The Hogs and Tigers are battling to stay out of the SEC West cellar. Let’s meet Auburn.
Series & Program History
Auburn leads the all-time series, 18-12. Houston Nutt went 5-5 and Bobby Petrino went 3-1 against Auburn. The Hogs even won in 2012 under John L. Smith, 24-7. That win pulled the all-time series to 11-10, but Auburn has won seven of nine since. The Hog wins came in 2015 in four overtimes and in 2020 when Bo Nix fumbled while trying to spike the ball and Joe Foucha recovered to seal a huge win for Sam Pittman, a game in which the SEC offices in nearby Birmingham definitely did not interfere with.
Despite 785 all-time wins ranking among the most-ever, the Tigers have always been the little brothers. They trail the all-time series against all three of their biggest rivals: Alabama, Georgia, and LSU. Both of the Tigers’ claimed national titles are badly tainted: the 1957 Tigers went 10-0 but were ineligible for a bowl game due to probation from previous recruiting violations, leading to a split title with Ohio State. The 2010 team won it all with Cam Newton at quarterback. I’m sure you know the story on that one.
Auburn’s modern-ish history has included four major coaches: Ralph “Shug” Jordan, Pat Dye, Tommy Tuberville, and Gus Malzahn. Each won big for much of their tenure and each had several major wins over Alabama.
After firing Malzahn following a disastrous 2020 season, the Tigers hired Boise State coach Bryan Harsin. Despite a strong start to the season, the Tigers collapsed late, finishing 6-7. Harsin is a good coach but a poor recruiter who lacked support from Auburn’s famously-meddlesome boosters. Perhaps sensing that lack of support, both coordinators fled in the offseason, with defensive coordinator Derek Mason taking a paycut to jump to Oklahoma State. Three-year starting quarterback Bo Nix also transferred to Oregon. Seeing a chance, boosters attempted to have Harsin fired, but support from AD Allen Greene saved him. But the boosters managed to get Greene fired earlier this year, and Harsin’s dismissal at the end of the season is fully expected at this point. Auburn’s recruiting has fallen apart and the situation is among the most unstable in the country.
2022 Season
With Harsin hanging by a thread, Auburn entered the 2022 season in limbo, picked to finish last in the West.
So far, they haven’t shown the media to be wrong. Sitting at 3-4 and 1-3 in the SEC, they have a blowout home loss to Penn State on the resume. Their lone SEC win was a mistake-filled 17-14 overtime victory over Mizzou in which the other Tigers fumbled the winning touchdown into the endzone.
However, things have looked up in recent weeks. Injuries and poor play forced them to turn to their third-string quarterback, freshman Robby Ashford. Ashford still isn’t a great pocket passer, but he’s a major run threat and has shown the ability to create big plays. He’s also looked better and better each week, although facing Ole Miss’s defense in his most recent outing helps with that. The Tigers lost to LSU 21-17 (jumping up 17-0 and not scoring again), then Georgia 42-10, then Ole Miss 48-34 in a game where they did manage to gain 441 yards. If nothing else, the Tigers continue to play hard for their head coach.
Auburn is led by its defense. That unit isn’t elite, but it’s in the top half of the SEC. The secondary is very strong against the pass, but the Tigers are vulnerable to the run (Ole Miss: 69 carries for 448 yards, Penn State: 39 carries for 245 yards).
Offensively, the Tigers are very much a work in progress. Running back Tank Bigsby is one of the SEC’s top rushers in terms of yards after contact, but he rarely gets much cushion due to an Auburn offensive line that has mostly struggled under Harsin. At quarterback, Ashford is a very dangerous scrambler and will likely hit one or two huge passes a game, but his overall accuracy is middling, and he’s constantly under pressure and takes a lot of sacks. Turnovers have been a big issue, as the Tigers have thrown 10 picks (five by Ashford) and lost several fumbles.
Names to Know
A coach you’ve heard of: Tommy Tuberville. That’s US Senator Tommy Tuberville to you. Gus Malzahn isn’t the only Arkansan to coach the Tigers. Tubs was born in Camden, graduated from Harmony Grove in 1972, and played for the Southern Arkansas University Muleriders. After college, he coached at Hermitage High School in Calhoun County before landing an assistant gig with Arkansas State. In 1986, Arkansas alum Jimmy Johnson hired him at Miami, and the rest is history. Tuberville coached Ole Miss, Auburn, Texas Tech, and Cincinnati, but he’s obviously most famous for his run at Auburn, where his 2004 team went 13-0 and he finished with a 7-3 record against Alabama.
A player you’ve heard of: Tracy Rocker. Bo Jackson is too easy, let’s go with the guy with Arkansas ties. Rocker was a two-time all-American and Lombardi and Outland Trophy winner for the Tigers, playing under Pat Dye from 1985 to 1989. He later coached Arkansas’ defensive line from 2003 to 2007, including the all-Little Rock starting line in 2006: Jamaal Anderson, Antwan Robinson, Keith Jackson Jr., and Marcus Harrison. He’s now the defensive line coach for the Philadelphia Eagles.
A game you’ve heard of: Auburn 17, Alabama 16 (1972). The Iron Bowl has had some wild moments, and before there was the Kick-Six, there was the Punt Bama Punt game. Undefeated and second-ranked Alabama led 16-3 in the fourth quarter before Auburn blocked punts for touchdowns on consecutive drives to win the game. When an Auburn defensive back intercepted the Tide’s last-ditch pass, Auburn coach Shug Jordan (jokingly) got upset, telling the player “our plan was to make them punt.”
Random Facts
The university opened in 1856 as East Alabama Male College, a private liberal arts school affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church. It was reconstituted in 1872 as a land-grant university called the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama (Alabama A&M, not to be confused with the modern HBCU which was founded later and didn’t take the name until much later). From 1899 to 1960, it was formally known as Alabama Polytechnic Institute, though its athletic programs were known by the name “Auburn” since at least the 1920s.
The loveliest village on the plain
The city of Auburn (and thus the university) is named after William Goldsmith’s 1770 poem The Deserted Village, which begins with the line, “Sweet Auburn! The loveliest village on the plain.”
Goldsmith presumably chose the name Auburn for his fictional village because it was intended to be a reference to Britain: the Romans referred to ancient Britain as “Alba” (from albinus – “off-white” in Latin) and the modern English word “Auburn” is derived from that (via the French word alborne or auborne, meaning “blonde”). It was fitting, as the poem was intended as a work of British social commentary. Using a deserted farming village, Goldsmith decries rural depopulation and corruption in the cities of his time:
Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,
Where wealth accumulates, and men decay.
Lines 51-52
In the US, however, the poem was interpreted much differently, with writers like Thomas Paine finding hope for renewal in the little deserted village. No less than 29 different states have a town or village named Auburn, though the one in Alabama is the most famous, due largely to the university.
Frequent references to Auburn as “The Plains” are derived from this poem.
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