November 30, 2013: The most famous moment in perhaps college football's nastiest rivalry occurs.
The University of Alabama is headquartered in Tuscaloosa. Auburn University, formerly Alabama A&M and Alabama Tech, is in the city of Auburn, Alabama. This cross-State rivalry is called the Iron Bowl, because of Alabama's role in America's steel industry. Birmingham, Sheffield and Leeds were all "steel cities" in England, and cities in Alabama were named for them, and produced steel as well. (Birmingham is sometimes known as "The Pittsburgh of the South.") And "Iron Bowl" sounds a lot better than "Steel Bowl."
Alabama, which calls its teams the Crimson Tide, claims 18 National Championships, including last season's; and 32 Conference Championships, 28 since the founding of the Southeastern Conference in 1933. Auburn, whose teams are the Tigers (despite their "War Eagle" legend), claims 5 National Championships, most recently in 2010; and 16 Conference Championships, the last 8 in the SEC, the most recent being the one I'm about to detail.
Because of their success, Alabama fans look down on other schools, especially Auburn, whom they call "the Cow College." Auburn's pride was so wounded, and their resentment at Alabama's long-term success so deep, that the rivalry between the schools is perhaps more intense than any other in college sports.
The teams first played each other in 1893, and, with a few exceptions, was always played on neutral ground on neutral ground in Birmingham. After a particularly nasty game in 1907, they stopped. They started again in 1948, and that may have been a mistake for Auburn, as Alabama won, 55-0. With the coming of coach Ralph "Shug" Jordan (that's pronounced JER-din, not JOR-din), Auburn took control of the rivalry in 1954. Alabama took it back in 1959 by bringing back former player Paul "Bear" Bryant, who had revived the programs at Kentucky and Texas A&M.
Until 2013, the best-remembered game between them was in 1972. Alabama was 9-0, Auburn 8-1, so this was for the SEC title. With 10 minutes left, 'Bama led 16-0. Auburn kicked a field goal, then held Alabama to a three-and-out, and blocked a punt, returning it for a touchdown, making it 16-10. Auburn blocked another punt, and returned that for a touchdown, with the extra point giving Auburn the 17-16 win. It became known as "Punt Bama Punt."
Auburn began to demand that the series be home-and-home, and was first played on the Auburn campus in 1989. 'Bama kept Legion Field in Birmingham as their "home field" in the rivalry until playing in Tuscaloosa in 2000. The rivalry has often, but not always, been played on Thanksgiving weekend, sometimes on Thanksgiving Day itself.
Toomer's Corner is the intersection of Magnolia Avenue and College Street, and it marks the transition from downtown Auburn to the University campus to the southwest. Toomer's Drugs, on the northeast corner at 100 N. College Street, is an Auburn institution.
At the southwest corner is a park, which contained Toomer's Oaks. From the 1950s onward, whenever something good happens involving the Auburn Tigers, people would go to Toomer's Oaks, a pair of trees at Magnolia Avenue and College street downtown, known as Toomer's Corner in honor of an eatery on the corner, Toomer's Drugs; and throw rolls of toilet paper into the trees, a tradition known as "rolling the corner."
On the day after Thanksgiving 2010, Auburn came from 24-0 down to beat Alabama 28-27, and the corner was rolled. Auburn went on to win the National Championship, and the corner was rolled again. One particular 'Bama fan was so enraged by this that he poured an herbicide at the bases of the trees, poisoning them. He spent 3 months in jail, and was fined $800,000. The trees died and the surrounding soil replaced, and new trees have been planted.
Going into the Iron Bowl on November 30, 2013, Alabama, coached by Nick Saban, were 11-0, had won 15 straight games, had won 37 of their last 39 since that 2010 Iron Bowl defeat, had been ranked Number 1 all season long, and had won their last 9 games by an average score of 39-5. Auburn were 10-1, having lost only away to Louisiana State, and were ranked Number 4.
The teams went into Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn with Alabama as a 10-point favorite. The winner would have a good shot at the SEC and even the National Championship.
Auburn scored first, and ended the 1st quarter up 7-0. But Alabama scored 3 straight touchdowns to take a 21-7 lead. Auburn scored a touchdown to close to within 21-14 at the half, and tied it 21-21 in the 3rd quarter. But with 10:28 left in regulation, A.J. McCarron threw a 99-yard touchdown pass to Amari Cooper, and Alabama led 28-21.
With time running out, Auburn launched a final drive. There were 32 seconds left when Nick Marshall passed to Sammie Coates, who took the ball in 39 yards for a game-tying touchdown, 28-28.
A poor kickoff return hurt Alabama. They weren't about to get close enough, and set up for a 57-yard game-winning field goal attempt. It was short, and Auburn's Chris Davis caught the ball on the goal line. As is legal at all levels of football, he tried to return it, and brought it all the way back for a game-winning touchdown. The fans stormed the field, and there was neither the need nor the ability to attempt the extra point: Auburn 34, Alabama 28.
Verne Lundquist had the national call on CBS: "On the way. No, returned by Chris Davis. Davis goes left, Davis gets a block, Davis has another block! Chris Davis, no flags! Touchdown, Auburn! An answered prayer!"
Rod Bramblett had the call for Auburn's radio network: "Chris Davis is going to drop back into the end zone in single safety. Well, I guess if this thing comes up short, he can field it and run it out. All right, here we go. 56-yarder, it's got, no, it does not have the leg. And Chris Davis takes it in the back of the end zone. He'll run it out to the 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 45! There goes Davis!"
His broadcast partner, former Auburn quarterback Stan White, yelled, "Oh my God! Oh my God!" Bramblett kept going, as did Davis: "Davis is going to run it all the way back! Auburn's gonna win the football game! Auburn's gonna win the football game! He ran the missed field goal back! He ran it back 109 yards!"
Bramblett saw the fans rushing the field: "They're not gonna keep them off the field tonight! Holy Cow! Oh, my God! Auburn wins! Auburn has won the Iron Bowl! Auburn has won the Iron Bowl in the most unbelievable fashion you will ever see! I cannot believe it! 34–28! And we thought 'A Miracle in Jordan-Hare' was amazing! Oh, my Lord in Heaven!' Chris Davis just ran it 109 yards and Auburn is going to the championship game!"
As returning an interception for a touchdown is known as a "pick six," this became known as the Kick Six. It is up there with Billy Cannon's Halloween Run in the 1959 Louisiana State vs. Mississippi game and "The Play" that ended the 1982 California vs. Stanford "Big Game" as the most famous single play in the history of college football.
Auburn beat Missouri in the SEC Championship Game, but lost to Florida State in the National Championship Game. Alabama went to the Sugar Bowl, as the SEC Champion usually did in the pre-Playoff, pre-Bowl Championship Series era, and lost to Oklahoma.
Chris Davis was drafted by the San Diego Chargers, and played for them in 2014, and for the San Francisco 49ers in 2015 and 2016. He played, appropriately enough, for the Birmingham Iron in the short-lived Alliance of American Football (AAF) in 2019. He is now an assistant coach at Pinson Valley High School in Pinson, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham. With some irony, the head coach there is Sam Shade, a cornerback who played for Alabama, on their National Championship team of 1992, and then 4 years each for the Cincinnati Bengals and the Washington Redskins.
Rod Bramblett graduated from Auburn in 1988, and succeeded the legendary Jim Fyffe as the school's main football and basketball announced upon Fyffe's death in 2003. Sadly, he and his wife Paula were killed in a car accident in Auburn on May 25, 2019. Rod was only 53 years old.
Through the 2021 season, Alabama leads the Iron Bowl, 48-37-1.
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November 30, 2013 was a Saturday, the one after Thanksgiving. As is usually the case, a big day in college football:
* Number 2 Florida State beat Florida, 37-7 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida.
* Number 3 Ohio State won a wild one, 42-41 over Michigan at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor.
* Number 5 Missouri beat Number 19 Texas A&M, 28-21 at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas.
* Number 6 Clemson was beaten by Number 10 South Carolina, 31-17 at Memorial Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina.
* Number 8 Stanford beat Number 25 Notre Dame, 27-20 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana.
* Number 11 Michigan State beat Minnesota, 14-3 at what's now named Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
* Number 13 Arizona State beat Arizona, 58-21 at Arizona Stadium in Tucson.
* Number 14 Wisconsin was upset by Penn State, 31-24 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin.
* Number 22 UCLA beat Number 23 USC, 35-14 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
* Number 24 Duke beat North Carolina, 27-25 at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
* Syracuse beat Boston College, 34-31 at Alumni Stadium outside Boston in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.
* Virginia Tech beat Virginia, 16-6 at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville, Virginia.
* Georgia beat Georgia Tech, 41-34 at Grant Field in Atlanta.
* Tennessee beat Kentucky 27-14 at Kroger Field in Lexington, Kentucky.
* Indiana beat Purdue, 56-36 at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Indiana.
* Northwestern beat Illinois, 37-34 at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois.
* Kansas State beat Kansas, 31-10 at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium in Lawrence.
* And in one of the least consequential games, unless you were rooting for one of the teams involved, Rutgers lost to Connecticut, 28-17 at what's now named SHI Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey.
There were 7 games played in the NBA:
* The Brooklyn Nets beat the Memphis Grizzlies, 97-88 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis.
* The Washington Wizards beat the Atlanta Hawks, 108-101 at what's now named the Capital One Arena in Washington.
* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Chicago Bulls, 97-93 at what's now named the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland.
* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Boston Celtics, 92-85 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.
* The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Dallas Mavericks, 112-106 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
* The Houston Rockets beat the San Antonio Spurs, 112-106 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio.
* The Utah Jazz beat the Phoenix Suns, 112-104 at what's now named the Footprint Center in Phoenix.
There were 11 games played in the NHL:
* The New Jersey Devils beat the Buffalo Sabres, 1-0 at the Prudential Center. Steve Bernier scored the only goal of the game with 41 seconds left in overtime.
* The New York Rangers beat the Vancouver Canucks, 5-2 at Madison Square Garden.
* The New York Islanders lost to the Washington Capitals, 3-2 in overtime at the Barclays Center.
* The Boston Bruins beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 3-1 at the TD Garden in Boston.
* In the opener of CBC's Saturday Hockey Night In Canada doubleheader, the Montreal Canadiens beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-2 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.
* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Florida Panthers, 5-1 at what's now named the FLA Live Arena in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida.
* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Nashville Predators, 3-2 in a shootout at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
* The Colorado Avalanche beat the Minnesota Wild, 3-2 in a shootout at what's now named the Ball Arena in Denver.
* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Phoenix Coyotes, 5-2 at the Gila River Arena in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona.
* In the Hockey Night In Canada nightcap, the Calgary Flames beat the Los Angeles Kings, 2-1 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
* And the San Jose Sharks beat the Anaheim Ducks 4-3 in a shootout at the SAP Center in San Jose.