The biggest rivalry in all college football-- ALABAMA VS. AUBURN.
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Alabama and Auburn football programs were less than a year old when the schools staged the first game of what was to become the most intense intrastate college rivalry in the nation.
Other states boast great traditional rivalries … games such as Texas-Texas A&M, Georgia-Georgia Tech, USC-UCLA and Florida-Florida State … but the Iron Bowl seems to generate a passion like no other.
Crimson Tide and Tiger loyalties run deeper than than any bloodline. The passion is so great in the hearts and minds of Alabamians it can cause health problems. Friends can turn into enemies during the course of the game and entire business deals can actually depend on the outcome of what has become known nationwide as the Iron Bowl.
In a state that has had a century-old love affair with college football, this one, 60 minutes of football determines bragging rights in Alabama for the next 364 days. The losers have only "next year" to cling to because the scores of other games during the season really do not matter.
There are few people in the state who have not committed to one school or the other for the Iron Bowl, so named for its traditional Birmingham home and birthplace. Birmingham, of course, was built around huge iron ore deposits in Alabama's hill country.
Perhaps the unusual fact that, after 1907, the two schools did not meet for 40 years, added to the intensity of the series when it was resumed. That intensity has not relented. Maybe the fact that, until 1989, it was held every year in Birmingham with the tickets split between the schools, has added to the passion and electricity of the game. Whatever the reason, the Iron Bowl has incredible impact on the state and its people.
http://www.angelfire.com/al/bamacrimsontide/ironbowlhistory.html
Since 1893, The Crimson Tide and Tigers have played 71 times. Alabama leads the all-time series, with 38 wins to Auburn's 32, with one tie.
Yea Alabama (Bama Fight Song)
Yea, Alabama! Drown 'em Tide!
Every 'Bama man's behind you,
Hit your stride.
Go teach the Bulldogs to behave,
Send the Yellow Jackets to a watery grave.
And if a man starts to weaken,
That's a shame!
For Bama's pluck and grit have
Writ her name in Crimson flame.
Fight on, fight on, fight on men!
Remember the Rose Bowl, we'll win then.
So roll on to victory,
Hit your stride,
You're Dixie's football pride,
Crimson Tide, Roll Tide, Roll Tide!!
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