This Auburn trivia quiz has 50 free questions with answers and covers the university and its Tigers from the East Alabama Male College charter of 1856 to today: the land-grant years, the 1960 renaming, the school colours borrowed from Virginia, and traditions like War Eagle, Tiger Walk, rolling Toomer's Corner and Aubie. Football gets its due — the Iron Bowl, Shug Jordan's 1957 champions, Bo Jackson, Cam Newton's perfect 2010, the Kick Six — alongside Charles Barkley and Bruce Pearl's Final Four runs, the swimming dynasty and the equestrian titles. It also visits famous graduates from Tim Cook to Octavia Spencer. Early questions suit anyone who has yelled 'War Eagle' once; later ones reward people who know who first rolled the oaks, which coach the Heisman is named for, and how many mascot titles Aubie has won. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries before publishing.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Under what name was Auburn chartered in 1856?
East Alabama Male College
It was a private Methodist liberal arts college before becoming the state's first land-grant school in 1872.
Q 02In which year was the school renamed Auburn University and granted university status?
1960
It had been unofficially called 'Auburn' since at least the 1930s, when Jordan-Hare Stadium opened.
Q 03What was the school called from 1899 until 1960?
Alabama Polytechnic Institute
The name change reflected that it had outgrown its agricultural and mechanical roots.
Q 04Which federal act made Auburn Alabama's first land-grant university in 1872?
The Morrill Act
It was the first land-grant school in the South established separately from a state university.
Q 05Whose alma mater inspired Auburn's orange and blue colours?
University of Virginia
George Petrie, Auburn's first football coach, borrowed them from his old school.
Q 06What is Auburn's battle cry and greeting?
War Eagle
Legend has it that an eagle crashed to the field and died after an Auburn victory, and its spirit lives on in the yell.
Q 07What is the name of Auburn's costumed tiger mascot?
Aubie
He was created by Birmingham Post-Herald artist Phil Neel in 1959 and has won a record ten national mascot titles.
Q 08What do Auburn fans do at Toomer's Corner after big wins?
Roll the trees with toilet paper
Store owner Sheldon Toomer once tossed receipt paper into the trees to signal a road victory, and the tradition grew from there.
Q 09What happened to the Toomer's Corner oaks after the 2010 Iron Bowl?
An Alabama fan poisoned them with herbicide
The chemical was Spike 80DF; the trees eventually had to be removed and replaced.
Q 10Toomer's Corner takes its name from what kind of business?
A drugstore
Toomer's Drugs has stood at Magnolia Avenue and College Street since 1896.
Q 11The Iron Bowl takes its name from the industry of which Alabama city, where it was long played?
Birmingham
Birmingham rivalled Pittsburgh in pig iron, coke and steel; the game began in 1893 and has been played annually since 1948.
Q 12In which year was the Iron Bowl first played at Jordan-Hare Stadium?
1989
That day also produced the largest Tiger Walk in history.
Q 13In which neutral-site stadium was the Iron Bowl played for decades?
Legion Field
Tickets were split evenly between the schools; Alabama won 34 games there to Auburn's 18.
Q 21Whom did Auburn beat in the BCS National Championship Game to cap the 2010 season?
Oregon
The 22-19 win in Glendale finished a perfect 14-0 season under Gene Chizik.
Q 22Which quarterback won the Heisman in 2010 and led Auburn to the national title?
Cam Newton
He had transferred from Florida via Blinn College and went first overall to the Panthers the following spring.
Q 23How many national championships does Auburn football claim in total?
Nine
Only 1957 and 2010 came from the major wire-service polls; the others are 1910, 1913, 1914, 1958, 1983, 1993 and 2004.
Q 14How many yards did Chris Davis return the missed field goal in the 2013 Kick Six?
109
Alabama's 57-yard attempt fell short with one second left; Davis had been waiting just in front of the goalposts.
Q 15How long was Alabama's field-goal attempt that Auburn's Chris Davis returned for the Kick Six?
57 yards
Nick Saban had chosen to try it after Cade Foster missed two earlier kicks in the game.
Q 16How many Heisman Trophy winners has Auburn produced?
Three
Pat Sullivan (1971), Bo Jackson (1985) and Cam Newton (2010).
Q 17Which Auburn Heisman winner is the only pro athlete ever named an All-Star in two major American sports?
Bo Jackson
He was a Pro Bowler with the Raiders and an MLB All-Star with the Royals, and Nike's 'Bo Knows' ads made him a household name.
Q 18The Heisman Trophy's namesake coached at Auburn during which years?
1895-1899
Auburn is the only school Heisman coached that has produced a Heisman winner.
Q 19Which coach led Auburn to its first AP national championship in 1957?
Shug Jordan
He won 176 games from 1951 to 1975, the most of any Auburn coach, and the stadium bears his name.
Q 20With which school does Auburn share the 1957 national title?
Ohio State
Auburn took the AP crown; the Coaches' Poll went to Ohio State.
Q 24Which record did Auburn's 56-17 win over South Carolina in the 2010 SEC Championship Game set?
Most points and largest margin
It sent Cam Newton's team to Glendale for the BCS title.
Q 25Which team beat Auburn 34-31 in the final seconds of the 2014 BCS National Championship Game?
Florida State
That season had produced both the Prayer at Jordan-Hare and the Kick Six.
Q 26In which year did Jordan-Hare Stadium open?
1939
On game days its 88,000-plus capacity makes it effectively Alabama's fifth-largest city.
Q 27What is the Tiger Walk?
Players walking through fans to the stadium
Former AD David Housel called it 'the most copied tradition in all of college football'.
Q 28What flies over the field before Auburn home games?
A live eagle
Both golden and bald eagles have made the pre-game flight.
Q 29Who was named Auburn's 31st head football coach in November 2022?
Hugh Freeze
He arrived from Liberty after Harsin was fired midway through his second season.
Q 30Which Auburn basketball star was SEC Player of the Year in 1984 and later a Hall of Famer?
Charles Barkley
He was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2006.