50 Fun Facts About Iron Bowl

The Iron Bowl is named for the pig-iron and steel industry of which Alabama city, its longtime home?

Birmingham rivaled Pittsburgh as an iron and steel town in the early 1900s. From 1948 to 1988 every Iron Bowl was played there.

Which coach won the review that put one second back on the clock before Auburn's Kick Six in 2013?

Nick Saban got his second, then tried a 57-yard field goal rather than run out the clock. It fell short, and Auburn ran it back 109 yards to win.

Which Alabama nickname was reportedly coined for a 6–6 tie with Auburn in the red mud of 1907?

Crimson Tide replaced the Thin Red Line after that muddy draw, in which Auburn had been the favorite. The two schools then did not meet again for 41 years.

Which former NBA star went against the College GameDay panel and picked Auburn before the Kick Six?

Charles Barkley, an Auburn alumnus, was the celebrity guest picker, and every regular panelist chose Alabama. Auburn won 34–28 on the final play.

Which Auburn quarterback erased a 24–0 deficit to beat Alabama 28–27 in his 2010 Heisman season?

Cam Newton's rally was the biggest comeback the Iron Bowl had ever seen. It kept Auburn unbeaten on the way to the BCS crown.

Which Auburn freshman leaped over the pile on fourth down in 1982 to end nine straight Alabama wins?

Bo Jackson, a state-record high jumper at school, went over the top from the one-yard line for a 23–22 win. Three years later he won the Heisman Trophy.

Alabama lost the 2017 Iron Bowl 26–14 to Auburn but still ended that season by winning which prize?

The national title went to Alabama anyway. Idle on conference championship weekend, the team was still ranked fourth, ahead of Big Ten winner Ohio State, and won its last two games.

Which animal became Alabama football's symbol after a 1930 report on its huge, thundering players?

An elephant has stood for Alabama since Everett Strupper's report on the 1930 Ole Miss game. The university waited until 1979 to make it the official mascot.

Which Alabama coach passed Amos Alonzo Stagg's record for career wins by beating Auburn in 1981?

Bear Bryant's 315th win, by 28–17, was also Alabama's ninth in a row over Auburn, the longest winning run the rivalry had seen.

What do Auburn fans throw over the oak trees at Toomer's Corner after wins such as the Iron Bowl?

Toilet paper is said to have replaced the telegraph ticker tape that drugstore staff once threw over the power lines to announce away wins. Just when the rolling began is disputed.

Which holiday weekend is the Iron Bowl's traditional date, restored in 2007 after 14 years away?

Thanksgiving weekend was dropped in 1993 so both teams could rest before a possible SEC Championship Game. It returned when the conference banned that week off.

Which office did Tommy Tuberville win in 2020, after coaching Auburn to six straight Iron Bowl wins?

US senator was the job: he unseated an incumbent to win an Alabama seat. His six wins from 2002 to 2007 are the longest Iron Bowl run by any Auburn coach.

Which future Super Bowl III hero led Alabama to victory in the first Iron Bowl on network TV?

Joe Namath led Alabama past Auburn 21–14 in 1964. Weeks later he signed with the New York Jets for $427,000 over three years, then a record for pro football.

Which future Oakland Raiders quarterback won the rain-soaked 1967 Iron Bowl with a 47-yard run?

Ken Stabler's dash, known as the Run in the Mud, was the only touchdown of a 7–3 game. He later quarterbacked the Raiders to their first Super Bowl win.

Which Auburn cornerback ran a missed field goal back 109 yards to win the 2013 Iron Bowl?

Chris Davis was sent to stand under the posts in case the kick fell short. Alabama's kicking unit was mostly heavy linemen, and he ran the length of the field untouched.

Which running back became Alabama's first Heisman winner in 2009, after a 26–21 Iron Bowl win?

Mark Ingram won the closest vote in the award's 75-year history, ending Alabama's long wait for a first winner.

Which battle cry do Auburn fans shout even though the university's teams and mascot are both Tigers?

War Eagle is also the name of Auburn's fight song and of its golden eagle. Nobody is sure where the cry began, and several legends compete.

The 2021 Iron Bowl, which Alabama won 24–22 at Auburn, was the first in the series to feature what?

Overtime arrived after Bryce Young, trailing 10–3 with 1:43 left, drove Alabama 97 yards to tie the score. The game then needed four extra periods.

Which Alabama backup threw two interceptions that Auburn ran back to score in the 2019 Iron Bowl?

Mac Jones also threw four touchdown passes in the 48–45 loss. One of his interceptions was carried 100 yards the other way by Zakoby McClain.

Which longtime Auburn coach is credited with coining the name Iron Bowl for the Alabama game?

Shug Jordan is said to have told reporters his team already had a bowl every year, the one against Alabama. Auburn's stadium now carries his name.

Which self-styled Football Capital of the South hosted every Iron Bowl from 1948 to 1988?

Legion Field split its tickets evenly between the schools, yet Auburn fans never accepted it as neutral, because Alabama played most of its biggest home games there.

At which sport's Alabama–Auburn game is the Iron Bowl's Foy–ODK Trophy handed over each year?

Basketball hosts the handover at halftime, when a student leader from the losing school must sing the winning school's fight song.

Which radio host took a 2011 call from the Alabama fan who had poisoned the Toomer's Corner oaks?

Paul Finebaum's caller, who gave his name as Al from Dadeville, was Harvey Updyke, angry about the 2010 Iron Bowl. He was traced and arrested, but the trees died.

Which Alabama kicker won the 1985 Iron Bowl 25–23 with a 52-yard field goal as time expired?

Van Tiffin's kick capped a fourth quarter in which the lead changed hands four times. Alabama had begun its final drive on its own 20 with under a minute left.

What nickname did Auburn fans give the 1972 Iron Bowl, won 17–16 by returning two blocked kicks?

Punt Bama Punt became the chant after David Langner scored twice in the closing minutes. Unbeaten Alabama had led 16–0 with ten minutes to play.

Which coach and athletic director first brought the Iron Bowl to Auburn's own stadium in 1989?

Pat Dye told his old mentor at Alabama of the plan in 1981 but had to wait out a stadium contract. Auburn then beat the unbeaten visitors 30–20.

Auburn's 9–0 win over Alabama in 2000 was the first Iron Bowl played in which city since 1901?

Tuscaloosa is Alabama's home, yet for 99 years the school staged its Iron Bowl home games elsewhere. Auburn spoiled the return with three field goals.

Which Alabama quarterback won the 2023 Iron Bowl with a late touchdown pass on fourth-and-31?

Jalen Milroe's heave to Isaiah Bond came ten years after the Kick Six and in the same stadium. Alabama won 27–24.

Alabama's 48–45 loss in the 2019 Iron Bowl ended its hopes of reaching which event for a sixth straight year?

The four-team playoff had included Alabama in each of its first five seasons. A late field goal attempt that would have tied the game missed, and the run was over.

Which Alabama penalty, drawn by an odd Auburn fourth-down formation, sealed the 2019 Iron Bowl?

Too many men on the field cost Alabama five yards and handed Auburn a first down. Auburn had lined a kicking specialist up out wide, and the confused defense could not sort itself out.

Which Alabama receiver scored four times in the 2019 Iron Bowl, once on a 98-yard kickoff return?

Jaylen Waddle also caught scoring passes of 58, 12 and 28 yards, and still finished on the losing side as Auburn won 48–45.

Which Auburn quarterback, a transfer from Baylor, ran in the last touchdown of the 2017 Iron Bowl?

Jarrett Stidham also completed 21 of 28 passes for 237 yards in the 26–14 win. He was later drafted by New England as a backup to Tom Brady.

Which Auburn running back threw a jump-pass touchdown to open the scoring in the 2017 Iron Bowl?

Kerryon Johnson took a direct snap and found Nate Craig-Myers to finish a 95-yard drive. He later ran in a one-yard score that put Auburn ahead for good.

Auburn's 2017 Iron Bowl win earned an SEC Championship Game rematch with which team?

Georgia had lost 40–17 at Auburn three weeks before, its first defeat of the season. It won the rematch 28–7 to take the conference crown.

Which Alabama quarterback threw five touchdown passes and ran for a sixth in the 2018 Iron Bowl?

Tua Tagovailoa became the first Alabama player to account for six touchdowns in one game. A year later an injury kept him out of the rivalry game.

What kept the 1993 Iron Bowl, which capped Auburn's unbeaten season, off live television?

NCAA probation barred Auburn from TV that year. Fans of the visitors watched on closed-circuit screens in Alabama's own stadium instead, 47,421 of them.

Which Alabama running back carried 46 times for 271 yards against Auburn in the 2015 Iron Bowl?

Derrick Henry went on to break Herschel Walker's SEC record for rushing yards in a season and won the Heisman Trophy that December.

Which nickname do Auburn fans use for their town, where Alabama first played an Iron Bowl in 1989?

The Plains is short for the town's nickname, the Loveliest Village on the Plains, which was borrowed from a poem by Oliver Goldsmith.

Which Alabama cheer, named partly after a 1920s student magazine, gave a 2004 bestseller its name?

Rammer Jammer takes its rhythm from the Ole Miss cheer Hotty Toddy, which came over when an Ole Miss band director took charge of Alabama's Million Dollar Band.

Which son of a coaching legend went 11–0 in his first Auburn season by winning the 1993 Iron Bowl?

Terry Bowden, son of Florida State's Bobby Bowden, won his first 20 games at Auburn, a school record, before a tie ended the streak in 1994.

A dispute over players' expense money and what else halted the Iron Bowl for 41 years after 1907?

The officials and the players' daily allowance were the sticking points. The break lasted until 1948, when Alabama won the comeback game 55–0, the most lopsided score the series had seen.

Which arm of Alabama's government is said to have threatened both schools' funding unless the Iron Bowl resumed?

The legislature had already passed a resolution urging a full sporting schedule between the schools. Their two presidents finally met and agreed terms in April 1948.

Which Auburn receiver caught the tying 39-yard touchdown with 32 seconds left in the 2013 Iron Bowl?

Sammie Coates was left alone when his defender charged the scrambling quarterback, who flipped the ball over the top just before crossing the line of scrimmage.

Which Alabama quarterback was sacked a series-record 11 times by Auburn in the 2005 Iron Bowl?

Brodie Croyle went down 11 times in a 28–18 defeat, yet the Kansas City Chiefs still drafted him in the third round five months later.

Which Auburn radio voice's Kick Six call made him Sports Illustrated's broadcaster of the year?

Rod Bramblett's breathless call spread online within hours of the final whistle. The New York Times later described it as the call of a lifetime.

What name did receiver Isaiah Bond give the fourth-and-31 play that won the 2023 Iron Bowl?

Grave Digger was his label for it, though many fans simply say Fourth and 31. Alabama had trailed 24–20 before the throw.

Which Alabama receiver caught a 99-yard touchdown pass, a school record, in the 2013 Iron Bowl?

Amari Cooper's score put Alabama ahead 28–21 with about ten minutes left, after Auburn had pinned the offense on its own one-yard line.

Which son of the NFL's winningest coach quarterbacked Alabama's winning drive in the 1985 Iron Bowl?

Mike Shula returned as Alabama's head coach from 2003 to 2006 and lost to Auburn in all four of those seasons.

Which Alabama governor sat in when Auburn's trustees voted in 1947 to seek the Iron Bowl's return?

Jim Folsom then suggested the game be played no later than the first Saturday of December 1947. The schools needed another year to agree.

Auburn followed its Kick Six win over Alabama by losing the BCS final 34–31 to which team?

Florida State scored the winning touchdown with 13 seconds left. The result ended a run of seven straight BCS crowns for SEC teams.