Iron Bowl
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50 free Iron Bowl trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Few games in American sport divide a single state the way Alabama against Auburn does. Families split, offices go quiet, and one afternoon's result is argued over for the rest of the year. The series began in the nineteenth century, vanished for more than a generation over a quarrel, and has since produced some of the wildest endings college football has seen. This quiz covers the whole story of the Iron Bowl: how the game got its name, the coaches and quarterbacks who made their reputations in it, the trophy, mascots and campus customs that surround it, and the finishes fans still replay. Recent classics get their own questions as well, including the 2017 and 2019 games. It is written for Alabama and Auburn fans who want to test each other before kickoff, for tailgate and watch-party hosts who need a ready-made game, and for any college football follower who enjoys a great rivalry. Every answer comes with a short explanation.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Iron Bowl is named for the pig-iron and steel industry of which Alabama city, its longtime home?
Birmingham
Birmingham rivaled Pittsburgh as an iron and steel town in the early 1900s. From 1948 to 1988 every Iron Bowl was played there.
Q 02Which coach won the review that put one second back on the clock before Auburn's Kick Six in 2013?
Nick Saban
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.
Q 03Which Alabama nickname was reportedly coined for a 6–6 tie with Auburn in the red mud of 1907?
Crimson Tide
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.
Q 04Which former NBA star went against the College GameDay panel and picked Auburn before the Kick Six?
Charles Barkley
Charles Barkley, an Auburn alumnus, was the celebrity guest picker, and every regular panelist chose Alabama. Auburn won 34–28 on the final play.
Q 05Which Auburn quarterback erased a 24–0 deficit to beat Alabama 28–27 in his 2010 Heisman season?
Cam Newton
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.
Q 06Which Auburn freshman leaped over the pile on fourth down in 1982 to end nine straight Alabama wins?
Bo Jackson
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.
Q 07Alabama lost the 2017 Iron Bowl 26–14 to Auburn but still ended that season by winning which prize?
The national title
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.
Q 08Which animal became Alabama football's symbol after a 1930 report on its huge, thundering players?
An elephant
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.
Q 09Which Alabama coach passed Amos Alonzo Stagg's record for career wins by beating Auburn in 1981?
Bear Bryant
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.
Q 10What do Auburn fans throw over the oak trees at Toomer's Corner after wins such as the Iron Bowl?
Toilet paper
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.
Q 11Which holiday weekend is the Iron Bowl's traditional date, restored in 2007 after 14 years away?
Thanksgiving
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.
Q 12Which office did Tommy Tuberville win in 2020, after coaching Auburn to six straight Iron Bowl wins?
US senator
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.
Q 13Which future Super Bowl III hero led Alabama to victory in the first Iron Bowl on network TV?
Joe Namath
Q 21Which self-styled Football Capital of the South hosted every Iron Bowl from 1948 to 1988?
Legion Field
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.
Q 22At which sport's Alabama–Auburn game is the Iron Bowl's Foy–ODK Trophy handed over each year?
Basketball
Basketball hosts the handover at halftime, when a student leader from the losing school must sing the winning school's fight song.
Q 23Which radio host took a 2011 call from the Alabama fan who had poisoned the Toomer's Corner oaks?
Paul Finebaum
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.
Q 14Which future Oakland Raiders quarterback won the rain-soaked 1967 Iron Bowl with a 47-yard run?
Ken Stabler
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.
Q 15Which Auburn cornerback ran a missed field goal back 109 yards to win the 2013 Iron Bowl?
Chris Davis
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.
Q 16Which running back became Alabama's first Heisman winner in 2009, after a 26–21 Iron Bowl win?
Mark Ingram
Mark Ingram won the closest vote in the award's 75-year history, ending Alabama's long wait for a first winner.
Q 17Which battle cry do Auburn fans shout even though the university's teams and mascot are both Tigers?
War Eagle
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.
Q 18The 2021 Iron Bowl, which Alabama won 24–22 at Auburn, was the first in the series to feature what?
Overtime
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.
Q 19Which Alabama backup threw two interceptions that Auburn ran back to score in the 2019 Iron Bowl?
Mac Jones
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.
Q 20Which longtime Auburn coach is credited with coining the name Iron Bowl for the Alabama game?
Shug Jordan
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.
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.
Q 24Which Alabama kicker won the 1985 Iron Bowl 25–23 with a 52-yard field goal as time expired?
Van Tiffin
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.
Q 25What nickname did Auburn fans give the 1972 Iron Bowl, won 17–16 by returning two blocked kicks?
Punt Bama Punt
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.
Q 26Which coach and athletic director first brought the Iron Bowl to Auburn's own stadium in 1989?
Pat Dye
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.
Q 27Auburn's 9–0 win over Alabama in 2000 was the first Iron Bowl played in which city since 1901?
Tuscaloosa
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.
Q 28Which Alabama quarterback won the 2023 Iron Bowl with a late touchdown pass on fourth-and-31?
Jalen Milroe
Jalen Milroe's heave to Isaiah Bond came ten years after the Kick Six and in the same stadium. Alabama won 27–24.
Q 29Alabama'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
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.
Q 30Which Alabama penalty, drawn by an odd Auburn fourth-down formation, sealed the 2019 Iron Bowl?
Too many men on the field
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.