Nick Saban’s Alabama and Gus Malzahn’s Auburn meet Saturday in a particularly huge Iron Bowl. The winner takes the SEC West and is guaranteed a play-in game to the College Football Playoff. The loser’s status is less certain, because Alabama still might make the field with a loss. But at any rate, it’s the biggest game of the college football season so far.
Nick Saban’s been *relatively* vulnerable vs. Auburn, plus a bunch of Iron Bowl coach facts
Auburn’s accounted for three of Saban’s 19 losses at Alabama and six of 61 as a head coach.
Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
A brief tale of the tape
- Saban is 9-6 all-time against Auburn. That includes a 7-3 mark during his decade at Alabama and a 2-3 mark at LSU, where Saban coached from 2000-04.
- Malzahn is 1-3 as a head coach* against Alabama, all during his years at Auburn.
- Saban is 3-1 against Malzahn in their four meetings, with wins each of the last three seasons. Auburn hasn’t won this game since 2013.
* You could also include Auburn’s 1-2 record against Bama with Malzahn as OC.
Saban’s lost to Auburn more than anyone else.
Saban’s lost 61 games in 22 years of head coaching. Auburn accounts for 9.8 percent of his career defeats and 17 percent of his defeats as an SEC head coach. Saban’s lost 35 games total at LSU and Bama, with 19 of those coming as the Tide’s head coach.
LSU’s also beaten Saban’s Bama three times, though not since 2011.
When Saban beats Auburn, it’s a blowout. When he loses, it’s close.
Let’s hone in on the last 10 meetings, when Saban’s been at Alabama.
- The average score is 33-18, Alabama. Not that close.
- In Bama wins, the average score is 38-15.
- In Auburn wins, the average score is 26-22.
The Tigers’ wins against Saban’s Alabama have come by seven, one, and six points. The Tide haven’t broken 28 points in any of them. It’s hard to keep Alabama’s 41.4-point-per-game offense under that amount, but it’s been done three times this year, by Florida State, Texas A&M, and LSU. (The Tide won each by at least eight points anyway.)
Of Auburn’s seven Iron Bowl losses to Saban, just one has been close: a five-pointer in 2009. The other Tiger margins of defeat: 36, 28, 49, 11, 16, and 18.
The 2009 game featured unranked Auburn going up 14-0 in the first quarter before giving that entire lead back in the second, going up by a point in the third, then losing on a 4-yard Greg McElroy touchdown pass to Roy Upchurch.
So, clearly, Saban’s losses to Auburn have been classics.
In SB Nation’s comprehensive ranking of all 19 Saban losses at Bama, Auburn games occupy spots No. 1 and 3. You know No. 1 already:
The Kick Six in 2013 is Malzahn’s only win against the Tide. Where were you?
No. 3 on the Saban Bama Losses Ranking was the 2010 Iron Bowl, which carried a 28-27 Auburn final score:
Bama was up by 24, flying like Liu Kang into the middle of Auburn’s astounding trapeze act, with the hated Cam Newton being humbled after Alabama’s PA had played “Take the Money and Run” and “Son of a Preacher Man” (references to ongoing NCAA allegations), and the student section had thrown money with Cam’s likeness onto the field ...
... and Auburn won lmao.
Recent history tells us to expect either an Auburn classic or a Bama rout.
All that’s at stake is a playoff berth and maybe Malzahn’s entire future at Auburn.
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