The Iron Bowl - Wins and Losses through the years

(WSFA) - The fiercest rivalry in all of college football takes place each year in late November as the University of Alabama Crimson Tide and the Auburn University Tigers meet in ‘The Iron Bowl,’ a series that earned its name following years of match-ups in Birmingham, a city rich in iron.

The series started in 1893 when the two teams met in Birmingham. Auburn clinched the first win of the series, which was played in February, then the second that November in Montgomery.

Despite the first game having been played more than 120 years ago, the teams have not met that many times. That’s because the Tide and Tigers skipped out on matchups between 1896 and 1900, then again for decades from 1907 to 1948.

To date, the teams have played each other 85 times in four different locations: Birmingham (53x), Tuscaloosa (13x), Montgomery (4x) and Auburn (15x).

2021 will mark the 86th meeting of the two teams and will be played in Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Alabama had the advantage when playing in Birmingham (34-19) and the teams were tied when playing in Montgomery (2-2). The Iron Bowl is no longer played in those cities, having seen its last match-up in Montgomery back in 1903 and in Birmingham back in 1998.

The teams now alternate between Tuscaloosa’s Bryant-Denny Stadium on even years and Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium on odd years. Auburn retains a statistical advantage at both stadiums (10-5 in Auburn and 7-6 in Tuscaloosa).

Though the Tide has a losing record against the Tigers at home, Saban has closed the gap during his time at the Capstone. His teams have lost to the Tigers at Bryant-Denny Stadium just once. That was in 2010 when the Tigers came back from a 24-point deficit to beat the Tide on the way to an SEC Championship and the BCS National Championship.

WINS AND LOSSES THROUGH THE YEARS

A FORTY YEAR DROUGH ENDS

Alabama holds the all-time series lead with 47 wins. Auburn has 37. The Iron Bowl has seen just one tie in all its years of existence. That came more than a century ago in 1907. The Crimson Tide has maintained the series lead since the 1965 football season when it pulled to 15 wins over Auburn’s 14.

THE IRON BOWL STREAK

The longest winning streak for Alabama is nine (1973-1981) under Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant.

The longest winning streak for Auburn is six (2002-2007) under Coach Tommy Tuberville.

LAST WIN

Alabama won in 2020 by a score of 42-13

CURRENT WIN STREAK (As of 2020)

Alabama - 1

RANK GOING IN TO 2021 IRON BOWL

Alabama 10-1, 6-1 (SEC) is ranked No. 3 AP/ No. 2 USA Today

Auburn 6-5, 3-4 (SEC) is unranked

GAME TIME

The teams kick off at 2:30 p.m. with a CBS broadcast.

FAST FACTS

• Auburn has scored in 115 consecutive games, the second-longest streak in school history. The last shutout the Tigers experienced was by No. 2 Alabama in the 2012 Iron Bowl, a blowout 49-0 loss.
• Alabama head coach Nick Saban in 11-8 all-time against Auburn, including a 9-5 mark while at UA. First year Auburn head coach Bryan Harsin has never coached against an Alabama team.
• For the 36th time since 1980, at least one team is ranked in the AP Top 25 entering the Iron Bowl. Neither team was ranked in 1982, 1998 and 2003.
• The highest-ranked team owns a 47-12 (.797) record in the series since 1955.

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