History of the SEC: Auburn Tigers

It’s impossible to explore Auburn University’s football program without first explaining its relationship with the Alabama Crimson Tide.

They’re like two siblings in high school, with one who gets straight A’s and is either the homecoming queen or star athlete (and dates the other), and seemingly has everything go his or her way. The other gets A-minuses, and while is exceptional in its own right, just doesn’t seem to have the same long-term success.

That's an oversimplification, but does help explain why some Auburn fans are happy to celebrate Alabama's failures as much or more than their own successes. For better or worse, that's just the way it is on the Plains. When your intrastate rival is the Crimson Tide, Tuscaloosa’s shadow can be difficult to step out from.

But Auburn has had a lot of success, and in any other conference or just about any other state, it would be considered a college football giant that stood alone. Two national titles. Three Heisman Trophies. Four players selected first overall in the NFL Draft. Tabbed “Running Back U” for a while, it’s produced the likes of Bo Jackson, Rudi Johnson, Carnell Williams, James Brooks, Stephen Davis, Joe Cribbs, James Bostic, Brent Fullwood, and Ronnie Brown among others.

Are the Tigers the Jan Brady of college football? Maybe. It's not a coincidence that the biggest play in program history, the "Kick Six" during the 2013 Iron Bowl when Chris Davis returned a missed field goal 109 yards for a touchdown as time expired, isn't just celebrated as being one of the most iconic moments in college football history, but for also knocking Alabama out of the national championship picture and going for its third-straight title.

Similar to “Marsha, Marsha, Marsha,” an Auburn fan couldn’t be blamed for screaming “Bama, Bama, Bama,” though coach Shug Jordan tried to teach them otherwise and in 1989 the Tigers took a major step out from that shadow. Instead, their attitude is more of respect us or not, just don’t be surprised when we put on a beatin’ on the football field.

In the process, you might hear the fans quote the following: 

The Auburn creed was written by George Petrie, a faculty member in the Agricultural and Mechanical College who was credited with both forming the first football team and arranging its first game, a 10-0 victory for Alabama Polytechnic Institute over Georgia on February 20, 1892 at Piedmont Park in Atlanta. Team captain Frank Lupton scored the first touchdown and also kicked the first conversion.

It was the first college football game in Deep South history, and helped give Auburn its first football legend, Cliff Hare. He went on to serve as chair of the Auburn Athletic Facility, the dean of the School of Chemistry, and president of the Southern Conference. He would eventually be honored by having his name on the football stadium.

“Athletes make men strong, sturdy makes men wise, and character makes men great,” Hare said.

For the first showdown against Alabama, Auburn hired former Penn State player D.M. Balliet just for that one game. He made it count, with a 33-22 victory, at Lakeview Park in Birmingham on February 22, 1893. G.H. Harvey took over the team for the “fall season,” which Auburn opened with 32-22 victory against Alabama. However, just like that Auburn already had its two biggest rivalries established, Alabama and Georgia, in less  than a year. In 1894, it defeated another rival, Georgia Tech 94-0, but scored only 12 points in its remaining three games to finish 1-3.

The first real head of the program was a good one, John Heisman, the namesake of college football’s highest honor, who led Auburn from 1895-99, posting a 12-4-2 record before leaving for Clemson and later Georgia Tech (FYI, he later lost 10 of 15 games against Auburn).  Heisman won his first game against Alabama, 48-0. It's still Auburn's most lopsided win in the series (and third biggest blowout in Iron Bowl history).

Ironically, despite the Heisman Trophy being perennially awarded to the best player in college football, as a coach one of Hesiman’s personal rules was, “When in doubt, punt.” He was also known for saying, “Gentlemen, it is better to have died as a small boy than to fumble this football,” and “When you find your opponent’s weak spot, hammer it,” thus setting a mighty precedent for every SEC coach to follow.

Billy Watkins apparently did in 1900, posting Auburn’s first undefeated and untied season with a 4-0 record with wins against Nashville (28-0), Tennessee (23-0), Alabama (53-5) and Georgia (44-0).

However, the coach to change the landscape of Auburn football was “Iron” Mike Donahue, who won 99 games during two stints (1904-06 and 1908-22), and at times also served as trainer and athletic director, in addition coaching baseball, basketball and track. W.S. Kienholz went 6-2-1 during Donahue’s one-year absence in 1907.

Coming off a 4-3 season, the 1904 team finished a perfect 5-0, outscoring opponents 73-11, and when he regained the team in 1908 — the same year the Alabama rivalry was suspended for 40 years — it went 6-1, with the lone defeat to LSU, 10-2.

The 1913 season brought Auburn its first championship when at 8-0 it finished atop the 18-team Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association standings. The team outscored opponents 223-13, with the closest game a 7-0 win against LSU in Mobile.

Even though the 1914 squad didn’t allow a single point, Auburn didn’t match the perfect record, finishing 8-0-1 due to a scoreless tie with Georgia. It outscored the other eight teams 193-0 to repeat as SIAA champions.

Donahue’s teams posted six-win seasons in 1915, 1916 and 1917, and came back to win one more conference title in 1919. With an 8-1 record, due to a 7-6 loss at Vanderbilt, Auburn shut out five opponents and squeaked out 7-0 victories against rival Georgia, Clemson and Mississippi State.

The coach was flexible in his approach. The 1920 team averaged 42.5 points per game despite being shut out twice, scoring 88 points against Samford, 77 vs. Washington & Lee, 56 on Vanderbilt, and 49 opposite Birmingham Southern. During his last season before leaving for LSU, Donahue’s team won its first two games by a combined score of 133-0 en route to an 8-2 finish, with the losses coming at Army (19-6) and at Georgia Tech (14-6). However, Auburn again had five shutouts and defeated Georgia 7-3.

Former player Boozer Pitts, who was also a mathematics professor, subsequently took over and after getting just seven wins over two years was replaced by Dave Morey. But after back-to-back five-win season, “King Dave,” as the students called him, resigned three games into the 1927 season, leaving Pitts to scrape through a 0-7-2 campaign.

Auburn stumbled through the following two seasons, the program hired Chet Wynne, a former All-American fullback at Notre Dame who was a member of the Nebraska State Legislature when he accepted the job. Among those on his staff was assistant coach Ralph “Shug” Jordan.

Wayne went 3-7 the first year, 5-3-1 the second, and in 1932 Auburn (9-0-1) was Southern Conference champions, with only a season-ending 20-20 tie against South Carolina in Birmingham preventing a perfect season. Led by Jimmy Hitchcock, “The Phantom of Union Springs” who was the program's first All-American, Auburn outscored its other opponents 255-34.

“Hitchcock was the finest all-around back ever to play against any of my teams,” said Wallace Wade, who coached at both Duke and Alabama.

Auburn finished its first SEC season 2-2 (5-5 overall), and Jack Meagher, another former Notre Dame product, replaced Wynne in 1934. Led by Auburn’s only three-time All-American, center/linebacker Walter Gilbert, the Tigers went 8-2 in 1935, including a 6-0 loss at LSU.

“LSU put two men on Gilbert for 60 minutes and he took a terrific pounding, but he never stopped charging through to nail the ball-carrier,” sportswriter Bill Blake wrote. “Our personal statistics had Gilbert with half the tackles as well as intercepting two enemy passes. There is none who can equal the Auburn center.”

Following the 1936 season the Tigers earned both their first national ranking (No. 16 after defeating Georgia 20-13), and first bowl invitation, even though the game wasn’t played in the United States. Billed as the feature event of Cuba’s annual National Sports Festival, Auburn played Villanova in the Bacardi Bowl (also dubbed the Rhumba Bowl and the Cigar Bowl) in Havana. The game was almost canceled because dictator Fulgencio Batista’s picture wasn’t in the game program, but after a quick trip to the printer and a 40-yard run by running back Billy Hitchcock, the New Year’s Day contest resulted in a 7-7 tie.

A year later, and after SEC officials lifted a ban that didn’t allow teams to play in any postseason games other than the Rose and Sugar Bowls, Auburn stayed a little closer to home when it took on Michigan State at the Orange Bowl in Miami. The Spartans were limited to just two first downs and outgained 312 offensive yards to 57. George Kenmore’s 60-yard punt return set up the only touchdown, a 2-yard run around the left end by Ralph O’Gwynne. The Tigers finished 6-2-3.

Off the field, one of Meagher’s goals was to actually get one — i.e. a new stadium in hopes of minimizing any and all travel as much as possible. For years, Auburn couldn’t get opponents to visit, due to both the small size of the town and facilities on campus. Instead, the Tigers had home games in Mobile, Montgomery and Birmingham, even though the latter was closer to rival Alabama. Against Georgia, they also played in Columbus, Athens, Atlanta, Macon and Savannah from 1892 through 1959.

Consequently, during his nine seasons at Auburn, Meagher only enjoyed nine games at home with a road schedule that included stops in Detroit, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Houston, New York, Boston and Washington D.C.

A stadium seating 7,500 fans was finally dedicated on November 30, 1939, during a 7-7 tie against Florida. Ten years later another 14,000 seats were added to renamed Cliff Hare Stadium, although only 12 games were played there during that time span.  

Obviously, the stadium isn’t a problem any more. Jordan-Hare Stadium — rededicated in 1973, becoming the first to be named for an active head coach — added upper decks in 1980 and 1987, promoting capacity to 87,000, making it one of the ten biggest on-campus stadiums in the country (see below for more).

 With Monk Gafford, the SEC Player of the Year, Meagher’s last season in 1942 didn’t result in a bowl appearance, but the Tigers (6-4-1) did finish ranked sixteenth after their stunning upset of No. 1 Georgia. Going into the game, the Bulldogs were a heavy favorite, only Jordan noticed that halfback Charley Trippi was tipping off the plays by the way he lined up. With Gafford gaining 119 yards on 21 carries, Auburn won 27-13 to hand Georgia its only loss of the season.

Auburn football struggled after World War II until 1951, when Gerald Washington “Jeff” Beard was named athletic director, one of a handful in school history who didn’t coach football. During the following 21 years, he would hire Auburn’s signature coach, see the football stadium increase seating capacity by 40,000, and build both a basketball arena named in his honor and a track and field complex.

One of Beard’s first moves was also obviously among his best. When called at Georgia, where he had been an assistant to Wally Butts for five years, Jordan had to be persuaded to apply. In turn, he mailed a one-sentence piece of paper that read: “I hereby apply for the head football coaching position at Auburn. Signed, Ralph Jordan.”

Jordan had been a three-sport standout athlete at Auburn after enrolling in 1928. He was a center on the football team, a forward in basketball, and a pitcher/first baseman in baseball. He led the Southern Conference in scoring in basketball as a sophomore, and pitched Auburn to a 5-3 victory over Florida to win the conference baseball title his senior year. He went on to join the Army Corps of Engineers and became a major in World War II, taking part in the invasions of Northern Africa, Sicily, Normandy, and Okinawa.

Similar to his successful predecessors, things started to click for Jordan during his third season, when despite a 10-7 loss to Alabama, the Tigers (7-2-1) were invited to play Texas Tech in the Gator Bowl. Although Auburn was making its first postseason appearance in 15 years, and boasted a backfield with a future Governor of Alabama (Fob James) and Georgia coach (Vince Dooley), the Red Raiders demonstrated why they had the country’s No. 1 scoring offense with a 35-13 victory. Auburn finished No. 17.

“All I ask is that you give everything you’ve got on every play. That’s not asking very much.”

- Shug Jordan

Nevertheless, it was sign of things to come. In 1954, Jordan notched his first victory against Alabama when the Tigers blew out the Crimson Tide 28-0, to cap a six-game winning streak. At 7-3, it was back to the Gator Bowl, where Baylor fumbled the opening kickoff. “Joltin Joe” Childress rushed for 134 yards on 20 carries and scored two touchdowns to lead a 33-13 victory, and No. 13 finish.

A 27-13 loss at Tulane was a bump in the road for the 1955 team, which managed to defeat Georgia Tech for the first time in 15 seasons, 14-12. It responded with narrow wins against Mississippi State (27-26) and Georgia (16-13) before blowing out Clemson (21-0) and Alabama (26-0). Again, it was back to the Gator Bowl, for an unusual intra-conference matchup with Vanderbilt, which was making its first bowl appearance. Five fumbles, including three by Howell Tubbs, were recovered by the Commodores, who won going away 25-13.

A 7-3 season in 1956, featuring a 34-7 victory against Alabama, didn’t result in a bowl appearance, but did help set up Auburn for its greatest season ever. With Jimmy “Red” Phillips averaging 23.8 yards per reception, the Tigers ran the table, and despite not being bowl eligible due to improper recruiting inducements, the SEC champions were still voted No. 1 by the Associated Press (No. 2 by United Press International to 9-1 Ohio State).

After opening the season with a 7-0 victory against Tennessee, Auburn jumped up to No. 7, but didn’t claim the top ranking until its season-ending 40-0 domination of Alabama. It outscored opponents 207-28, of which only seven points were tallied by an SEC opponent, and shut out its two biggest rivals thanks to two goal-line stands against Georgia.

“We went undefeated last year,” Jordan said. “It’s going to be awful difficult to improve on our record.”

Auburn came extremely close. After getting off to a 3-0 start, with shutouts against Tennessee and at Kentucky, the Tigers could only manage a 7-7 tie at Georgia Tech to end a string of 17 straight wins. Yet with a 6-5 victory at Florida, and a 14-8 victory against Alabama, the unbeaten streak reached 24. At 9-0-1, Auburn was ranked fourth (with LSU winning both the SEC and national championship) and Zeke Smith awarded the Outland Trophy as the nation’s top lineman. When Smith was presented with the award, he accidentally referred to it as the Heisman Trophy, twice, during his acceptance speech.

“Auburn took me when no one else wanted me,” Smith said after turning down an offer to sign with a Canadian League team. “I’m where I am today because of coach Ralph Jordan and Auburn, and I believe I owe Auburn more than I could ever give.”

Despite a preseason ranking at No. 3, the winning streak was finally snapped during the 1959 season opener at Tennessee, 3-0, and when Auburn lost to Alabama 10-0, it finished 7-3. The scenario repeated itself in 1960, only 10-3 against Tennessee and 3-0 to Alabama, for an 8-2 record and No. 13 ranking.

Meanwhile, upstate, Paul “Bear” Bryant was proving to be more than an admirable foe, with Alabama winning the national championship in 1961, 1964 and 1965. It took the Iron Bowl rivalry to new heights in terms of intensity, but wins against the Tide were becoming scarce. During that first title run, Alabama crushed Auburn 34-0.

“I don’t know if that’s a great team, but they most certainly were great against us,” Jordan said. “I don’t guess anybody has ever hit us that hard.”

Auburn didn’t return to the postseason until 1963, when the No. 5 Tigers finished the regular season 9-1, with the 13-10 loss to Mississippi State, by edging Alabama 10-8. With a stingy defense and an option offense featuring All-American quarterback Jimmy Sidle and halfback Tucker Frederickson, Auburn was paired against Nebraska in the Orange Bowl, only to come out flat. Thanks to a quarterback sneak by Dennis Claridge that turned into a 68-yard touchdown on the second snap of the game, the Cornhuskers went on to a 13-7 victory.

“Tucker Frederickson was the most complete football player I’ve seen in the 40 years I’ve been connected with the game,” Jordan said.

Auburn suffered another bowl defeat in 1965, 13-7 to Ole Miss, which practically played at home at the Liberty Bowl in nearby Memphis. Fullback Tom Bryan had 111 rushing yards on 19 carries, but the Tigers finished the year 5-5-1 (4-1-1 again the SEC).

While Alabama continued to roll, Auburn finished just 4-6 in 1966, Jordan’s first losing season since 1952, and suffered a 34-0 loss in the Iron Bowl. No one was eclipsed by Bryant more than Jordan, who over 25 years won more than 175 games, but is remembered more fondly by most for his character and how he handled himself.

“Always remember that Goliath was a 40-point favorite over little David,” Jordan said.

But is also led to a resurgence on the Plains. In 1968, Auburn won seven games, including 34-10 against Arizona in the Sun Bowl, highlighted by Connie Frederick having a punt blocked, only to see him recover the ball and punt it again, and Buddy McClinton’s three interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown.

In 1969, the offense was turned over to quarterback Pat Sullivan, who transformed Auburn football forever and win the program’s first Heisman Trophy. In 1971, he led the nation with 2,856 yards, set an NCAA record for most yards per play with 8.57, and tied another with 71 touchdowns.

“He does more things to beat you than any other quarterback I’ve seen,” Bryant said.

What Sullivan did best was throw to Terry Beasley, whom Dooley described as the “boy wonder” after accumulating 130 yards and two touchdowns during the 1971 game. The Sullivan-to-Beasley combination was Auburn’s most prolific ever, prompted “Super Sully and Terry Terrific” bumper stickers, and accounted for more than 2,500 yards and nearly 30 touchdowns from 1969-71.

It started with a 57-0 victory against Wake Forest and after defeating Georgia 16-3, Auburn found the 1969 season riding on its annual showdown with Alabama, which it had failed to defeat for five straight years.

“Men, there is a time for everything,” Jordan said during his pregame speech. “A time to live and a time to die; a time to love and a time to hate; a time for peace and a time for war; and gentleman, there’s a time to beat Alabama. That time is now.”

It was, with the final score 49-26. Although the Tigers lost 36-7 to Houston in the Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl (with the Cougars accumulating 376 rushing yards and 516 total yards), Auburn still finished 8-3 and ranked twentieth.

Though they didn’t win an SEC championship, Sullivan and Beasley spent the next two years playing for a national contender. Amazingly, the Tigers were unranked in the 1970 preseason poll, but a 36-23 victory against No. 17 Tennessee catapulted them up to No. 12. Losses to No. 14 LSU (17-9) and unranked Georgia (31-17) cost any title aspirations, however Auburn came back to defeat Alabama, 33-28.

It set up a rematch with Ole Miss in the Gator Bowl, dubbed the “Battle of Quarterbacks,” with the Rebels led by Archie Manning. He passed for 180 yards and ran for 95 more, while Sullivan threw for 351 yards, including143 to Beasley, for a 35-28 victory. At 9-2, Auburn was voted No. 10.

“What I remember most is that time after time we had them but he always found a way to make the play,” Dooley said about Sullivan.

Sullivan’s Heisman season got off to a glorious start in 1971 and No. 5 Auburn was still undefeated heading into the Iron Bowl, with Alabama ranked third. But with the defense looking more susceptible as the season went on, the Crimson Tide pounded out a 31-7 victory to win the SEC title and go on to play for the national championship (it lost to Nebraska in the Orange Bowl). Auburn finally received its first invitation to play in the Sugar Bowl, but three turnovers helped Oklahoma take a 31-point halftime lead en route to a 40-22 victory. Again 9-2, the Tigers finished No. 12.

“He was way ahead of his time,” Sullivan said about Beasley, who finished eighth in Heisman voting. “He was as fast as anyone playing the game. But the thing that really set him apart was that he was awfully, awfully, strong.”

Without Sullivan and Beasley, most people expected a dramatic dip in the program and again Auburn wasn’t ranked in the preseason polls. By winning close games, the Tigers were 4-0 before sustaining a 35-7 setback at LSU, only to respond with another four-game streak. It set up No. 9 Auburn vs. No. 2 Alabama, which was aiming for another national title.

Alabama had a 16-3 lead when Bill Newton burst into the backfield and blocked a punt, which bounced into the hands of David Langner, who returned it for a 25-yard touchdown. Following the Crimson Tide’s subsequent possession, Newton and Langner did the exact same thing, only 20 yards on the return, to the dismay of those watching, and horror of Alabama fans everywhere, for a 17-16 victory. Bumper stickers can still be seen throughout the state reading, “Punt, Bama, Punt.”

Auburn was rewarded with a trip to the Gator Bowl to play Colorado, with the Buffalos heavily favored and Tigers starting quarterback Randy Walls out with a knee injury. Jordan’s favorite team, “The Amazin’s,” dominated for a 24-3 victory, 10-1 record and No. 5 finish.

A 34-17 loss to Missouri in the 1973 Sun Bowl resulted in a 6-6 season, but Jordan had one more run left in him. With linebacker Ken Bernich and defensive back Mike Fuller leading the defense, Auburn shut out three of its first four opponents of 1974, including Tennessee (21-0) and Miami (3-0). A 24-15 setback at Florida knocked the Tigers out of the Top 5, and in a No. 7 vs. No. 2 matchup, Alabama again came out on top, 17-13. Even tough Auburn fumbled seven times in the Gator Bowl, it still dominated Darrell Royal’s Texas team, 27-3. At 10-2, the Tigers were No. 8.

“Coach ‘Shug’ Jordan was a true gentleman, but he had a mean, cold streak to do what he had to do,” defensive end Liston Eddings said.

Doug Barfield was promoted from offensive coordinator in 1976 to follow the legend and won 29 games in five seasons. His best showing was in 1979, with an 8-3 record resulting in a No. 16 ranking.

Auburn targeted Dooley after Barfield resigned, but without success. Instead, it interviewed former Crimson Tide assistant coach Pat Dye, who might have secured the job on the question, “How long will it take you to beat Alabama?” when he replied, “Sixty minutes.” On December 23, 1980, Dye resigned from Wyoming without knowing if he would get the job, but was finally named the new head coach on January 2, 1981.

“We might not be the most talented team in the country, but there is no reason why we can’t be the best prepared, the most disciplined, and the best conditioned team in the country,” Dye said upon his hiring, and during his first spring told players practice would be like going through a briar patch during a storm.

“At Auburn, practice is hell. But when you line up across from the big, fast, smart, angry boys from Florida, and Georgia, and Alabama, where there is no quality of mercy on the ground and no place to hide, you’ll know why practice is hell at Auburn.”

The Dye era began with a 24-16 victory against Texas Christian, but two weeks later Auburn fumbled on fourth down at the Tennessee 1, with the Volunteers pulling out a 10-7 home victory. Following a 17-3 loss to Nebraska, Dye earned his first SEC victory with a 19-7 win against LSU.

Dye’s first shot at Alabama came on November 28, with Bryant was going after milestone victory No. 315. The Crimson Tide had won eight straight against the Tigers, and all the attention was on Dye’s former mentor. He was surprised during the pre-game warm-ups when Dye told him, “We’re coming after your butt.” Bryant smiled and said, “What are you trying to do, boy, scare me?”

“I’m not trying to scare you, coach,” Dye replied. “I just want you to know that we aren’t scared of you anymore.”

Alabama came back in the fourth quarter for an emotional 28-17 victory, but the following year, with Auburn fresh off a 19-14 loss to No. 1 Georgia, it was a different story. The Crimson Tide had a lead heading into the fourth quarter, only to see the Tigers drive 66 yards, capped by running back Bo Jackson’s 1-yard plunge now affectionately know to Auburn fans as “Bo Over the Top.” It gave the Tigers a 23-22 victory, to snap a nine-game losing streak in the series, and served as a precursor to things to come.

“Set your goals high and don’t stop until you get there,” Jackson once said. He was also credited with: “If my mother put on a helmet and shoulder pads and a uniform that wasn’t the same as the one I was wearing, I’d run over her if she was in my way. And I love my mother.”

Auburn went to the first of nine bowl games under Dye and faced future Heisman Trophy winner Doug Flutie at the Tangerine Bowl. Lionel James gained 101 rushing yards on 18 carries and Jackson punched in two touchdowns for a 33-26 victory and at 9-3. The rising Tigers were No. 14.

Ranked fourth in the 1983 preseason poll, Auburn lost an early showdown with No. 3 Texas, but pounded Tennessee, 37-14, and beat No. 5 Florida, 28-21. Against No. 7 Maryland, it went for a crucial fourth down deep in its own territory just to keep quarterback Boomer Esiason from getting the ball back. The Tigers converted and went on to a 35-23 victory.

A 13-7 victory against No. 4 Georgia provided Auburn’s first SEC championship in 26 years, and against Alabama, fans ignored a tornado warning to watch Jackson accumulate 258 yards in a 23-20 victory. During the Tigers’ second Sugar Bowl appearance, Al Del Greco’s 19-yard field goal with 23 seconds remaining provided a 9-7 victory against Michigan. Auburn (11-1) finished No. 3, but the New York Times computer poll ranked the Tigers first due to their brutal schedule. 

Although Auburn was ranked No. 1 in the preseason poll, 1984 began with a thud due to losses against Miami (20-18) and at Texas (35-27). A wild 42-41 victory against Florida State aided a six-game winning streak, but the Tigers lost 24-3 at Florida and 17-15 to Alabama. Jackson closed his injury-plagued season with 88 yards on 18 carries and two touchdowns for a 21-15 victory against Arkansas in the Liberty Bowl. 

With Jackson entering his senior season in 1985, expectations were again high. Auburn was the preseason No. 2 team, and quickly moved up to No. 1, only it didn’t last. In Week 3, Tennessee proved too difficult at Neyland Stadium, 38-20. Auburn came back to upset No. 4 Florida State, 58-27, but subsequently lost to No. 2 Florida, 14-10. After defeating No. 12 Georgia, 24-10, the Tigers were back in the Top 10, only to wind up on the losing end of a wild Iron Bowl, settled by a 52-yard field goal into the wind. Jackson won the Heisman Trophy and in his final game had 129 rushing yards on 31 carries, 73 receiving yards, and two touchdowns. But Texas A&M twice stopped Auburn on fourth down in the fourth quarter and handily won the Cotton Bowl, 36-16.

“When people tell me I could be the best athlete there is, I just let it go in one ear and out the other,” Jackson said. “There is always somebody out there who is better than you are. Go ask Mike Tyson.”

Even without Jackson, the drop-off was nearly negligible. In 1986, Lawyer Tillman’s reverse helped lead Auburn to a 21-17 victory against Alabama, resulting in an invitation to the Orange Bowl. But Dye had already given his word that the Tigers would play in the Citrus Bowl, where linebacker Aundray Bruce recorded three sacks and caused a fumble as No. 6. Auburn (10-2) defeated Southern Cal 16-7 to record all-time victory No. 500.

“I don’t believe in miracles. I believe in character,” Dye said.

In 1987, Auburn defeated Texas (31-3), Florida (29-6), Georgia (27-11) and Alabama (10-0), and tied Tennessee (20-2) to become SEC champions. The only loss was 34-6 to No. 4 Florida State, and with Win Lyle’s 30-yard field goal against Syracuse the Sugar Bowl saw its first tie, 16-16, resulting in a 9-1-2 record fro the No. 7 Tigers.

With defensive tackle Tracy Rocker leading the No. 1 defense in the country, the 1988 Tigers blew out Tennessee 38-6, and got their first win at Florida in 16 years, 16-0. It was just one of three shutouts, and Dooley’s last game coaching Georgia was a 20-10 loss to his alma mater. Auburn clinched the SEC championship with a 15-10 victory against Alabama, and Rocker won both the Outland Trophy and Lombardi Award. But at the Sugar Bowl, Auburn’s comeback bid fell short due to an interception with only 5 seconds remaining, and Florida State held on for a 13-7 victory.

Although Auburn lost an early 1989 showdown with Tennessee (21-14), and missed a chance at redemption with Florida State (22-14), it pulled out a 10-6 victory against LSU, and on the last play against Florida quarterback Reggie Slack connected with Shane Wasden for a 10-7 win. A 20-3 victory against Georgia helped set the stage for something Tigers fans had never seen before, the first-ever meeting with Alabama on the Auburn campus. After years of playing at Legion Field in Birmingham, which was perceived to be an advantage for the Crimson Tide, many considered it to be a huge turning point in the program’s history.

No. 2 Alabama sported a 10-0 record, but Auburn, which was still stinging from losing nine straight Iron Bowls from 1973-81, would not be denied and pulled out an impressive 30-20 victory. 

 Athletic director David Housel called it the “most emotional day in Auburn history” and said there were so many people greeting the players on the way to the stadium that: “It was as if the Children of Israel had been freed from Pharaoh. Or the Berlin Wall had come down.” It also gave Dye his third straight SEC championship, fourth overall.

Riding an emotional high, Auburn defeated Ohio State 31-14 in the Hall of Fame Bowl for a 10-2 record and at No. 6 had its fourth straight Top 10 finish. Slack completed 16 of 22 passes for 141 yards and three touchdowns, and ran in a fourth.

Dye’s final bowl game was the 1990 Peach Bowl, with quarterback Stan White scoring on a 1-yard bootleg on fourth down for a 27-23 victory against Indiana. When he retired at the end of the 1992 season, it closed arguably the most successful era in Auburn football. His 99 wins tied Donahue for second-most in school history, and every player who played four years for Dye won at least one SEC championship.

Auburn was on NCAA probation again in 1993 when Terry Bowden took over the program and had a debut season to remember. Despite having no games on television and not being bowl eligible, the Tigers ran the table, including wins against No. 4 Florida (38-35) and defending national champion Alabama (22-14), to finish 11-0. Perhaps the most pivotal point of that season came, not surprisingly, against the Crimson Tide. Facing fourth-and-15 at the Tide 35-yard line, and down 14-5 midway through the third quarter, sophomore quarterback Patrick Nix had to enter the game without having a chance to warm up. Bowden called “278Z Takeoff,” with Nix throwing a deep pass to receiver Frank Sanders for a touchdown.

Bowden, who was known for saying “Today, not tomorrow,” set an NCAA record by winning his first 20 games, a streak that ended with a 23-23 tie against Georgia, and 21-14 loss to No. 4 Alabama. But against LSU, Auburn was down 23-9 to start the fourth quarter when safety Ken Alvis made the first of five interceptions and returned it 42 yards for a touchdown. Two fellow defenders, Fred Smith and Brian Robinson, followed suit with scores of their own resulting in a jaw-dropping 30-26 victory.

Coming off a 9-1-1 season, Auburn was bowl-eligible again in 1995 and flirted with a top ranking, only to sustain losses at LSU (12-6), at Florida (49-38), and vs. Arkansas (30-28). Against Penn State in the Outback Bowl, the Tigers gave up 266 rushing yards and lost 43-14.

Another four-loss season in 1996 found Auburn playing surprise Army in the Independence Bowl. Quarterback Dameyune Craig passed for 370 yards and ran for 75 more, but the Tigers weren’t able to secure the 32-29 victory until a 27-yard last-minute field goal attempt by the Cadets sailed wide right.

In 1997, Auburn began the season 6-0 thanks, in part, to a 31-28 victory at No. 10 LSU. Despite stumbling 24-10 to No. 7 Florida and 20-0 to Mississippi State, a 18-17 victory against Alabama had the Tigers in their first SEC Championship Game. But after the narrow 30-29 loss to Tennessee, Auburn was paired against Clemson in the Peach Bowl. While the defense held Clemson to just four first downs, 60 rushing yards and 86 passing, special teams struggled with two blocked punts. Craig threw for 259 yards and scored on a 22-yard scramble to lead a 21-17 victory.

Bowden stepped down during the 1998 season with Bill Oliver taking over on an interim basis, and Tommy Tuberville was hired away from Ole Miss to become Auburn’s 25th coach. In 2000, he won the first of three straight SEC Western Division titles, only to lose 28-6 to Florida in the SEC Championship Game, and 31-28 to Michigan in the Florida Citrus Bowl, where quarterback Ben Leard passed for 394 yards and three touchdowns.

Despite being co-division champions, Auburn didn’t play for either the 2001 or 2002 SEC championship. It lost to North Carolina 16-10 in the 2001 Peach Bowl, but came back to defeat No. 10 Penn State 13-9 in the Capital One Bowl thanks to running back Ronnie Brown out-gaining counterpart Larry Johnson with 184 yards and two touchdowns. In 2003, six sacks and quarterback Jason Campbell keying two fourth-quarter touchdown drives led to a 28-14 victory against Wisconsin in the Music City Bowl.

The 2004 squad featured four players — Williams, Brown, Campbell, and cornerback Carlos Rogers — selected in the first round of the subsequent NFL Draft. Ranked just seventeenth in the preseason, the Tigers defeated No. 5 LSU (10-9), No. 10 Tennessee (34-10), and No. 8 Georgia (24-6) to win the division title. During the rematch against Tennessee in the SEC Championship Game, Campbell passed for 374 yards and three touchdowns to lead a 38-28 victory.

While either Williams or Brown surpassed 100 rushing yards in nine of 13 games, the defense led the nation by allowing just 11.3 points per game. Auburn outscored opponents 129-19 in the first quarter and 224-39 in the first half. But despite finishing the regular season undefeated, the Tigers still couldn’t crack the top two spots in the polls, with Southern California and Oklahoma 1-2 in the Bowl Championship Series and paired to play for the national title. After Auburn bested No. 9 Virginia Tech 16-13 in the Sugar Bowl to finish No. 2, USC destroyed Oklahoma 55-19, helping fuel debate on whether Division I-A football should have a playoff system.

“Nothing has been done to solve the problem,” Tuberville said. “We have used a Band-Aid. You can have all the voting polls you want. Popular vote is not the way you have a national champion. You need to play it on the field. I think we’re smart enough to be able to figure out a way to keep our bowl system, to have a true national champion. We got left out last year and rightly so. The way it was picked we were No. 3. We weren’t No. 1 or 2. There's really no way to complain about it. It is the system we have, it’s the only one we have, but we can do a lot better.”

Auburn fans could be forgiven if they had a strong sense of deja vu when Alabama hired hired Nick Saban in 2007. Although Tuberville and the Tigers would enjoy their sixth straight win in the Iron Bowl that year, and AU would notch more wins against Saban than any other SEC teams (eight, including three when he was at LSU), the nightmare of dealing with a Crimson Tide dynasty was back.

However, there were two not just bright spots for Auburn during this time, they could be described as blindingly brilliant.

The first was the 2010 season. Second-year coach Gene Chizik inserted a transfer from Florida via a junior college (Blinn College in Texas) at quarterback and Cam Newton responded by scoring 51 touchdowns (30 passing, 20 rushing and one receiving). His team was undefeated when it visited No. 11 Alabama, and fell behind 24-0. Aided by a 70-yard touchdown bomb when All-American safety Mark Barron didn't know he was playing with a torn pectoral muscle, Newton led Auburn back to a dramatic 28-27 victory over the reigning national champions.

Auburn went on to crush No. 17 South Carolina in the SEC Championship Game, 56-17, and secure a spot in the BCS Championship Game in Glendale, Ariz. Although Newton was fresh off winning the Heisman Trophy, the shootout with Oregon didn't happen as expected, but Wes Byrum made a 19-yard field goal as time expired as the Tigers won 22–19.

"Fifty-three years, baby!" Chizik proclaimed. "This is for you. War Eagle!"

Three years later, under first-year coach Gus Malzahn, No. 4 Auburn hosted No. 1 Alabama, with the Crimson Tide coming off back-to-back national titles, and three in four years. After officials put a second back on the clock following a sideline completion, Saban opted to attempt a potential game-winning 57-yard field goal only to see Chris Davis field it in the back of the end zone and go the length of the field.

Former Auburn radio announcer Rod Bramblett described the developing play as follows: "There goes Davis! Davis is gonna run it all the way back! Auburn's gonna win the football game! Auburn's gonna win the football game! He ran the missed field goal back! He ran it back 109 yards! They're not gonna keep 'em off the field tonight! Holy cow! Oh, my God! Auburn wins! Auburn has won the Iron Bowl! Auburn has won the Iron Bowl in the most unbelievable fashion you will ever see!"

The New York Times described it as "the call of a lifetime." Meanwhile, CBS announcer Verne Lundquist referred to the play as an "answered prayer," and called it the favorite game of his career.

This is the eighth part of an extended series about the history of SEC football. Some of the material was used in the book "Where Football is King," by Christopher Walsh. For more, check out Auburn Tigers On SI.

Three things that stand out about Auburn football:

1. "War Eagle!"

The battle cry stems from a legend that dates back to 1864 and the Civil War’s Battle of the Wilderness in Virginia. An Auburn student fighting for the Confederacy was one of many left for dead on the battlefield, and when he regained consciousness the only living thing he saw was a baby eagle. He took the wounded bird with him and nursed it back to health. Later, he went on to teach at Auburn and during the first football game against Georgia in 1892 the eagle took off after Auburn scored and soared over the field, prompting fans to yell “War Eagle.” Auburn won 10-0, but the eagle collapsed and died. Meanwhile, the Tigers nickname stems from the poem The Deserted Village, by Oliver Goldsmith. While the line “The loveliest village on the plains” is often used in reference, it includes the line “where crouching tigers wait their hapless prey.”

2. Toomer's Corner

The corner where College Street intersects Magnolia Avenue has a drugstore, Toomer’s, where John Heisman supposedly would go for lemonade, and longstanding oak tress. Nowadays it’s where Auburn fans celebrate football wins, big victories in other sports, and setbacks for rival Alabama (especially after a Crimson Tide fan poisoned the tress and they had to be replaced). The trees on the corner are “rolled” with toilet paper, making on first glance the center of town appear like a snow storm had hit.

3. Jordan-Hare Stadium

The most important thing to know about the home of the Tigers isn’t the giant video board, the bronze statues celebrating the biggest names in program history, or even the Tiger Walk, where thousands of fans will applaud players on their way to the stadium before games. It’s the pronunciation of Jordan. It’s not like Michael Jordan, but rather JUR-dən.