FanHouse Iron Bowl

Every Monday during college football's endless offseason, The FanHouse Walk will put last week's stories to bed and deliver the essentials to bridge that agonizing space between now and September.

Was He Even Alive Then? -- Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin dove back to the pre-disco era in describing his football team after a recent scrimmage. "I feel like we're in the '60s right now with our offense. We've got to run the ball and throw play-action right now. That's about all we can do. It's pretty scary right now."

Mercifully football has moved beyond '60s era mundanity, but Tennessee fans might welcome '60s results as the Vols snagged two SEC championships over the decade.

"Old School" is the College Football FanHouse's irregular look back at the rich history of college football, usually through the medium of embeddable flash video. Check out the Old School archive for more famous plays and infamous hair.

I am a sucker for the following things:

• Keith Jackson
• 80s era theme music
• college football rivalries
• guys named "Van", and
  
• a coked out Ozzy Osbourne.

And let me tell, you, I am in luck.



"How do you characterize this? It's hard. I suppose if you're from the south you could call it 'three whoopies and a hot damn.'" I miss Keith Jackson so, so badly.

(Um... coked out Ozzy comes in the "related videos", because when you put up a video intro of the 1985 Iron Bowl you get Sabbath performing Iron Man in '85 and Iron Maiden performing something else in, yes, 1985.)

After 12 weeks of no rest, Auburn's football team is finally taking a much needed break. Tiger Coach Tommy Tuberville has given the team the week off to savior its fifth consecutive win over its cross-state rival, Alabama. The players will have a chance to return to their hometowns and do a little bragging.

The team will be back in the weigh room and classroom following the Thanksgiving holiday, but actual bowl preparation doesn't begin until December 14th.

Who will Auburn play? Conventional wisdom says that the likely destination will be to either the Outback or Cotton Bowl. The Outback is played in Tampa, Florida and the Cotton is played in Dallas, Texas.

Who will the Tigers face? If they head to the Outback, it looks like another match-up with Penn State. This would mark the third bowl meeting with the Nittany Lions. Auburn faced Penn State in the 1995 Outback Bowl, won by the Lions, 43-14 and played them again in the 2002 Capital One Bowl, winning 13-9.

A trip to Dallas would likely mean matching up against Nebraska. Either game is attractive. For my money, I'd rather go to Dallas. I know many of you will disagree.

Auburn could know its destination as early as this Sunday.

With just seconds to go in Saturday's Iron Bowl, Alabama linebacker Terrence Jones took a cheap shot at Auburn as Brandon Cox was taking a knee. Later, Auburn cornerback David Irons was hit in the face with a full water bottle. Numerous glass bottle were hurled at Auburn players as they left the field.

This is what has become of a once proud Alabama football program. Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville shrugged it off as frustration on Alabama's part. I suppose that can happen when your program is in total meltdown.

Alabama's football program is a shell of what it was in the mid 1990's. In a way, those years under Gene Stallings were a mirage, masking the spiraling of a great 20th century team. Let's face it, Alabama is no longer a player on the national stage. Similar to what has happened to Army and Navy, the Crimson Tide serve as nothing more than a reminder of what used to be.

Some say Saturday's win over Alabama wasn't pretty. They obviously aren't Auburn fans. In what's becoming as traditional as Thanksgiving, Auburn carved up an out-manned and despondent Alabama team 22-15.

Auburn's win Saturday night shows just how much the power has shifted in the state of Alabama. The Crimson Tide program is in shambles. Despite taking the field with a banged up quarterback and running back and going without it's top receiver, Auburn's offense answered the bell when it needed to and controlled the clock on its way to a fifth consecutive win over a once proud program.

Will Muschamp's defense also showed up in a big way and nobody stood taller than Quentin Groves. His two sacks, make that muggings was the difference in the game. For the second year in a row, Alabama's offensive line failed miserably.

The game was essentially won when Alabama coach Mike Shula, showing little faith in his offense, decided to kick a field goal with the ball inside the Auburn 2-yard line in the first quarter. From that point on, Alabama's defense was never the same.

A lot of writers around the South have written that the Iron Bowl is forgettable this year because of the way both teams come into the game. Every time I read something like that, it makes me realize that a lot of people in the media (even local) still don't get it. The fact that both Auburn and Alabama are coming off losses means nothing to this game.

I read with amusement this morning the column by Troy Johnson of the Columbus (Ga.) Ledger-Enquirer. In the story titled, "This One Doesn't Have The Sizzle," Johnson slams the Iron Bowl for its lack of interest around the country. He talks about how the entire nation will be fixated on the Ohio State-Michigan game and concludes that virtually no one outside of the state of Alabama will tune in to the game on CBS.

Johnson muses about how the series for many years has lacked any kind of meaning beyond the state of Alabama. "Anyone who truly knows this rivalry must also know that it has lost whatever cache it used to possess beyond the state's borders," Johnson writes. "The results of this game haven't truly registered in a national championship race once since an 11th-ranked Auburn team knocked off a No. 2 Alabama team in 1989."

On Thursday nights during football season I always think about what Pat Dye would say on his weekly radio call-in show. He would always say, "well, the hay's in the barn." And it's safe to say that again on this Thursday night.

Auburn and Alabama have completed their final preparations for Saturday's 71st Iron Bowl. All that's left to do is wait and maybe analyze a little more. So we'll do that now. Here are some quick hits to get you ready for Saturday...

• For the first time in school history, Auburn has both a career 2,000 yard rusher in Kenny Irons and a 2,000 yard receiver in Courtney Taylor on the same team.
• Courtney Taylor needs only four catches to become Auburn's all-time leading pass catcher.
• If linebacker Will Herring starts as expected, he will set a new Auburn record for consecutive starts at 48.

One of the biggest challenges Auburn has faced this week in getting ready for Alabama has been the weather. With one of the most powerful storm systems of the year coming through East Alabama this week, it has been hard for the Tigers to strictly focus on football. Will it make a difference on Saturday? Probably not.

Here's a report from the Auburn Athletic Department on Thursday's practice...

Nov. 16, 2006

AUBURN, Ala. - The Auburn football team conducted its final practice prior to Saturday's game at Alabama with a workout that lasted close to an hour and a half Thursday morning at the practice fields behind the Athletic Complex. During a week filled with rainy and colder weather, Thursday saw the coolest temperatures of the week, with temperatures in the 40s and winds and mist making conditions even less ideal.

We've talked the past few days about the lack of senior leadership on this Auburn team. Many have pointed to a lack of leadership by the old guys as a reason for the meltdowns against Arkansas and Georgia. Personally, I think that's an over simplification. But it's hard to argue that leadership hasn't played some role in the Tigers struggles this season.

It's ironic that this senior class is on the verge of being the most successful to ever wear orange and blue and yet we're talking about their ability to lead. True, there is really no senior leader on this team. You could argue that the Irons brothers, Will Herring, Karibi Dede or Courtney Taylor are the go-to guys, but it has been hard to see where they've rallied the troops this season. Until now.

Reports out of Auburn on Tuesday are that Taylor gave an impassioned speech to the offense that brought tears to his eyes and others. Taylor knows the rivalry better than anyone on the team. He grew up just outside of Tuscaloosa and has been a part of three wins over the Tide.

"When we get out on the field, all that hollering about 'Fear the Thumb' will stop after the first play when we hit them on the mouth."

Ah, through the mouths of babes. That piece of divine wisdom is courtesy of Alabama fullback Le'Ron McClain. My question is, when has McClain hit anything... a running lane?... an opponent?... the end-zone? And this is from a fullback. That's barely a step up from a punter.

If my tailback was Kenneth Darby, I'd keep my mouth shut. Le'Ron obviously hasn't done his job this year. His offense hasn't sniffed the goal line when he's been in the game. It hasn't sniffed the goal line period.

It seems that the Alabama players are having a hard time handling all this, "Fear the Thumb" talk. So much so, that they've already started writing checks that their talent can't cash.

Even Darby has gotten into the act. "I get angry when I hear that," said the Alabama tailback, who has a photo of Tuberville's four-finger salute hanging in his locker. "Everybody on this team feels that way. That's like disrespect and a slap in the face to us."