History of the Auburn Tiger Football Team
It’s hard to say what team was Auburn’s greatest team. Though they have never won a National Championship, they have had three teams that went undefeated, but none of those teams got a shot at the National Championship for unfortunate reasons. The 1957 team was the first Auburn team that went undefeated. The team played 10 regular seasons games and gave up a total of just 28 points, less than a field goal per game. On their way to their 10 – 0 record they beat Georgia 6 – 0 and then Alabama 40 – 0. However, Auburn did not receive a bowl game or a shot at the championship because of recruiting violations. In 1993 the Auburn Tigers went undefeated again, including a thrilling last second upset over the Florida Gators, a favorite to win the championship. Once again the Tigers were not allowed a bowl game because of violations. Finally in 2004 the Auburn Tigers went undefeated once again and this time there were no violations against them. By then college football had adopted a BCS ranking that was decided by a computer. According to the computer the Tigers were ranked #3 despite Auburn playing a much harder schedule than #1 USC and #2 Oklahoma. USC routed Oklahoma 55 – 19 which led people to think it should’ve been Auburn in that National Championship game instead of Oklahoma.
Auburn’s most beloved coach would have to be Ralph “Shug” Jordan. Jordan got the nickname “Shug” simply because when he was a kid he loved sugar. “Shug” went to college at Auburn and lettered in football, baseball and basketball. After college he had a short stint in the army where he was wounded in the invasion of Normandy and received a Purple Heart and the Bronze Star. When he returned home he took up coaching college football and eventually became head coach of the Auburn Tigers. Jordan went on to lead Auburn to more victories than any other coach but like Auburn’s program Jordan was unfortunately overshadowed by the coach at that other school, Alabama’s Paul “Bear” Bryant. “Shug” had a 175 – 83- 7 career record but his record against Coach Bryant was only 5 – 13. Despite his record against Alabama “Shug” was beloved by all Auburn fans and they even named their Stadium, Jordan-Hare Stadium, after Coach Jordan.
When trying to decide who was Auburn’s greatest player of all time the argument would come down to two men: Pat Sullivan and Bo Jackson. Both were probably just as beloved on the football field; however Bo probably edges out Sullivan for his play on the baseball field, his success in pro sports and his Nike “Bo Knows” commercials. Bo Jackson holds the career and single season records for most rushing yards at Auburn. He accumulated 4,303 yards over his career and ran for 1.786 one season, including four 200 yard games. Bo also scored 17 touchdowns that year, another Auburn record. He was also a star baseball player. His Junior season of baseball Bo batted .401 and hit 17 homeruns and 43 RBI in 42 games. He would go on to play professional football for the Oakland Raiders and pro baseball for the Kansas City Chiefs. Bo would make the MLB All Star team in 1989 and the NFL Pro Bowl in 1990 making him the first athlete to ever make the All Star team in both leagues.
A lot of people might not consider Auburn to have the tradition of a program like Alabama, Notre Dame, or Michigan, but they actually have some very long standing traditions. In Auburn, at the corners of College Street and Magnolia Avenue is Toomer’s Corner. Toomer’s Corner is named after the drugstore that sits on that corner called Toomer’s. Toomer’s supposedly sells the best lemonade in the land and has been a landmark in Auburn for 150 years. Hanging over the Toomer’s Corner are two massive oak trees. In the 1950’s Auburn started celebrating big victories by taking toilet paper and rolling the two oak trees, the tradition is still held after every big game today. Another tradition at Auburn is called the Tiger Walk. Before every home game the Auburn football team would walk from their dorm to the stadium. Sometime in the 1960’s some fans would show up and greet and the players while they walked by. The crowd that showed up to greet the players seemed to grow every year. Due to a dispute between the two teams, the Auburn and Alabama game was played a neutral site every year from 1948 – 1988. Finally in 1989 the hated Alabama Crimson Tide had to come to Jordan-Hare Stadium for the very first time, on that day 20,000 fans packed the roads to greet the Auburn football team. The tradition continues today and the Tiger Walk is said to be the most copied tradition in college football.
Like many tradition rich football programs it’s hard to pick one game that is considered the best. The 1989 Alabama-Auburn game certainly ranks high. In addition to the big crowd who came out to the Iron Bowl at Auburn for the first time was the fact that Alabama was 10 – 0 and ranked #2 at the time and Auburn upset them. There was also the wild finish against LSU in 1994. Going into the fourth quarter LSU was beating Auburn 23 – 9. Suddenly Ken Alvis intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown. The rest of the fourth quarter Auburn would intercept four more passes including two returned for touchdowns and Auburn would win the game 30 – 26. Finally there is the 1972 Alabama-Auburn game. Coming into the Iron Bowl Alabama was undefeated and ranked #2 and was certainly going to be playing for the Championship if they beat Auburn. Auburn was the heavy underdog and was down 16-3 with just six minutes left. Auburn had stopped Alabama and forced Alabama to punt but Bill Newton broke through the offensive line and blocked the punt. The ball landed in the hands of David Langner who returned the blocked punt for a touchdown to make the score 16 – 10. On Alabama’s next drive Auburn stopped them again. Alabama was forced to punt again. Bill Newton blocked the punt again. The ball landed in David Langner’s hands again. David Langner returned the punt for a touchdown again. The final score was Auburn 17 Alabama 16. For years after that game Auburn fans taunted Alabama fans with three little words: “Punt, Bama, Punt.”
