaloosa folk hero, had been caught on camera having a little fun with the blackout concept earlier in the week (he told Crimson Tide players that Georgia was going to wear black because “they’re going to a [expletive] funeral"). The Crimson Tide entered the game 4-0 and ranked No. 8, with double-digit wins over Clemson, Tulane, Western Kentucky and Arkansas to start the season. Still, college football pundits didn’t know what to make of the Alabama program, which had produced many “Bama is Back” false starts over the years. That narrative changed in less than two quarters against Georgia, as the Crimson Tide built at 31-0 halftime lead and cruised to a statement victory in what was eventually an unbeaten regular season. "The bottom line," Georgia coach Mark Richt said after the game, "is they whipped us."

Kelly Kline/Heisman Trust via AP

64. Derrick Henry handles the Heisman (2015)

With spread offenses and hurry-up, no-huddle attacks proliferating across college football in 2015, old-school, three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust philosophy had perhaps its last gasp in the person of Derrick Henry. The Alabama junior bludgeoned his way to the second Heisman Trophy in program history, rolling up an SEC record 2,219 yards and 28 touchdowns for the eventual national champions. Beginning with a mid-October game against Texas A&M, Henry rushed for 236, 143, 210, 204, 271 and 189 yards against SEC opponents, including games of 38, 46 and 44 carries. Henry 46-carry, 271-yard performance in a 29-13 Iron Bowl victory over Auburn cemented his workhorse status, as he ran the ball 19 times in the fourth quarter and on 14 straight snaps to end the game. Henry was nowhere to be found on preseason Heisman projections, but secured 378 first-place votes to beat out Christian McCaffrey, Deshaun Watson, Baker Mayfield and Leonard Fournette — among others — for college football’s top individual honor. Henry left school for the NFL after helping Alabama past Clemson in the national title game, and was a second-round pick by the Tennessee Titans.

Bob Farley/Birmingham Post-Herald file

63. Dye resigns on Iron Bowl eve (1992)

Pat Dye led Auburn to six Iron Bowl victories and four SEC championships in the 1980s, but pending NCAA sanctions and failing health had taken their toll by the end of the 1992 season. With the Tigers in the midst of a second-straight losing season and a day away from facing unbeaten Alabama in the Iron Bowl, Dye resigned on the eve of the Iron Bowl at Legion Field. His team played inspired football for nearly a half, before Alabama’s Antonio Langham broke the game open with an interception return for a touchdown and the Crimson Tide went on to win 17-0. Dye finished his 12-year Auburn tenure with 99 victories and a 6-6 record in the Iron Bowl, and was only 53 years old at the time. The Tigers were hit with major NCAA sanctions the following summer, keeping them out of the postseason in both 1993 and 1994. Though Dye has remained close to the Auburn program since stepping down (too close, some would argue), he has never coached again.

Chip English/Press-Register file

62. Honk if you sacked Brodie (2005)

On the day Auburn renamed the playing surface at Jordan-Hare Stadium in honor of former coach Pat Dye, the Tigers turned in a defensive performance that warmed the heart of the old school coach and thousands of their fans. Auburn sacked Alabama quarterback Brodie Croyle 11 times — including on two of the first three plays of the game and five of the first 12 — on the way to a 28-18 victory that was not as close as the final score indicated. Alabama, which had begun the season 9-0 before an overtime loss to LSU, suddenly found itself no better than third in the SEC West. Auburn won its fourth straight Iron Bowl — a streak that would eventually reach six in a row — and exerted the kind of dominance over its instate rival that has existed only sporadically in Iron Bowl history. The Tigers ended the season 9-3 with a loss to Wisconsin in the Capital One Bowl, but showed up to play in the game that mattered most to their fans.

Robert Adams/Birmingham News file

61. Namath runs afoul of 'training' rules (1963)

Joe Namath’s reputation for enjoying the nightlife isn’t something that began once he joined the New York Jets in 1965. Indeed, “Broadway” Joe’s college career was very nearly derailed thanks to an alcohol related incident that occurred in early December 1963, Namath’s junior year at Alabama. Namath was picked up by police in downtown Tuscaloosa for standing in the street directing traffic while under the influence, and immediately suspended by coach Paul “Bear” Bryant for “breaking training” (though reports at the time did not specify his infraction). Namath sat out the season-ending game at Miami (which had been re-scheduled from Nov. 23 due to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy the previous day) and the Jan. 1 Sugar Bowl vs. Ole Miss, both Crimson Tide victories. Jack Hurlbut and Steve Sloan filled in for Namath at quarterback, as Sloan would do again when Namath injured his knee in 1964. Bryant let Namath back on the team for his senior year, and he responded by leading Alabama to a national championship, despite playing half the season on a bum knee.

Birmingham News file photo

60. Shug Jordan hired at Auburn (1951)

Jordan, who grew up in Selma, was a four-sport letterman at Auburn, and became the school’s head basketball coach and assistant football coach after graduating in 1933. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II, receiving a Purple Heart for wounds received in the Normandy Invasion. After one post-war season at Auburn, he was hired as basketball coach and line coach at Georgia. He returned to his alma mater as head coach in 1951, taking over an Auburn program that had gone 3-22-4 the previous three seasons. After two mediocre years, the Tigers broke through with a 7-3-1 record and a Gator Bowl berth in 1953. Four years later, Auburn went 10-0 and claimed the school’s first national championship. That was Jordan’s lone SEC title team as well, though he had a number of very good teams in the 1960s and 70s as well. Auburn’s Cliff Hare Stadium was renamed Jordan-Hare Stadium in 1973, and Jordan retired following the 1975 season with 175 career wins.

Robert Adams/Birmingham News file

59. Alabama’s defensive dominance (1961)

Paul “Bear” Bryant’s first national championship team did it with defense, allowing an astounding 25 points in 11 games on the way to a perfect record. Led by stars such as Lee Roy Jordan, Billy Neighbors and Darwin Holt, the Crimson Tide pitched six shutouts, holding opponents scoreless in the final five games of the regular season. In fact, Alabama’s first-team defense allowed just 13 points all season — field goals by Tennessee and Arkansas, and a touchdown by N.C. State. “Many times, we only played one quarter, maybe two quarters, maybe three quarters,” end Tommy Brooker remembered in 2018. “And then we went and sat on the bench.” Alabama was voted No. 1 at the end of the regular season, and then capped an 11-0 campaign with a 10-3 victory over Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl. It would be the first of six national championships won by Bryant teams in the next 19 years, a record unmatched until Nick Saban won six in 15 years at LSU and Alabama from 2003-17.

Todd Warshaw/AllSport

58. Terry Bowden resigns at midseason (1998)

The only midseason coaching change in the modern history of the Iron Bowl rivalry took place in 1998, when Auburn’s Terry Bowden stepped down after the Tigers got off to a 1-5 start. Bowden said he’d been told by Auburn trustee Bobby Lowder that he was going to be fired at season’s end, though Lowder denied that was the case. Defensive coordinator Bill Oliver stepped in as interim coach, guiding the Tigers to a 3-8 finish. Bowden’s tenure at Auburn ended with a 47-17-1 record, including 20 straight wins at the beginning while the school was under NCAA sanctions from the Pat Dye era. The Tigers also won the SEC West championship in 1997, and beat Alabama in three of Bowden’s five full seasons. Bowden moved into TV, serving as an analyst for ABC Sports. He returned to coaching at North Alabama in 2009, and also worked at Akron from 2012-18 (he is currently on staff as an analyst at Clemson). Auburn hired Tommy Tuberville to take over beginning in 1999.

Photo courtesy of the Paul W. Bryant Museum

57. Pat Trammell dies at 28 (1968)

One of the more beloved figures in Alabama football history met his untimely demise in December of 1968, when former Crimson Tide quarterback Pat Trammell died after battling testicular cancer. Trammell, the starting quarterback on Alabama’s 1961 national championship team, was noted for his tough-minded play and was remembered as Paul “Bear” Bryant’s favorite player. He eschewed a chance at pro football to go to medical school, and was in his third year of dermatology residency when he fell ill. He left a wife and two young children behind, which spurred Bryant and Trammell’s former teammates to form the A-Club Charitable and Educational Foundation, a group that still provides funds for the families of former Crimson Tide players and others in need. Trammell was posthumously inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1975. The stadium at Scottsboro High School, his alma mater, is named in his honor.

Robert Adams/Birmingham News file

56. Shug Jordan dies at 69 (1980)

Legendary coach Ralph “Shug” Jordan had been away from Auburn for nearly five years when he died from leukemia on July 17, 1980 at age 69, but his passing left an indelible mark on those around him. A war hero and a fine athlete in his day, Jordan won 175 games and a national title in 25 years at Auburn. The school re-named its football stadium after him in 1973 while he was still coaching, prompting Alabama to do the same with Paul “Bear” Bryant. Despite his success, he was always overshadowed in his own state by Bryant, whom he considered a close friend. As longtime Auburn sports information director (and later athletics director) David Housel wrote in the Anniston Star upon Jordan’s death, “he was low key. He was modest to an extreme. He was hardly known to the general public outside the South, but that didn’t bother him. He was happy doing what he loved best — coaching football and living the quiet life in Auburn.” A four-time SEC Coach of the Year, Jordan was posthumously inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1982. “In many ways, he was Auburn,” former Tigers player and administrator Lee Hayley once told the Atlanta Constitution.

Birmingham News file photo

55. Auburn wins its first national championship (1957)

Coming off a 7-3 finish the previous year, Auburn began the 1957 season ranked No. 15 in the Associated Press poll. But the Tigers climbed the rankings as they kept winning, defeating No. 8 Tennessee 7-0 on Sept. 28, No. 19 Florida 13-0 on Nov. 2 and No. 17 Mississippi State 15-7 on Nov. 9. After Oklahoma and Texas A&M both lost in mid-November, the Tigers were the only major-conference unbeaten team remaining. They surged to No. 1 in late November, then thrashed Alabama 40-0 in the regular-season finale. Led by All-America end Jim Phillips, quarterback Lloyd Nix, halfback Tommy Lorino and center Jackie Burkett, Shug Jordan’s Tigers outscored opponents 207-28 in 10 games. However, because of NCAA sanctions stemming from illegal payments to recruits some years earlier, Auburn was not eligible for postseason play and couldn’t be voted No. 1 in the UPI coaches poll. The AP did crown the Tigers national champions, which ended up being Auburn’s lone national title of the 20th century.

The University of Southern California/Collegiate Images

54. Alabama, USC play mythic, memorable game (1970)

Neither Alabama nor USC won a conference championship in 1970, let alone a national title. The two teams combined for just 12 victories. The Trojans didn’t even play in a bowl game. And yet, USC’s 42-21 victory over Alabama at Legion Field on Sept. 12 has taken on mythic proportions over the years. No, the way the Trojans and their all-black backfield — including fullback Sam Cunningham and Birmingham-born halfback Clarence Davis — dominated the all-white Crimson Tide didn’t “force” Alabama to integrate its football team. In reality, Wilbur Jackson had already signed with Alabama, but was sitting in the stands because freshmen were not eligible to play under NCAA rules (that rule would change two years later). But what the game perhaps did was make any Alabama fans and politicians who were still resistant to integration in college football realize the coming reality — that not only was allowing blacks and whites to play together the right thing to do from a moral standpoint, it was the best way to win consistently.

Birmingham News file photo

53. Scott Hunter edges Archie Manning in QB battle (1969)

In the greatest quarterback showdown in SEC history up to that time, Scott Hunter and Alabama edged Archie Manning and Ole Miss 33-32 at Legion Field on Oct. 4, 1969. The game was one of the first broadcast in primetime coast-to-coast by ABC, and didn’t kick off until nearly 9 p.m. local time because bandleader Lawrence Welk refused to re-schedule his weekly variety show. When the game finally got under way, Hunter and Manning put on a show for the ages, both statistically and in terms of drama. The lead changed hands four times in the final 12 minutes. Manning set an SEC record with 436 passing yards and 540 yards of total offense (a mark that stood until 2012), with three rushing touchdowns and two passing. Hunter threw for 300 yards and connected with George Ranager on the game-winning 15-yard touchdown with 3:42 to play. Sports writers in attendance realized they’d witnessed an instant classic. The Montgomery Advertiser’s Jack Doane wrote that “never, never has anything like it been seen before, nor is it likely to be seen again.”

John Bazemore/Associated Press

52. Jalen Hurts returns the favor in SEC title game (2018)

Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts had taken the Crimson Tide to the national championship game as a sophom*ore in 2017, only to be removed in favor of freshman Tua Tagovailoa at halftime. Tagovailoa rallied the Crimson Tide for a 26-23 victory in overtime, including the game-winning touchdown pass on the final play. Hurts could have transferred away after the season in search of more playing time, but instead opted to stay at Alabama and compete for the job in 2018. He didn’t beat out Tagovailoa, but his patience and loyalty were rewarded in the SEC championship game against Georgia. After Tagovailoa left the game late in the third quarter with an ankle injury, Hurts took the field with Alabama trailing 28-21, and led the Crimson Tide on a pair of touchdown drives for the 35-28 victory. He hit Jerry Jeudy on a game-tying 10-yard touchdown strike with 5:19 to play then ran for a 15-yard score to secure the win with 1:04 to play. Tagovailoa ended up returning for the Crimson Tide’s playoff run, and Hurts wound up transferring to Oklahoma in the offseason. But he secured his place in Alabama history with both his unselfish attitude during the 2018 regular season, and with his clutch performance when finally given the chance to shine.

Photo courtesy of Paul W. Bryant Museum

51. Wrong Way Bo (1984)

The 1980s were a fantastic time for drama in the Iron Bowl, with nearly every game going down to the wire in some fashion. The 1984 game was one of the more bizarre finishes and more dramatic upsets, with Alabama winning 17-15 over Auburn at Legion Field. The Crimson Tide came in at 4-6, set to miss out on a bowl game for the first time since 1958. The Tigers were 8-3, but could have clinched a second straight SEC championship with a victory. Alabama jumped out to a 17-7 lead after three quarters, but Auburn got back within two on Brent Fullwood’s 60-yard touchdown run and a two-point conversion in the fourth quarter. The Tigers drove back inside the Crimson Tide’s 10 with less than four minutes to play, and played for a touchdown instead of a field goal. On fourth-and-goal from the 1, Fullwood took a pitch to the right from quarterback Pat Washington, but was run out of bounds by Alabama safety Rory Turner at the 4. As it turned out, Bo Jackson — the lead blocker on the play — had misheard the play call and ran left instead of right. Alabama eventually held on for the win and the game would go down as “Wrong Way Bo,” but many people forget Auburn had another chance to win. The Tigers forced and punt and moved to the Crimson Tide’s 25-yard line, but Robert McGinty missed badly on a 42-yard field goal attempt with 14 seconds left to finally end Auburn’s chance to win. The hard-hitting Turner later uttered one of the more famous lines in Iron Bowl history when asked about his tackle of Fullwood, saying he “waxed the dude.”

Joe Songer/AL.com

50. The death of UAB football (2014)

UAB football enjoyed modest success in its first 24 years, posting a handful of winning records and even playing in a bowl game in 2005 under Watson Brown. The program bottomed out after Watson’s departure, however, with seven consecutive losing seasons from 2007-13. Nevertheless, first-year coach Bill Clark led the Blazers to a 6-6 record in his debut in 2014. But before UAB could even accept a bowl invitation, the school’s administration made the shocking decision to disband the program in early December 2014, citing revenue concerns. The story captured the national imagination, as it had been more than 20 years since an FBS program had shut down. Players, students and fans protested the decision, and after a fundraising drive, school president Ray Watts announced the Blazers would return in 2017.

Mark Almond/AL.com

49. The resurrection of UAB football (2015-17)

UAB’s official dormancy lasted only around six months, as the announcement the program would return came on June 1, 2015. Head coach Bill Clark elected to stay on with the Blazers, which went a long way toward guaranteeing eventual success when the program returned. The school built a new football operations building and practice facility, and players were granted an extra year of eligibility — in effect, a second redshirt — as an incentive for signing with UAB. The Blazers officially returned on Sept. 2, 2017, beating Alabama A&M 38-7 before a UAB record 45,212 fans at Legion Field. UAB has been a consistent winner since its return, going 8-5 in 2017, 11-3 and winning the Conference USA title in 2018 and 6-2 as of this writing in 2019. In addition, the city of Birmingham will open the new Protective Stadium near the UAB campus downtown in 2021.

Vasha Hunt/AL.com

48. Alabama crushes Notre Dame for national title (2013)

The Fighting Irish were the Crimson Tide’s bugaboo in the 1960s and 1970s, beating them on the field in back-to-back New Year’s Day bowl games in 1973 and 1974 and finishing ahead of them in the final polls in controversial fashion both 1966 and 1977. Alabama coach Paul “Bear” Bryant famously never beat Notre Dame, going 0-4 in two bowl games and a pair of regular season meetings. But the Crimson Tide made up for years of frustration in the 2013 BCS national championship team, romping to a 42-14 victory at Miami’s Sun Life Stadium. Eddie Lacy ran for two touchdowns and AJ McCarron threw for two as the Crimson Tide rolled up 529 yards of offense. The national title was Alabama’s second straight and third in four years. The game also became famous for another reason, ABC broadcaster Brent Musburger’s bizarre on-air fixation on McCarron’s then-girlfriend (and now wife), former Miss Alabama USA Katherine Webb.

Craig Ruttle/Associated Press

47. Cam Newton wins the Heisman in a landslide (2010)

Newton was engulfed in controversy for off-field reasons in 2010, but his on-field play left no doubt he was the most outstanding player in college football. In his first season after transferring from Blinn (Texas) Junior College, Newton led Auburn to a perfect record and its first national championship in more than 50 years. He passed for 2,854 yards and 30 touchdowns and ran for 1,473 yards and 20 scores. When it came time to vote for the Heisman Trophy, Newton won in a landslide. His point total of 2,263 was more than double second-place finisher Andrew Luck. In fact, it was more than Luck and third-place finisher LaMichael James combined. Newton’s 729 first-place votes were the fourth-most ever at the time (and remain sixth), while his first-place-vote percentage of 81.55 is also sixth-best ever. Newton’s Heisman was the third in Auburn history, after Pat Sullivan (1971) and Bo Jackson (1985), and was the second straight won by an in-state player after Alabama’s Mark Ingram won in 2009.

Ed Jones/Birmingham News file

46. Shug Jordan retires, replaced by Doug Barfield (1975)

Auburn had enjoyed a bounceback season in 1974, going 10-2 and finishing in the Top 10 nationally after a 6-6 1973 campaign. Longtime coach Ralph “Shug” Jordan elected to retire that offseason, but did not do so immediately, instead choosing to coach one more year. Unfortunately, Jordan was not able to out on top, as the Tigers went 3-6-2, their first losing record since 1966. The man selected to replace Jordan, offensive coordinator Doug Barfield, fared no better. Auburn went 27-27-1 in five seasons under Barfield, never reaching a bowl game. In addition, the 1979 team (which went 8-3) was banned from the postseason due to NCAA sanctions, which included promises of cars and cash to recruits (neither Barfield nor Jordan were named in any of the allegations). In 1980, after a 5-6 record than included an 0-6 SEC mark — including a fifth straight loss to Alabama — Barfield resigned and was replaced by Pat Dye. Barfield never returned to college coaching, instead coaching in high school for many years and later working as an executive with the Alabama High School Athletic Association. Jordan died at age 69 in 1980 after battling leukemia.

Birmingham News file photo

45. Auburn’s unlikely undefeated season (1993)

Auburn football was in a bad place in 1993. Pat Dye had resigned under pressure following 11 seasons, the last two in which the Tigers finished with a losing record. Alabama was the reigning national champion, and had beaten Auburn 17-0 in the previous year’s Iron Bowl. In August, Auburn was hit with NCAA sanctions stemming from the Dye era, resulting in a two-year postseason ban, a one-year television ban and a reduction in scholarships. Into this breach stepped Terry Bowden, the son of a legend, who had had a good six-year run at Samford (highlighted by an NCAA Division I-AA semifinal appearance in 1991). Nevertheless, the 1993 Tigers started winning and never stopped. They entered the national rankings after a 3-0 start, and later stunned No. 4 Florida 38-35 in Auburn in mid-October. Auburn was 10-0 and ranked No. 6 by the time it faced Alabama at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Nov. 20. The Tigers won 22-14 in comeback fashion, with back-up quarterback Patrick Nix (in the game after starter Stan White was injured) throwing a key fourth-down touchdown pass to Frank Sanders late in the game. Ineligible for the SEC championship or a bowl game, Auburn finished 11-0 and ranked No. 4 in the country.

Photo courtesy of Paul W. Bryant Museum

44. Alabama tops Washington in historic Rose Bowl (1926)

If there is one game credited with putting southern college football on the map, it is Alabama’s 20-19 victory over Washington in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day 1926. Third-year coach Wallace Wade’s Crimson Tide had rolled to a 9-0 record behind such stars as halfback Johnny Mack Brown and quarterback Allison “Pooley” Hubert. Alabama had allowed just seven points all season, beating LSU 42-0, Georgia Tech 7-0, Florida 34-0 and Georgia 27-0 (Birmingham-Southern, of all team, had managed to score against the Crimson Tide, but had lost 50-7). The Rose Bowl was then the only postseason bowl game in the sport, and Alabama was invited to Pasadena after several schools — including Yale and Illinois — had turned down the opportunity. The Crimson Tide was viewed as little more than a sacrificial lamb for Pacific Coast Conference champions Washington, which had scored 461 points in 11 games (including victories of 108-0, 59-0, 56-0, 64-2 and 80-7) and featured All-America halfback George “Wildcat” Wilson. Washington led 12-0 at halftime, but Alabama stormed back in the second half. Hubert scored on 1 yard-run and Brown caught two long touchdown passes as the Crimson Tide rallied for a 20-19 victory. Alabama returned to the Rose Bowl for the 1927, 1931, 1935, 1938 and 1946 games, winning three of those, losing once and tying another.

Birmingham News file

43. Resumption of hostilities in Iron Bowl (1948)

The reasons Alabama and Auburn stopped playing from in football from 1908-47 are legion, and with nearly all of those who were around at the time long dead, the truth of the story is probably lost to history. But the rivalry finally resumed in 1948 after the state legislature threatened both schools with the loss of funding if they did not play in football. Though a home-and-home arrangement was at least discussed according to contemporary reports, the two schools settled on Birmingham’s Legion Field for the first Alabama-Auburn football game in 40 years on Dec. 4, 1948. To signify the peaceful resumption of the rivalry, the two schools' student body presidents literally buried a hatchet the day before the game at Birmingham's Woodrow Wilson Park. Alabama entered the game at 5-4-1, while Auburn was 1-7-1. Predictably, the Crimson Tide won 55-0 behind three touchdowns passing and one rushing from Ed Salem. The teams would continue to meet at Legion Field each season until 1989, when the game was played at Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium for the first time (that year also featured the end of the 50/50 ticket split that had marked the Alabama-Auburn game as a true “neutral site” rivalry). At some point in the 1960s, the name “Iron Bowl” was adopted, a moniker co-opted from a popular motorcycle racing series that held been held in Birmingham since the 1930s. The Iron Bowl would move on-campus permanently in 2000, when Alabama’s contract with the city of Birmingham expired and allowed the game to be played at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Hal Yeager/Birmingham News file

42. Alabama throttles Florida in SEC title game (2009)

There were many indications that Alabama was “back” in the early days of the Nick Saban era, but the definitive statement came on Dec. 5 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. On that day, No. 2 Alabama pummeled top-ranked and reigning national champion Florida 32-13 in the SEC championship game. The Crimson Tide not only got revenge for a 31-20 loss to the Gators in the previous year’s title game, but also punched their ticket for a shot at their first national championship in 17 years. Eventual Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram staked Alabama to a 19-13 halftime lead with a pair of touchdown runs, but the second half belonged to the Crimson Tide. Greg McElroy hit Colin Peek on a 17-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter, then Ingram punctuated the victory with a 1-yard score in the final period. Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, the 2007 Heisman winner and then the face of college football, was famously left weeping on the sideline. A month later, Alabama topped Texas 37-21 in the BCS title game in Pasadena, finishing a perfect 14-0 and securing its first national championship since 1992 and the first of four under Saban in the next nine years.

Albert Cesare/Montgomery Advertiser via AP

41. Auburn beats two No. 1 teams in three weeks (2017)

No team had ever beaten two teams ranked No. 1 in the same season until Auburn did so in a three-week period in 2017. The Tigers hammered top-ranked Georgia 40-17 on Nov. 11 in Auburn, with Jarrett Stidham throwing three touchdown passes and Kerryon Johnson rushing for 167 yards. Alabama assumed the No. 1 spot after Georgia’s loss, but also fell victim to Auburn at Jordan-Hare Stadium. On Nov. 25, the Tigers beat the Crimson Tide 26-14 behind another big day from Johnson, who ran for a touchdown and threw for another. It was the first time Auburn had beaten Alabama by more than 10 points since 1969. The twin victories over top-ranked teams vaulted Auburn at least temporarily into the national championship race despite early-season losses to Clemson and LSU. The Tigers were ranked No. 2 nationally heading into the SEC championship game, where they again faced Georgia. This time, the Bulldogs pulled off a 28-7 victory behind two touchdown passes by Jake Fromm. Johnson, slowed by a shoulder injury suffered against Alabama, managed just 44 yards on 13 carries. Auburn slipped from the College Football Playoff to the Peach Bowl, where they lost 34-27 to Central Florida to finish a disappointing 10-4. Even more galling, Alabama and Georgia both made the playoff and ended up meeting for the national championship, with the Crimson Tide winning 26-23 in overtime.

Bernard Troncale/Birmingham News file

40. Antonio Langham’s pick-6 wins first SEC championship game (1992)

It’s difficult to imagine it now, but in 1992, the SEC championship game was considered a major — and perhaps unnecessary — gamble for the league. Adding an extra game between the regular season and the bowls might limit SEC teams’ chances of playing for a national championship, critics said at the time. Nevertheless, the SEC plowed ahead with its championship game idea, splitting the league into East and West divisions when Arkansas and South Carolina joined up for the 1992 season. Alabama breezed to an 11-0 record and won the West, while Florida took the East at 8-3. Thus, only a Crimson Tide victory in the SEC championship game would give the league a shot at a national title. The Gators made everyone nervous, tying the game 21-21 and taking possession of the ball late in the fourth quarter at Legion Field in Birmingham. But Alabama cornerback Antonio Langham rendered any worries moot by intercepting a Shane Matthews pass and returning it 27 yards for a touchdown with 3:16 remaining. The Crimson Tide held on for the victory and went on to win the national title by beating Miami in the Sugar Bowl. And though it moved to Atlanta two years later, the SEC championship game was here to stay.

Bill Starling/Press-Register file

39. Alabama beats Texas for Saban’s first title (2010)

Alabama had many false “they’re back” moments between 1992 and 2009, but finally got to the football promised land again in Nick Saban’s third season in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide rolled through the regular season at 12-0, tacking on a 26-21 comeback victory over Auburn in the regular season finale. That set up a showdown with reigning national champion Florida for the SEC title, and Alabama rolled over the top-ranked Gators 32-13 to reach the BCS national championship game against fellow unbeaten Texas. The game also marked the Crimson Tide’s return to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., where it had not played since 1946. The Longhorns took an early 6-0 lead, but Alabama knocked Texas quarterback Colt McCoy out of the game in the first quarter. Sparked by an interception return for a touchdown by defensive end Marcell Dareus, the Crimson Tide led 24-6 at the half. Texas rallied with a pair of touchdowns to cut the lead to three points, but a sacked and forced fumble by Eryk Anders set up the touchdown that put the game away with 2:01 remaining. Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram and freshman Trent Richardson each ran for two touchdowns in a 37-21 victory that made Alabama national champions for the first time in 17 years and gave the Tide its only undefeated season thus far under Saban.

Photo courtesy of Paul W. Bryant Museum

38. The Holt-Graning Affair (1961)

One of the more infamous incidents in college football history took place at Birmingham’s Legion Field on Nov. 18, 1961, a day Alabama beat Georgia Tech 10-0 on its way to a national championship. Alabama linebacker Darwin Holt was blocking on a punt when he leveled a forearm into the face of Georgia Tech’s Chick Graning, a play that was either aggressive but clean or downright dirty, depending on your point of view. What is not in dispute is that Holt was not penalized on the play, and that Graning suffered injuries — including several facial fractures and broken teeth — severe enough to land him in the hospital. The undersized Holt was one of the leaders of Alabama’s legendary 1961 defense, which gave up only 25 points all season. He was also one of Paul “Bear” Bryant’s favorite players, and the Alabama coach staunchly defended him. The Holt-Graning affair led to a renewed outcry against brutality in the sport, inflamed by a Saturday Evening Post article by Furman Bisher entitled “College Football is Going Berserk.” Georgia Tech coach Bobby Dodd decried the “hard-nosed” style of football taught by Bryant and others, and it damaged his relationship with Bryant to such a degree it was considered part of the reason the Yellow Jackets left the SEC a few years later. Holt visited Graning in the hospital and apologized for injuring him, but has always maintained that the play was a legal one.

Harry How/Getty Images

37. Florida State edges Auburn for national title (2014)

Auburn’s magical ride through the 2013 football season ended in the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena, Calif., with a 34-31 loss to Florida State in what turned out to be the final BCS national championship game. In Gus Malzahn’s first season as head coach, the Tigers had stunned Georgia and Alabama with last-minute comeback wins and then thrashed Missouri in the SEC championship game to claim the No. 2 spot in the final rankings with a 12-1 record. Florida State, led by Heisman Trophy winner and Alabama native Jameis Winston at quarterback, was unbeaten at 13-0 and had averaged 53 points per game. Auburn jumped out to a 21-3 lead, and held a 21-13 advantage before a wild fourth quarter that saw three lead changes in the final five minutes. Tre Mason’s 37-yard touchdown run gave the Tigers a 31-27 lead with 3:12, but Winston led the Seminoles on a 7-play, 80-yard drive for the win. With 13 seconds left, he hit a leaping Kelvin Benjamin in the end zone for a two-yard touchdown to put FSU up for good. Winston was named the game’s MVP after throwing for 237 yards and two touchdowns. The following season, college football went to a four-team playoff system to decide its FBS national champion.

Dave Martin/Associated Press

36. Tuberville’s thumb, plus one (2007)

The longest Auburn winning streak in Iron Bowl history comprised six years and four Alabama head coaches. Tommy Tuberville led the Tigers to six consecutive victories over the Crimson Tide from 2002-07, games decided by a total of 47 points. Auburn pulled off a 17-7 upset of a Dennis Franchione-coached Alabama team in Tuscaloosa 2002, then won four straight games over Mike Shula by scores of 28-23, 21-13, 28-18 and 22-15 (alas, Mike Price never got to coach in an Iron Bowl, or any game, for that matter, for the Crimson Tide). The fifth straight Auburn victory was “one for the thumb,” as Tuberville walked off the field in Tuscaloosa with five fingers held aloft. Shula was fired at the end of the 2006 season, and Nick Saban came aboard with the Crimson Tide the following January. Auburn won 17-10 at Jordan-Hare Stadium in 2007, causing the always instigating Tuberville to run off the field with six fingersin the air. As it turned out, the next year marked the end of the line for Auburn’s Iron Bowl streak and for Tuberville as well. Alabama won 36-0 at Bryant-Denny Stadium to end Auburn’s season at 5-7. Tuberville resigned under pressure a short time later.

Chris Trotman/AL.com file photo

35. Mark Ingram wins Alabama’s first Heisman (2009)

Despite all its on-field success over the years, Alabama somehow made it until the end of the first decade of the 21st century without one of its players taking home the top individual award in college football. That finally changed in 2009, when sophom*ore running back Mark Ingram became the Crimson Tide’s first Heisman Trophy winner. Ingram began the season with 150 yards against Virginia Tech, then added 140 vs. Kentucky, 172 against Ole Miss, 249 vs. South Carolina, 144 against LSU and 149 vs. Mississippi State. He was held in check with just 30 yards vs. Auburn, but posted 113 yards and three touchdowns in an SEC championship game victory over top-ranked Florida. That game was enough to put Ingram over the top, but barely. He won in the closest Heisman vote ever, besting Stanford running back Toby Gearhart by a mere 28 points and five first-place votes. Ingram’s Heisman acceptance speech was among the most memorable in history, however, as he broke down in tears at the podium. After helping Alabama to the national championship that January, Ingram returned for his junior season in 2010. He did not repeat as Heisman winner, though, struggling through an injury plagued season and failing to finish in the top 10 of the voting.

Anthony Camerano/AP photo

34. Pat Sullivan wins Auburn’s first Heisman (1971)

Auburn’s Pat Sullivan became the first Heisman Trophy winner from the state of Alabama and just the fourth in history from an SEC school when he bested a trio of running backs — Cornell’s Ed Marinaro, Oklahoma’s Greg Pruitt and Alabama’s Johnny Musso — for college football’s top individual award in 1971. The senior from Birmingham threw for 2,262 yards and 21 touchdowns that season, including 248 yards and four touchdown passes —two of them to Terry Beasley —in a 35-20 win over unbeaten Georgia. He had also helped the Tigers to a 9-0 record and No. 5 national ranking at the time the Heisman winner was announced, which was on Thanksgiving night — and two days before the Iron Bowl — that year. Consequently, Sullivan was unable to travel to New York for the Heisman presentation, instead watching the announcement on television with his wife and young daughter (the winner was revealed on ABC during halftime of the Georgia-Georgia Tech game). Sullivan’s Tigers lost 31-7 to Alabama in the Iron Bowl that Saturday, and 40-22 to Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl to finish 9-2. Sullivan went on to play briefly in the NFL with the Atlanta Falcons before going into coaching, including stints as quarterbacks coach at Auburn and UAB and as head coach at TCU and Samford. He died in late 2019 after a long battle with cancer.

Birmingham News file photo

33. The unbeaten Iron Bowl (1971)

Only once in the modern history of the Iron Bowl have both Alabama and Auburn entered the game unbeaten and untied. That was the case on Nov. 27, 1971, when the No. 3 Crimson Tide (10-0) squared off against No. 5 Auburn (9-0) at Legion Field in Birmingham. The Tigers were led by newly crowned Heisman Trophy winner Pat Sullivan, while the Crimson Tide countered with a wishbone attack spearheaded by All-America halfback Johnny Musso. Despite the build-up, the game turned out to be not much of a contest. Alabama rolled to a 31-7 victory behind 167 yards and two touchdowns from Musso and two more TD runs by quarterback Terry Davis. The Crimson Tide also held Sullivan to just 121 yards passing, intercepting him twice. Auburn’s only score of the day came on a halfback pass by Terry Unger, who hit Terry Beasley for a 31-yard score in the second quarter. As a team, Auburn managed just 178 yards of offense and seven first downs. Alabama went on to face top-ranked Nebraska in the Orange Bowl, but lost by an equally decisive 38-6 score. Auburn went to the Sugar Bowl and fell to Oklahoma 40-22. The Crimson Tide and Tigers have met as unbeatens just one time since, when 10-0 Alabama beat 9-0-1 Auburn 21-14 in 1994. But with neither team seriously in the hunt for a national championship that season (Nebraska and Penn State were both unbeaten and ranked ahead of Alabama most of the year, while Auburn was ineligible for postseason play due to NCAA sanctions), it didn’t carry nearly as much cachet as the Iron Bowl from 23 years earlier.

Haywood Paravicini/Birmingham News file

32. Punt Bama Punt (1972)

A year after the most high-stakes Iron Bowl in history came one of the game’s most fantastic finishes, a game forever after known as “Punt Bama Punt.” No. 2 Alabama, already crowned SEC champions, dominated much of the day, and carried a 16-0 lead into the fourth quarter over once-beaten and No. 9 ranked Auburn. The Tigers finally got on the scoreboard on Gardner Jett’s 42-yard field goal with 9:15 remaining, and the Crimson Tide sought to run out the clock. That’s when all hell broke loose. Auburn’s Bill Newton blocked a punt by Alabama’s Greg Gantt, with David Langner scooping the ball up and returning it for a 25-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 16-10 with 5:30 to play. The Crimson Tide again couldn’t move the football, and again lined up to punt. Again, Newton blocked Gantt’s kick, and — amazingly — again Langner returned it for a touchdown to tie the game with 1:34 to play. Jett’s extra point made Auburn a 17-16 winner, despite the Tigers gaining just 80 yards of offense in the game (the ever-present Langner also intercepted Alabama’s final pass to seal the win). Auburn went on to beat Colorado 24-3 to cap a 9-2 season. Its national championship hopes dashed, Alabama lost 17-13 to Texas in the Cotton Bowl.

Joe Songer/Birmingham News file

31. George Teague strips national title from Miami (1993)

The greatest play in college football that didn’t count took place midway through the third quarter of the 1993 Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, with Alabama leading top-ranked Miami 27-6. Crimson Tide defensive back George Teague ran down Hurricanes receiver Lamar Thomas from behind, not only stopping what looked like a sure 89-yard touchdown, but also stripping the ball away and briefly returning it in the other direction. The amazing individual effort by Teague was nullified because an Alabama defender had lined up offsides on the play, but it forced the Hurricanes to accept the penalty. More importantly, it broke Miami’s will and Alabama cruised to a 34-13 victory. The win capped a 13-0 season for Gene Stallings’ Crimson Tide, which was crowned national champions for the first time in 13 years and for first time in the post-Paul “Bear” Bryant era. Alabama did it with defense that year, a legendary unit that led the country in numerous statistical categories — including allowing just 55 yards rushing per game. Alabama entered the Sugar Bowl as a double-digit point underdog to defending national champion Miami, which talked a good game leading up to kickoff but was mostly silent thereafter. Teague also had an interception return for a touchdown in the game, though teammate Derrick Lassic was named MVP after rushing for 135 yards and two scores.

Ed Jones/Birmingham News file

30. The Kick (1985)

The wildest fourth quarter in Iron Bowl history came down to the right leg of Alabama’s Van Tiffin, who booted a 52-yard field goal as time expired to give the No. 11 Crimson Tide a 25-23 victory over No. 7 Auburn at Birmingham's Legion Field on Nov. 30, 1985. But Tiffin’s kick — immortalized as “The Kick” — is only part of the story. The lead changed hands four times in the fourth quarter, the first when eventual Heisman Trophy winner Bo Jackson scored from the 1 to give Auburn a 17-16 advantage with 7:03 remaining. Alabama came right back to go up 22-17 on Gene Jelks’ 74-yard touchdown run with 5:57 left. The Tigers countered with Reggie Ware’s 1-yard plunge to lead 23-22 at the 57-second mark (Pat Washington’s 2-point pass was batted down by Cornelius Bennett, keeping it a one-point game). Alabama then drove 57 yards with no timeouts to set up Tiffin’s shot at history, with the biggest plays a 20-yard run on a reverse by Al Bell on fourth down and a 19-yard pass from Mike Shula to Greg Richardson, who somehow got out of bounds to stop the clock with six seconds left. That allowed the field goal team to set up for Tiffin’s game-winner, which sliced through the uprights and ended one of the greatest Iron Bowls in history.

Photo courtesy of Paul W. Bryant Museum

29. Alabama unveils the wishbone (1971)

On the night before Paul “Bear” Bryant’s 58th birthday, Alabama pulled off one of the biggest “surprise parties” in college football history. The Crimson Tide unveiled the wishbone offense — or the “wishbone T,” as reporters of the time called it — against unsuspecting USC in a 17-10 win at the Los Angeles Coliseum in Sept. 10, 1971. Alabama had suffered through three mediocre seasons from 1968-70 using a pro-style attack, convincing Bryant to adopt the run-heavy wishbone after consulting with friends such as Texas’ Darrell Royal during the offseason. Bryant kept the new offense a complete secret during fall camp, with even reporters who covered the team on a daily basis unaware of the schematic change until kickoff in the season-opener. With quarterback Terry Davis at the controls, the Crimson Tide ran the ball on 58 of 64 offensive plays, piling up 302 yards on the ground against the unsuspecting Trojans. Johnny Musso scored two touchdowns as Alabama raced out to a 17-0 lead in the first quarter, and the Crimson Tide held the Trojans scoreless in the second half. The game was also the first in which Alabama featured African-American players, defensive end John Mitchell and halfback Wilbur Jackson. The victory sparked a decade of dominance for Alabama football, as the Crimson Tide won the SEC five consecutive seasons from 1971-75 and seven times overall by 1979. With the wishbone as the catalyst, Alabama also won national titles in 1973, 1978 and 1979.

Frank H. Conlon/NJ.com file

28. The Rich Rod false start (2006)

In what might go down as the all-time “blessing in disguise,” Rich Rodriguez left Alabama football at the altar on Dec. 8, 2006. The Crimson Tide had fired Mike Shula following a 6-6 finish and fourth straight loss to Auburn (fifth overall), and appeared to have struck out in its pursuit of Miami Dolphins head coach Nick Saban. Alabama athletics director Mal Moore then directed his focus on Rodriguez, who was coming off a 10-2 season and Top 10 finish at West Virginia. According to numerous reports at the time, Rodriguez agreed in principle to take the Alabama job on Dec. 7. However, he immediately began having cold feet. West Virginia boosters offered him a raise and a contract extension to stay in Morgantown, and Rodriguez told his team the next morning that he was not leaving. Moore issued a terse statement that Rodriguez had pulled out of consideration at Alabama, essentially putting the coaching search back at square one. As we now know, Moore waited until the NFL season ended and made another run at Saban, this time getting his man. Saban formally accepted the Alabama job on Jan. 3, and was introduced in Tuscaloosa the following day. After another Top 10 finish a year later, Rodriguez took the head-coaching job at Michigan. However, he was fired by the Wolverines after three unsuccessful seasons. Rodriguez later coached six years at Arizona, but was also fired there for off-field reasons. He is now offensive coordinator at Ole Miss.

Vasha Hunt/AL.com

27. Alabama beats Georgia for national title on '2nd-and-26' (2018)

The first overtime national championship game in 15 years gave Alabama its fifth title in less than a decade and made a legend of Tua Tagovailoa. The left-handed freshman replaced ineffective starter Jalen Hurts at halftime, with the Crimson Tide trailing SEC rival Georgia 13-0 in Atlanta on Jan. 8, 2018. Tagovailoa got Alabama within 20-10 after three quarters, then tied the game with a 7-yard touchdown pass to Calvin Ridley with 3:49 remaining. The Crimson Tide had a shot to win the game in regulation after getting a defensive stop, but Andy Pappanastos missed badly on a 36-yard field goal attempt as time expired. In overtime, Rodrigo Blankenship gave Georgia a 23-20 lead with a 51-yard field goal. Alabama then took over with a chance to win or tie, and things looked grim after Tagovailoa was sacked for a 16-yard loss on first down. On what is now an immortal second-and-26, Tagovailoa threw deep to a wide-open DeVonta Smith, who hauled in the ball inside the five and galloped into the end zone for a 41-yard touchdown and a walk-off win for the national championship. Tagovailoa — who was one of several freshmen to excel on Alabama’s offense in the second half and overtime along with Smith, offensive tackle Alex Leatherwood and running back Najee Harris — was named the game’s Most Outstanding Player after completing 14 of 24 passes for 166 yards and three touchdowns.

Heisman.com photo

26. Bo Jackson wins extra-close Heisman vote (1985)

Arguably the greatest athlete this state has ever produced had his greatest individual moment on Dec. 8, 1985, as Auburn senior running back Bo Jackson took home the Heisman Trophy as college football’s most outstanding player. The vote was the closest in Heisman history up to that time (and remains second-closest ever), with Jackson edging Iowa quarterback Chuck Long by just 45 points and 31 first-place votes. Injuries had cost Jackson a shot at the Heisman in his junior, as he missed six games with a separated shoulder. He also battled health problems in 1985, with college football pundits routinely questioning his toughness throughout the season. But he finally appeared to win them over with a 142-yard effort in the Iron Bowl, which he played with broken ribs. Jackson finished the season with 1,786 rushing yards, which remained the Auburn record until Tre Mason broke it 2013. His 4,303 career yards remain the school standard. Jackson of course went on to be superstar after leaving Auburn, simultaneously excelling in both football and baseball at the professional level, and also starring in a popular series of Nike commercials. Though his football career was ended and his baseball career seriously curtailed by a hip injury suffered in the 1990-91 NFL playoffs, Jackson remains a near-mythic figure in both this state and in American sporting culture.

Vasha Hunt/AL.com

25. Alabama meets Clemson in playoffs 4 straight years (2015-18)

A memorable non-conference rivalry was born soon after the implementation of the College Football Playoff in 2014. Alabama and Clemson met four consecutive years in the playoff, three times for the national championship (as of this writing, it’s still possible they could meet for a fifth straight year). The Crimson Tide won the first meeting in the January 2016 national championship game in Glendale, Ariz., by a 45-40 score, a game that turned on a surprise onside kick recovered by Marlon Humphrey and punctuated by a kickoff return for a touchdown by Kenyan Drake. The Tigers — coached by Alabama graduate Dabo Swinney — won the 2017 meeting 35-31 in Tampa, with Deshaun Watson throwing a game-winning 2-yard touchdown pass to Hunter Renfrow with one second remaining. The 2018 Sugar Bowl in New Orleans was the only Alabama-Clemson playoff game that was not for the national title, as the Crimson Tide won 24-6 behind smothering defensive effort and advanced to the championship game (where it beat Georgia 26-23 in overtime). Alabama and Clemson, both undefeated, renewed pleasantries in the 2019 national championship game in Santa Clara, Calif., but this game was no classic like the two previous title contest meetings. Behind freshman quarterback Trevor Lawrence’s 347 yards and three touchdown passes, the Tigers won 44-16 and finished 15-0.

Julie Bennett/AL.com

24. The Prayer at Jordan-Hare (2013)

The second-craziest ending of Auburn’s 2013 football season took place during the 117th playing of the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry between the Tigers and Georgia at Jordan-Hare Stadium on Nov. 16. The seventh-ranked Tigers led 37-17 with 12:39 left in the game, only to see the No. 25 Bulldogs storm back to take the lead at 38-37 on Aaron Murray’s 5-yard touchdown run with 1:48 remaining. Auburn quickly moved to the 35-yard line, but lost eight yards on its next three plays, with quarterback Nick Marshall sacked on third down. Facing 4th-and-18 at the own 27 with 36 seconds remaining, Auburn coach Gus Malzahn sent in a play named “Little Rock,” which called for one receiver to run deep down the middle while another cut across the field near the first-down marker. Marshall evaded the rush and threw the ball as far as he could, albeit into double coverage. Georgia’s Josh Harvey-Clemons and Tray Matthews both went for the ball, which caromed into the air as Harvey-Clemons and Matthews collided. Auburn’s Ricardo Louis was there waiting, juggling and then corralling the ball and heading into the end zone for a miraculous touchdown and a 43-38 lead. Georgia was unable to move the ball in the final 25 seconds, and once-beaten Auburn had the victory and had retained its SEC title hopes. The “Prayer at Jordan-Hare” would be outdone by the “Kick Six” against Alabama two weeks later, but without Marshall-to-Louis, the latter would not have had as great an impact.

Robert Adams/Birmingham News file

23. Alabama vs. Notre Dame 'Game of the Century' (1973)

Alabama and Notre Dame were two of the dominant programs in college football during the 20th century, but had never met in football before Dec. 31, 1973, in the Sugar Bowl at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans. Alabama came in 11-0 and ranked No. 1 in both polls, having been already crowned national champion in the UPI coaches’ poll. Notre Dame was 10-0 and ranked No. 3. The game was also a matchup of coaching titans, Alabama’s Paul “Bear” Bryant” and Notre Dame’s Ara Parseghian. The Fighting Irish took an early 6-0 lead, but missed the extra point. The Crimson Tide then went up 7-6, only to see Notre Dame’s Al Hunter return the ensuing kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown and a 14-7 lead after a successful two-point play. Notre Dame led 14-10 at the half, and there were four lead changes in the final two quarters. Mike Stock’s 25-yard halfback pass to Richard Todd gave Alabama a 23-21 lead with 9:33 to play, but the Crimson Tide’s Bill Davis missed the extra point. Notre Dame then drove 79 yards for a field goal, with Bob Thomas redeeming himself for his earlier miss with a 19-yard kick for a 24-23 lead with 4:26 left. Alabama was unable to move the ball on its next possession and punted, pinning Notre Dame deep in its own territory. That set up the signature play of the game, when Notre Dame’s Tom Clements hit tight end Robin Weber for 36 yards to the 39 on third-and-long. That gave the Fighting Irish some breathing room and allowed them to run out the clock for the one-point win. Notre Dame was crowned national champion by the Associated Press, and the UPI soon after changed its rules so that it would wait until after the bowl games to conduct its final vote.

Mark Almond/Birmingham News file

22. Alabama vs. LSU 'Game of the Century' (2011)

Alabama and LSU were on a collision course during the 2011 season, each 8-0 and having won every game by double-digits by the time they met at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa on Nov. 3. Nick Saban’s Crimson Tide was ranked No. 1, Les Miles’ Tigers No. 2, the first time two SEC teams had been undefeated and ranked 1-2 when they lined up against each other. In perhaps the greatest defensive showdown of the 21st century, LSU won 9-6 in overtime. Neither team scored in the first quarter, and each managed a field goal in the second for a 3-3 tie at halftime. The Crimson Tide went ahead on Cade Foster’s 46-yard field goal in the third quarter, but LSU tied the game on Drew Alleman’s 30-yarder early in the fourth quarter. Alabama had its best shot at a touchdown midway through the fourth quarter, but a trick pass play by wide receiver Marquis Maze was intercepted at the 1-yard line by LSU’s Eric Reid, who pulled the ball away from a leaping Michael Williams. Alabama’s overtime possession included a five-yard substitution penalty and a sack, then Foster missed a 52-yard field goal attempt — the Crimson Tide’s fourth miss of the game. The Tigers then got one first down before Alleman came on and drilled a 25-yarder for the win. LSU finished the regular season unbeaten and won the SEC title, while Alabama finished 11-1. The two ended up meeting again in the BCS championship game. In a related note, more than 40 players between the two teams went on to play in the NFL.

Bill Starling/Press-Register file

21. Alabama routs LSU for national title (2012)

Alabama didn’t have to wait long to get its revenge on LSU after its 9-6 loss in Tuscaloosa during the regular season, as the two teams met for the national title a little more than two months later in New Orleans. The BCS system in place at the time leaned heavily on human polls, as voters considered the Tigers and Crimson Tide the top two teams in the country at the conclusion of the 2011 regular season and conference championships. Oklahoma State was the greatest threat to an Alabama-LSU rematch, but the Cowboys lost 37-31 at Iowa State on Nov. 18. That cleared the way for Alabama vs. LSU Part 2 on Jan. 9 at Mercedes Benz Superdome. The Crimson Tide dominated on both sides of the ball from the beginning, allowing just five first downs and not letting the Tigers cross the 50 yard line until the second half. And yet, Alabama couldn’t put the game away until after halftime. Five field goals by Jeremy Shelley gave the Crimson Tide a 15-0 lead after three quarters, and Trent Richardson’s 34-yard touchdown run with 4:36 remaining — the only TD by either team in eight quarters and an overtime period against each other that season — punctuated a 21-0 victory. Alabama had its second national championship in three years and the sixth straight won by the SEC. The 2011 Alabama defense would go down as one of the greatest in history, allowing just 8.2 points per game. Most notably, college football’s power brokers the following summer voted in a four-team playoff to begin in 2014. That would lessen the chances of an SEC vs. SEC national championship game (but not remove them entirely, as we’d find out in 2017).

Bernard Troncale/Birmingham News file

20. The Goal Line Stand (1979)

If there’s one individual play that is most emblematic of the Paul “Bear” Bryant era of Alabama football, it is Barry Krauss stuffing Mike Guman in mid-air short of the goal line on fourth down in the fourth quarter of the 1979 Sugar Bowl against Penn State. But of course, “the Goal Line Stand” was more than just one play. The Nittany Lions were undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the country, while the Crimson Tide was 10-1 and No. 2 following an early-season loss to USC. The teams met for the second time in four years in the Sugar Bowl at the Louisiana Superdome on Jan. 1, 1979. Alabama took a 14-7 lead in the third quarter on an 8-yard Major Ogilvie run, and the braced for the Penn State assault that was sure to come. An 11-yard Matt Suhey run gave the Nittany Lions a first down at the 8, then another run netted two years. Penn State’s Chuck Fusina then hit Scott Fitzkee for 7 yards. It is this second-down play that is often overlooked, as Alabama cornerback Don McNeal raced out of the end zone to knock Fitzkee out of bounds at the 1 when it appeared that he had a sure touchdown. Rich Wingo and Curtis McGriff stopped Suhey on third down from the 1, setting up the iconic fourth-down stop, immortalized in a Daniel Moore painting that hangs on the walls of thousands of Crimson Tide fans. Alabama still had to hold its lead for another six minutes, an effort that was aided by Penn State being called for 12 men on the field on a Crimson Tide punt. Fusina’s last fourth-down pass fell incomplete, and Alabama had its victory. Two days later, the Crimson Tide was crowned national champions in the AP poll, its fifth title under Bryant (USC finished No. 1 in the UPI coaches poll).

Hal Yeager/Birmingham News file

19. Auburn wins first national title in 53 years (2011)

After several near-misses over the years, Auburn was finally able to add to its trophy case with its second national championship following the 2010 season. The Tigers had won their only previous title under coach Ralph “Shug” Jordan in 1957, a season marred by NCAA sanctions that kept them from playing in a bowl game. There were no such restrictions in place 53 years later, when Gene Chizik’s team steadily climbed from a No. 22 preseason ranking to end up as the only unbeaten Power 5 conference team in the country. Auburn did it behind two of the greatest individual players in SEC history, defensive tackle Nick Fairley and quarterback Cam Newton. Fairley blossomed in his second season since transferring to Auburn from junior college, winning SEC Defensive Player of the Year honors and taking home the Lombardi Award as the top defensive player in college football. Newton, the former Florida and junior-college quarter, won the Heisman Trophy in what would be his only season at Auburn. The Tigers won a number of close games early in the season, beating Mississippi State, Clemson by three points each, LSU by seven and South Carolina by eight. The season culminated in the Iron Bowl, when the Tigers rallied from 24 points down to win 28-27 over defending champion Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Auburn then rolled over South Carolina in the SEC championship game, setting up a showdown with fellow unbeaten Oregon in the BCS national championship game in Arizona. After the Ducks tied the game 19-19 with 2:33 to play, Newton and the Tigers drove for the victory. After a 73-yard march to the 1 that included a 37-yard run by Mike Dyer — on which it first appeared he was down but no whistle blew — Wes Byrum drilled a 19-yard field goal as time expired. The Auburn Tigers were kings of college football.

Hal Yeager/Birmingham News file

18. The Camback (2010)

All the great Auburn victories in the Iron Bowl are given nicknames, and the Tigers’ 28-27 win over Alabama in Tuscaloosa in 2010 is no exception. Behind star quarterback Cam Newton, the Tigers rallied from down 24-0 in the first half, winning a game henceforth known as “The Camback.” Defending national champion Alabama had lost twice already that season to South Carolina and LSU, so it could do nothing more than spoil second-ranked and undefeated Auburn’s shot at a national title. For much of the first half, it looked as if the Crimson Tide would do just that. Mark ingram ran for a touchdown, Greg McElroy threw two — including a 68-yarder to Julio Jones — and Jeremy Shelley added a field goal as Alabama took a 24-0 lead with 8:01 left in the second quarter. After Auburn finally got on the board on Newton’s 36-yard touchdown pass to Emory Blake, Alabama was threatening for more, but Nick Fairley forced a McElroy fumble at the Tigers’ 8 to keep it a 24-7 game at the half (Ingram had also fumbled the ball away after a 41-yard reception when Alabama led 24-0). The second half belonged to Auburn, as Newton opened by throwing a 70-yard touchdown pass to Terrell Zachery on the second play of the third quarter to make it 24-14. Newton’s 1-yard touchdown run pulled Auburn within a field goal at 24-21, but Shelley booted a 32-yarder to put Alabama up six after three quarters. The Tigers responded immediately with an 11-play, 67-yard drive, capped by Newton’s 7-yard touchdown pass to Philip Lutzenkirchen, which gave Auburn a 28-27 lead with 11:55 left in the game. Alabama moved to the Auburn 40 on its next drive, but punted after McElroy was sacked (and knocked out of the game) with 5:18 to play. Auburn ran the clock down to 21 seconds remaining before punting the ball back to Alabama, which was unable to move the ball behind freshman quarterback AJ McCarron and turned it over on downs with 30 seconds to play. Newton then took a knee to end one of the more glorious afternoons in Auburn history and end Alabama’s 20-game home winning streak.

Birmingham News file

17. Alabama’s ‘Missing Ring’ (1966)

A handful of times in college football history, a team from a major conference has finished unbeaten and not been given a chance to win a national title. Only once has that team been the two-time defending champion. Paul “Bear” Bryant’s Alabama team was ranked No. 1 in the preseason, but inexplicably dropped to No. 3 without playing a game and never got back on top. Led by quarterback Ken Stabler, the Crimson Tide rolled through its schedule undefeated at 11-0, including a heart-stopping 11-10 victory over Tennessee in Knoxville on Oct. 15. Alabama shut out its last four opponents, beating Auburn 31-0 in the Iron Bowl. By that time, however, the narrative of the college football season was already working against the Crimson Tide. National columnists, including the Los Angeles Times’ Jim Murray, began to pillory Alabama, which was then still an all-white team. And with No. 1 Notre Dame set to meet No. 2 Michigan State on Nov. 19, it became a fait accompli that one of those two teams would be national champions. The Fighting Irish and Spartans famously tied 10-10 when Notre Dame coach Ara Parseghian ran out the clock rather than try for a go-ahead score. (As Murray had ridiculed the Crimson Tide for political reasons, so did Sports Illustrated’s Dan Jenkins rip into the Fighting Irish for playing not to lose). Notre Dame was declared national champion in both polls at the end of the regular season, leaving Alabama to take out its frustrations vs. No. 6 Nebraska in the Sugar Bowl. The Crimson Tide throttled the Cornhuskers 34-7 behind an MVP performance from Stabler, ending the year at 11-0. Bryant went to his grave declaring that the 1966 uncrowned Alabama team was the best he ever coached.

Birmingham News file

16. The Bryant-Butts scandal (1962-63)

One of the more bizarre scandals in college football history remains shrouded in mystery nearly 60 years later. In September 1962, an Atlanta insurance salesman named George Burnett was making a phone call when he inadvertently got patched into a conversation between Georgia athletics director Wally Butts and Alabama football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant (Butts was in a different room in the same office complex from which Burnett was attempting to make his call). Burnett made notes of what he heard, which appeared to be Bryant and Butts discussing formations and personnel regarding the upcoming game between the two teams. A few days later, defending national champion Alabama won the game 35-0 behind three touchdown passes from sophom*ore quarterback Joe Namath. Believing he had accidentally stumbled onto a conspiracy to fix the outcome of a major college football game, Burnett eventually turned his notes over to the Saturday Evening Post. On March 23, 1963, the Post published an explosive article entitled “The Story of a College Football Fix.” Bryant and Butts both sued the Post for libel, with Butts eventually winning a six-figure judgment in what is considered a landmark case in the U.S. Supreme Court (Bryant settled out of court for $300,000). The trial, held in Atlanta in the summer of 1963, was a sensation, with Bryant, Butts, Georgia coach Johnny Griffith (who had succeeded Butts as Bulldogs head man) and a number of Alabama and Georgia players taking the stand. Both Butts and Bryant were largely vindicated of any wrongdoing, though at least two subsequent books — 1986’s “Fumble” by law professor James Kirby (who had observed the trial as the SEC’s official legal representative) and 2018’s “Fumbled Call” by journalist David Sumner — cast doubt on whether the case was as open-and-shut as it was initially believed to be.

Birmingham News file

15. Alabama hires Bill Curry, not Bobby Bowden (1987)

A little more than four years after succeeding Paul “Bear” Bryant as Alabama’s head football coach and athletics director, Ray Perkins headed back to the NFL as head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the end of the 1986 season. That left the Crimson Tide with two openings to fill. School president Joab Thomas tapped Duke football coach (and former Alabama quarterback) Steve Sloan as AD, a move that seemed logical enough. But Thomas went totally off the map in hiring his football coach, bringing in Georgia Tech’s Bill Curry. Not only was Curry a product of a once-hated rival and a scion of long-time Bryant enemy Bobby Dodd, but he had a losing record as a head coach, 31-43-4. That record included an 0-7 mark against Auburn. Alabama fans rightly went ballistic, particularly when it later surfaced that Thomas had botched potentially hiring Florida State’s Bobby Bowden for the job. Bowden, a Birmingham native who briefly attended Alabama before graduating from Howard College (now Samford), had been in his hometown in late December to coach the Seminoles in the All-American Bowl against Indiana. Bowden traveled to Tuscaloosa for what he believed was a rubber-stamp meeting with Thomas, but instead walked into a committee interview. Bowden was never offered the job, and Curry was hired a few days later. Curry went 26-10 in three seasons in Tuscaloosa, but lost to Auburn each year. His 1989 team started 10-0 and reached a No. 2 national ranking, but lost to Auburn 30-20 and then Miami 33-25 in the Sugar Bowl. Curry resigned a short time later to become head coach at Kentucky. Bowden stayed at Florida State another three decades, retiring in 2009 with 377 career victories and a pair of national championships.

Tom Self/Birmingham News file

14. Bo Over the Top (1982)

There are rare moments where you can observe a changing of the guard in real time, but Nov. 27, 1982, at Legion Field in Birmingham was one of those days. Auburn beat Alabama 23-22 in the Iron Bowl, snapping a nine-game losing streak to its arch-rival. It was the final Iron Bowl for Alabama’s Paul “Bear” Bryant, who announced his retirement from coaching a few weeks later and would be dead of a heart attack in less than two months. The Tigers won the game behind second-year head coach Pat Dye and freshman running back Bo Jackson, whose 1-yard touchdown dive late in the fourth quarter remaining provided the winning points. Jackson had been highly recruited by Alabama as well, but was turned off to the Crimson Tide for a number of reasons, including Bryant’s advanced age and an assistant coach telling him he would have to sit the bench for two years before he had a chance to play. He became an immediate starter at Auburn, and helped the Tigers carry a 7-3 record into the Iron Bowl. Alabama also came into the game at 7-3, having lost back-to-back games to LSU and Southern Miss. Rumors were swirling that Bryant would retire after the season (which turned out to be true). Nevertheless, Alabama led 22-17 when Auburn took over at its 34-yard line with 7:06 left in the game. Quarterback Randy Campbell led the Tigers down the field, until they faced fourth-and-goal at the Alabama 1 as the clock ticked inside two minutes. With the game — and history — on the line, Dye put the ball in the hands of his fantastic freshman. Jackson took a handoff from Campbell and leapt over the pile and just across the goal line for the go-ahead touchdown. Alabama had the ball twice more with a chance to win, but could not convert before time expired. Euphoric after the victory, Auburn fans tore down the goal posts at Legion Field.

G.M. Andrews/Press-Register file

13. Auburn’s uncrowned champions (2004)

It might be hard to imagine now, but an undefeated SEC champion was shut out of the national championship race a mere 15 years ago. Tommy Tuberville’s Auburn Tigers went 13-0 in 2004, but were stuck behind fellow unbeatens USC and Oklahoma for the entire season. The Tigers had been just 8-5 the previous year, which ended in the JetGate scandal that nearly cost Tuberville his job. However, star running backs Carnell Williams and Ronnie Brown elected to return for their senior years, and Auburn began the season ranked No. 17. The Tigers moved into the top 10 following a 10-9 victory over defending national champion LSU in Week 3, and later routed No. 8 Tennessee in Knoxville 34-10. Auburn took over the No. 3 ranking in mid-October, then beat Kentucky, Ole Miss and Georgia in succession by double digits. But still, the Tigers were No. 3 in the rankings, which meant they wouldn’t be in line to play for the national championship unless USC or Oklahoma lost. Auburn beat a mediocre Alabama team 21-13 in the Iron Bowl, but beat Tennessee a second time in the SEC championship game. The Trojans and Sooners both finished unbeaten, however, and when the final BCS standings were released, Auburn was No. 3. Its national title hopes dashed, the Tigers finished off their perfect season by beating No. 9 Virginia Tech 16-13 in the Sugar Bowl and were No. 2 in the final polls after USC pummeled Oklahoma 55-19 in the Orange Bowl. It was Auburn’s first unbeaten season since 1957, but the Tigers would have to wait another six years to win their second national championship.

Robert Adams/Birmingham News file

12. Paul 'Bear' Bryant tops them all (1981)

Alabama’s Paul “Bear” Bryant became the winningest coach in major college football history on Nov. 28, 1981. The Crimson Tide beat Auburn 28-17 in the Iron Bowl in Birmingham, lifting Bryant past Amos Alonzo Stagg into first place on the all-time list. The victory also clinched the last of 13 SEC championships for Bryant, then 68 and in his 24th season at Alabama. Bryant’s 300th victory came 45-0 over Kentucky in October 1980, at which point the countdown to exceed Stagg’s mark began in earnest. He tied the legendary University of Chicago coach at 314 with a 31-16 win at Penn State on Nov. 14, 1981. Two weeks later, the Crimson Tide bested Stagg and Auburn — coached by Bryant pupil Pat Dye — in the Iron Bowl at Legion Field. Alabama trailed 17-14 early in the fourth quarter before scoring two touchdowns to clinch the victory. Bryant coached one more year after setting the record, retiring following the 1982 season with 323 victories against 85 losses and 17 ties. He died following a heart attack on Jan. 26, 1983, less than a month after coaching his final game. Bryant’s victory total has since been surpassed by a handful of coaches, first by Grambling’s Eddie Robinson and later by Penn State’s Joe Paterno and Florida State’s Bobby Bowden, among others. John Gagliardi of Division III powerhouse St. John’s retired following the 2012 season with a still-record 489 victories.

Blake Sims/Birmingham Post-Herald file

11. The Albert Means scandal (2001-06)

The Memphis Commercial Appeal broke the news on Jan. 10, 2001, a story almost too wild to believe. Alabama booster Logan Young was accused of paying two Memphis high school coaches more than $150,000 to steer star recruit Albert Means to the Crimson Tide. Means, a five-star defensive tackle prospect from Trezevant High School, had just finished his freshman year at Alabama, which had fired coach Mike DuBose in the midst of a 3-8 season. The NCAA began investigating, and the story soon took on a life of its own, with Alabama assistant coaches Ronnie Cottrell and Ivy Williams implicated along with Young and high school coaches Lynn Lang and Milton Kirk (Means apparently knew nothing of the money changing hands). Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer was found to have provided information to the NCAA on the Crimson Tide's activities in Memphis, where the Volunteers had lost a number of high-profile recruiting battles to Alabama and other SEC rivals. The story percolated on talk radio and on then nascent internet message boards for more than a year, until the NCAA issued its ruling on Feb. 1, 2002. The NCAA uncovered a number of other recruiting violations, and dropped the hammer on Alabama. The Crimson Tide was docked 21 scholarships, given a two-year bowl ban and five years' probation (Kentucky also got a number of sanctions, including a one-year bowl ban, for its role in the illegal recruitment of Means and a number of other Memphis-area players). Because of infractions cases involving football and basketball in the previous decade, the NCAA seriously considered hitting Alabama's football program with the death penalty as a "repeat violator." In announcing the penalties, NCAA committee chairman Tom Yeager famously told reporters the Crimson Tide was "staring down the barrel of a gun." Cottrell and Williams later both sued to clear their names, with Fulmer getting subpoenaed when he showed up to SEC Media Days in 2005 (he's avoided the event the previous year, delivering his address to reporters via conference call). Alabama sat out the postseason in both 2002 and 2003, and it was not until 2005 that the Crimson Tide began to recover from the NCAA sanctions. Means left the Alabama program soon after the scandal broke, and later played at Memphis. He has largely avoided the spotlight in the years since his college career ended. In a strange postscript, Young — who had been convicted of money laundering and conspiracy in the Means case — was found dead in his Memphis home in April 2006. Police initially believed Young was murdered, ultimately ruling that he died from an accidental fall.

Tamika Moore/Birmingham News file

10. Mike Price's brief Alabama tenure (2003)

In the wake of Dennis Franchione’s shocking departure for Texas A&M in December 2002, Alabama hired Mike Price away from Washington State to be its football coach. Surely the veteran Price would add some stability to the Crimson Tide program, right? Right? Wrong. Price never coached a game at Alabama, as rumors began to emerge regarding the coach’s behavior following an appearance at a charity golf tournament in Pensacola, Fla., in mid-April. The full truth of what happened has never been fully disclosed, but at the very least, Price was hanging out and drinking in strip clubs and wound up with a woman who was not his wife in his hotel room. After two weeks of deliberation, university president Robert Witt fired Price following a board of trustees meeting on May 3, 2003. Mike Shula, a former Crimson Tide quarterback and longtime NFL assistant coach — was hired six days later as Price’s replacement. A year after that, Price re-emerged as head coach at UTEP, where he stayed through 2012.

Tamika Moore/Birmingham News file

9. JetGate (2003)

Expectations were high in 2003 for the Auburn Tigers, who entered the season ranked No. 3 nationally. But the Tigers lost their season-opener 23-0 to USC, then dropped games to Georgia Tech, LSU, Ole Miss and Georgia to take a 6-5 record into Iron Bowl week. It was that Thursday that Auburn officials — including school president William Walker, athletics director David Housel and multiple trustees — flew to Louisville to meet with Cardinals head coach (and former Auburn offensive coordinator) Bobby Petrino and try to hire him to coach the Tigers. The scandal — which came to be known as “JetGate” — broke the following week, by which time Auburn had beaten Alabama 28-23 in the Iron Bowl. The tide of public opinion having turned in his favor, Tuberville ended up getting a contract extension and coached another five seasons at Auburn. Walker and Housel had both resigned by mid-2004.

Ed Bruchac/Birmingham News file

8. James Owens integrates Auburn football (1970)

Kentucky’s Nate Northington was the first African-American football player in the SEC in 1967, followed by Tennessee’s Lester McClain in 1968. It was a full two years later before any other SEC schools integrated, one of which was Auburn. James Owens, a sophom*ore from Fairfield, first took the field as a defensive back in the Tigers’ 33-14 season-opening win over Southern Miss on Sept. 19, 1970. Owens’ biggest on-field moment that season came against Florida, when he ran a punt back 81 yards for a touchdown in a 63-14 victory in Gainesville. He switched to fullback in 1970, and served as primarily a blocking back his final two years with the Tigers. Owens was part of Auburn teams that went 28-5 and won two bowl games, and scored five touchdowns in his career. He largely drifted from the limelight following his college days, but Auburn instituted the James Owens Courage Award in 2012. His nephew, LaDarius Owens, played defensive end for the Tigers under coaches Gene Chizik and Gus Malzahn. Following years of health problems, Owens died in 2016 at age 65.

Haywood Paravicini/Birmingham News file

7. John Mitchell, Wilbur Jackson integrate Alabama football (1971)

Sept. 10, 1971 was a monumental day for Alabama football in more ways than one. The Crimson Tide beat USC 17-10 that night, unveiling the wishbone offense that would power so many victories in the next decade-plus. More importantly, the game was the first in which Alabama featured an African-American player, defensive end John Mitchell of Mobile. Halfback Wilbur Jackson of Ozark had signed with the Crimson Tide the previous year, but freshmen were ineligible to play in those days. Mitchell, a junior-college transfer, actually was the first to play in a varsity game at Alabama. Jackson took the field for the first time a week later vs. Southern Miss. (It’s worth noting that Dock Roane, a fullback from Montgomery, had attempted to join the Crimson Tide as a walk-on in the spring of 1966, but left school for personal reasons before playing in a game). Mitchell was an All-SEC selection in 1971, and an All-American in 1972. By the end of the decade, such black stars as Sylvester Croom, Ozzie Newsome and Tony Nathan had also made their mark with the Crimson Tide.

Bernard Troncale/Birmingham News file

6. The Iron Bowl comes to Auburn (1989)

In what has been described as the most emotional day in Auburn football history, the Iron Bowl was played at Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium for the first time on Dec. 2, 1989. Legion Field had been the Iron Bowl’s home ever since the Crimson Tide and Tigers had resumed playing in 1948, but Birmingham had become a decided home-field advantage for Alabama by the 1980s. Upon being hired as Auburn’s football coach and athletics director in 1981, Pat Dye began working to get the game at Jordan-Hare Stadium. Despite resistance from Alabama and the city of Birmingham, Dye finally succeeded in 1989. It just so happened that Alabama was 10-0 and ranked No. 2 nationally heading into the game, where 11th-ranked Auburn (8-2) was ready to spring its trap. Following an especially intense Tiger Walk and with a sellout crowd of better than 85,000 whipped into a frenzy, Auburn overcame a 10-7 halftime deficit to win the game 30-20. The Tigers went back to Legion Field for one Iron Bowl home game in 1991, but otherwise have played the game in Auburn in odd-numbered years ever since. Alabama finally moved the game to its campus in 2000 after its contract with the city of Birmingham expired.

Joe Songer/Birmingham News file

5. Nick Saban hired at Alabama (2007)

Alabama football was delivered from more than a decade of tribulation the moment Nick Saban got off a private plane at Tuscaloosa Regional Airport on Jan. 3, 2007. Saban, who had won a national title at LSU in 2003, had then just completed his second season as head coach of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins. Alabama had scarcely been a championship contender since Gene Stallings resigned following the 1996 season, and many observers considered ludicrous the idea of Saban leaving the pros for a rebuilding job in Tuscaloosa. Saban even added to the doubt when he declared on Dec. 21, 2006, “I guess I have to say it. I’m not going to be the Alabama coach.” But Crimson Tide athletics director Mal Moore remained persistent, finally getting his man following an all-day negotiating session in Miami following the end of the Dolphins' season. Saban made his intentions at Alabama known from his opening press conference, declaring “I want to win every game we play” and that his goal was “to dominate the people that you have to compete against and play against.” For more than a decade with the Crimson Tide, he’s very nearly accomplished that.

Birmingham News file photo

4. Mama Called (1958)

Alabama football was an embarrassment by the late 1950s, winning just four games in three years under coach J.B. “Ears” Whitworth, getting shut out three consecutive times by Tennessee and scoring just seven points in three games vs. Auburn. To the rescue rode former Alabama end and assistant coach Paul “Bear” Bryant, who had previously resurrected programs at Kentucky and Texas A&M. When asked why he took the Alabama job, Bryant told reporters “Mama called. And when Mama calls, you just have to come runnin.’” In his first meeting with his first recruiting class, he told the players that if they did everything he asked of them, they would be national champions by the time they graduated. Alabama went 5-4-1 in Bryant’s first year, the Crimson Tide beat Auburn and reached a bowl game in his second. In his third season, Alabama finished in the Top 10 national; in his fourth they were indeed national champions. Bryant stayed at Alabama a total of 25 years, winning six national championships, 13 SEC championships and retiring as the winningest coach in the history of major college football with 323 victories.

File photo

3. The Harvey Updyke scandal (2011)

The Alabama-Auburn football rivalry has had a few ugly incidents over the years, none uglier than when a Crimson Tide fan named Harvey Updyke called the Paul Finebaum radio show on Jan. 27, 2011. Using the alias “Al from Dadeville,” Updyke —a former police officer — bragged that he had poured a powerful herbicide into the area around Auburn’s beloved Toomer’s Corner oak trees, where fans for generations had celebrated the Tigers’ greatest victories by flinging rolls of toilet paper into the trees. Updyke said he did so in response to Auburn fans taping a Cam Newton jersey onto the Bear Bryant statue at Bryant-Denny Stadium following the previous November’s Iron Bowl (a 28-27 Auburn victory) and in retribution for a debunked myth that Auburn fans had rolled the Toomer’s Oaks when Bryant died in 1983. It didn’t take long for authorities to identify and arrest Updyke, who was later convicted of “criminal damage of an agricultural facility,” sentenced to three years imprisonment and ordered to pay an $800,000 fine. The two oak trees did in fact die, and subsequent attempts to permanently replace them have been largely unsuccessful. Updyke ended up serving 76 days in jail before his release in 2013, but to date has paid only a fraction of the fine he owes.

Vasha Hunt/AL.com file

2. The Kick Six (2013)

The 2013 Iron Bowl at Jordan-Hare Stadium included not only the most improbable finish ever in the Alabama-Auburn rivalry, but perhaps in college football history. The Crimson Tide came in unbeaten and ranked No. 1, having won the two previous national championships. The Tigers had lost once early in the season to LSU, but could win the SEC West and jumped into the national title race with a victory. Back-and-forth the game went, with Alabama taking the lead early in the fourth quarter on a 99-yard touchdown pass from AJ McCarron to Amari Cooper. Auburn came right back to tie the game with 32 seconds remaining on Nick Marshall’s 39-yard pass to Sammie Coates. The Crimson Tide scrambled to get in position for a game-winning field goal, with T.J. Yeldon running out of bounds as time expired. Alabama coach Nick Saban successfully lobbied to get one second put back on the clock after instant replay review, and sent his field goal unit onto the field. As Adam Griffith lined up for a 57-yard field goal, Auburn coach Gus Malzahn smartly sent speedy cornerback Chris Davis into the end zone in case the kick was short. It was, and Davis caught the ball in front and to the left of the goalposts and headed toward the sideline. He dodged one tackler at the 20-yard line and was suddenly in the clear as he reached midfield. As Jordan-Hare Stadium erupted at the realization at what was happening, Davis raced 100-plus yards for the touchdown and a 34-28 Auburn win. The “Kick Six” was born, and Tigers went on to win the SEC title and narrowly lose to Florida State in the BCS national championship game.

Steve Barnette/Birmingham News file

1. Paul "Bear" Bryant's retirement and death (1982-83)

Almost from the moment he surpassed Amos Alonzo Stagg to become major college football’s winningest coach in 1981, fans and observers began to wonder how much longer Paul “Bear” Bryant would remain on as Alabama’s head football coach. The Crimson Tide began the 1982 season strong, but lost three straight games to end the regular season, including its first loss to Auburn in a decade. On Dec. 15, 1982, Bryant announced he was stepping down as coach after the Crimson Tide's bowl game, but would remain on as athletics director. Ray Perkins, a former Alabama star who was then head coach of the NFL’s New York Giants, was tapped as his replacement. Bryant went out a winner with a 21-15 victory over Illinois in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis on Dec. 29, and was carried off the field by his players. Bryant settled into his new role after the new year, and made plans to appear at a number of charity events that spring. But on Jan. 25, Bryant was admitted to Tuscaloosa’s Druid City Hospital after complaining of chest pains. He died the next afternoon after suffering a massive heart attack, a condition no doubt brought on by years of smoking and drinking (though he is said to have stopped the latter a few years before his death). Bryant’s death at age 69 — just 38 days after coaching his final game — understandably sent shockwaves all over the state and sporting world. Hundreds, including dozens of Bryant's former players and coaching colleagues, packed into First United Methodist Church in Tuscaloosa for the funeral. Bryant's funeral procession stretched several miles from Tuscaloosa to Elmwood Cemetery in Birmingham, with thousands of mourners and admirers watching it pass along Interstate 20/59. More than 35 years after his death, Bryant remains arguably the most beloved and admired figure in the history of the state of Alabama.