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The Auburn Tigers football team represents Auburn University in college football as a member of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, competing in the Western Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Auburn's Jordan-Hare Stadium has a capacity of 87,451, ranking as the ninth-largest on-campus stadium in the NCAA. The team is coached by Gene Chizik, who was hired on December 13, 2008, replacing Tommy Tuberville, who resigned at the end of the 2008 season.
[edit] HistoryThe Tigers played the first football game in the Deep South in 1892,[1] with the program's first bowl appearance coming the 1936 season in the sixth Bacardi Bowl played in Havana, Cuba. As of 2009, AU Football has had 78 winning seasons, 35 bowl appearances, twenty-four 9+ win seasons, eleven undefeated seasons and ten conference championships. Auburn has played in the Southeastern Conference since its inception in 1933 and have won six SEC Conference Championships, and since the divisional realignment of the conference in 1992, have won the Western Division title six times[2] including three trips to the SEC Championship game. [edit] Historical rankingThe College Football Research Center lists Auburn as the 14th best college football program in history,[3] with eight Auburn squads listed in Billingsley’s Top 200 Teams of All Time (1869-2006).[4] The Associated Press poll statistics show Auburn with the 11th best national record of being ranked in the final AP Poll[5] and 12th overall (ranked 470 times out of 970 polls since the poll began in 1936), with an average ranking of 11.26.[6] Since the Coaches Poll first released a final poll in 1950, Auburn has 25 seasons where the team finished in the top 20 in both the AP and Coaches Polls.[7] Auburn has the 13th most wins in D-1A college football.[8] In terms of winning percentage, Auburn ranks as the 9th most successful team in the past 25 years with a 71.6% win rate (214–83–5)[9] and 12th over the last 50 years with 63.0% (386–176–10).[10] Of the 93 current I-A football programs that been active since Auburn first fielded a team 116 years ago, Auburn ranks 13th in winning percentage over that period.[11] [edit] Heisman linksTwo Auburn players, Pat Sullivan in 1971 and Bo Jackson in 1985, have won the Heisman Trophy. The Trophy's namesake, John Heisman, coached at Auburn from 1895 until 1899. Auburn is the only school where Heisman coached (among others, Georgia Tech and Clemson) that has produced a Heisman Trophy winner. [edit] National champion teamsEight Auburn teams have been awarded some form of "National Champions" title. The NCAA's website states that "the NCAA does not conduct a national championship in Division I-A football and is not involved in the selection process", but goes on to state that "a number of polling organizations provide a final ranking of Division I-A football teams at the end of each season". The NCAA website lists four Auburn squads that have been named National Champions by at least one organization.[12] The following is the complete list of Auburn teams ranked No. 1 and some of the organizations that recognized them as National Champion:[13]
The AP Poll did not begin selecting a champion until 1936 nor the AFCA Coaches Poll until 1950, so many national champion titles previous to those date were awarded retroactively. However during the 1910s, it is difficult to dispute the legitimacy of the Auburn titles. The undefeated 1913 and 1914 teams coached by Mike Donahue were some of the best defenses in Auburn history. In fact, the 1914 squad allowed zero points all season, outscoring opponents 193-0. The 1983 team featuring Bo Jackson went 11–1 and finished the season by beating Michigan in the Sugar Bowl. The undefeated 2004 squad (13–0) finished second in the AP and Coaches Top 25 polls, but the team was awarded the 2004 Fanspoll.com People's National Champion title.[14] Auburn University officially only claims the Associated Press (AP) National Championship of 1957[15] (although the school does acknowledge the 1913, 1983, 1993 and 2004 titles in their media guide).[16] [edit] Modern historyMain article: Auburn Tigers football seasons While Auburn football has a long and storied history, the Tigers have been quite successful in recent years. Since the expansion of the SEC and the split into divisions, Auburn has been the winningest SEC West team in league play since the conference realignment in 1992.[17] As of the end of the 2009 season, Auburn teams have won 33 of their last 50 conference matchups including 16 of the last 24 SEC away games. The Tigers seem to perform best when facing their greatest challenge as, in addition to the success on the road in the SEC, Auburn teams have won 9 of their last 16 matchups versus top-10 opponents. The Tigers also have done well protecting Jordan-Hare Stadium, particularly at night where the home team has won 18 of the 22 night games since 2000. Over the five seasons prior to 2009, Auburn won 47 games. [edit] 2009 seasonMain article: 2009 Auburn Tigers football team While Auburn had finished ranked in the top-15 in four consecutive seasons starting with the 2004 undefeated season, a poor 5-7 showing in 2008 led to head coach Tommy Tubervile's paid resignation. New head coach Gene Chizik was hired December 13, 2008 and brought in an entirely new staff. The 2009 season saw the Tigers face a difficult schedule, including away games at Tennessee, Arkansas, LSU and Georgia, with non-conference foes including national power West Virginia and Ball State (coming off a 12-2 season). The Tigers managed a 7-5 regular season record, earning a New Years Day bowl invitation to play Northwestern in the 2010 Outback Bowl. [edit] Rivals[edit] Iron Bowl (vs. Alabama)Main article: Iron Bowl Auburn's rivalry with Alabama is termed the "Iron Bowl". The first meeting came in 1893, but the teams only played 15 times before the series was suspended in 1907. In 1948, the two schools finally agreed to renew the series, with the games to be played at the "neutral" Legion Field in Birmingham, where the game was played every year from 1948 through 1988. In 1989, Auburn hosted the first on-campus meeting, after which the series became a "home and home," with Auburn's home games being played in Auburn (with the exception of the 1991 game, which was played at Legion Field), and Alabama's home games being played at Legion Field until 2000, when Alabama moved their home games to Tuscaloosa. Alabama holds the all-time edge in the series at 40–33–1. Alabama snapped Auburn's longest winning streak in the series (six games) in 2008. [edit] Deep South's Oldest Rivalry (vs. Georgia)Main article: Deep South's Oldest Rivalry Georgia and Auburn compete in "The Deep South's Oldest Rivalry", dating back to February 20, 1892. That first meeting was the first ever Auburn football game, a 10-0 win for the Tigers. The two teams met at Piedmont Park in Atlanta, Georgia and the annual matchup continued to be held there until 1903. It was played in Columbus, Georgia, from 1916 to 1958, except in 1929 and 1949, when the game was played in Athens, Georgia. In 1959, the series became an on-campus series. Auburn holds a 53–51–8 lead in the series. [edit] Tiger Bowl (vs. LSU)Main article: Auburn-LSU rivalry Auburn also has a competitive football rivalry with the LSU Tigers, as the two teams won at least a share of the SEC Western Division championship every year from 2000 to 2007, with Auburn taking the SEC West title in 2000 and 2004 and LSU in 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2007, winning the tiebreaker over Auburn in 2001 and 2005. Homefield advantage is historically significant in this series, with the home team winning every year from 1999 to 2007 and 2009. LSU holds the series lead 24–19–1. While the series has no formal name, many of the games themselves have been named by the media, most notably the Earthquake Game in 1988. [edit] Former rivalsBefore the Southeastern Conference expanded and split into Eastern and Western divisions, Auburn had annual rivalries with SEC East powers Florida and Tennessee. Auburn was forced to stop playing Tennessee every year, and stopped playing Florida every year in 2002, when the SEC implemented two rotating opponents on the schedule. Since 2002, Auburn only plays each of these two teams four times every ten years unless they meet in the SEC Championship game. The Tigers lead both teams all-time with a 42–38–2 edge over Florida and 27–21–3 series with Tennessee. Auburn has won five straight versus Tennessee, which is the longest streak in school history versus the Vols (last lost in 1999). Auburn also had long standing rivalries with former conference foe Georgia Tech and also with Clemson, dating back to 1899 when all three teams competed in the SIAA. Auburn leads the Yellow Jackets 47–41–4, with Auburn also leading in the Clemson series 33–11–2 after winning the 2007 Chick-fil-A Bowl matchup. [edit] Traditions[edit] Tiger WalkBefore each Auburn home football game, thousands of Auburn fans line Donahue Avenue to cheer on the team as they walk from Sewell Hall (the athletes' dormitory) to Jordan-Hare Stadium. The tradition began in the 1950s when groups of kids would walk up the street to greet the team and get autographs. During the tenure of coach Doug Barfield, the coach urged fans to come out and support the team, and thousands did. Today the team, led by the coaches, walks down the hill and into the stadium surrounded by fans who pat them on the back and shake their hands as they walk. The largest Tiger Walk occurred on December 2, 1989, before the first ever home football game against rival Alabama—the Iron Bowl. On that day, an estimated 20,000 fans packed the one block section of road leading to the stadium. According to former athletic director David Housel, Tiger Walk has become "the most copied tradition in all of college football," although there are older pre-game walks at Stanford and Williams College.[18] [edit] Toomer's CornerThe intersection of Magnolia and College streets in Auburn, which marks the transition from downtown Auburn to the university campus, is known as Toomer's Corner. It is named after Toomer's Drugs, a small store on the corner that has been an Auburn landmark for over 150 years. Hanging over the corner are two massive old-growth oak trees, and anytime anything good happens concerning Auburn, toilet paper can usually be found hanging from the trees. Also known as "rolling the corner," this tradition is thought to have originated in the 1950s and until the mid 1990s was relegated to only to celebrating athletic wins. However, in recent years it has become a way to celebrate anything good that happens concerning Auburn. [edit] "War Eagle" Main article: War Eagle There are many stories surrounding the origins of Auburn's battle cry, "War Eagle." The most popular account involves the first Auburn football game in 1892 between Auburn and the University of Georgia. According to the story, in the stands that day was an old Civil War soldier with an eagle that he had found injured on a battlefield and kept as a pet. The eagle broke free and began to soar over the field, and Auburn began to march toward the Georgia end-zone. The crowd began to chant, "War Eagle" as the eagle soared. After Auburn won the game, the eagle crashed to the field and died but, according to the legend, his spirit lives on every time an Auburn man or woman yells "War Eagle!" The battle cry of "War Eagle" also functions as a greeting for those associated with the University. For many years, a live golden eagle has embodied the spirit of this tradition. The eagle was once housed on campus in The A. Elwyn Hamer Jr. Aviary (which was the second largest single-bird enclosure in the country), but the aviary was taken down in 2003 and the eagle moved to a nearby raptor center. The eagle, War Eagle VI (nicknamed "Tiger"), was trained in 2000 to fly free around the stadium before every home game to the delight of fans. The present eagle, War Eagle VII (nicknamed "Nova"), continues the tradition. [edit] Wreck Tech Pajama ParadeThe Wreck Tech Pajama Parade originated in 1896, when a group of mischievous Auburn ROTC cadets, determined to show up the more well-known engineers from Georgia Tech, sneaked out of their dorms the night before the football game between Auburn and Tech and greased the railroad tracks. According to the story, the train carrying the Georgia Tech team slid through town and didn't stop until it was halfway to the neighboring town of Loachapoka, Alabama, The Georgia Tech team was forced to walk the five miles back to Auburn and, not surprisingly, were rather weary at the end of their journey. This likely contributed to their 45–0 loss. While the railroad long ago ceased to be the way teams traveled to Auburn and students never greased the tracks again, the tradition continues in the form of a parade through downtown Auburn. Students parade through the streets in their pajamas and organizations build floats. This tradition has recently been renewed with Georgia Tech returning to Auburn's schedule after nearly two decades of absence. [edit] Current staff
[edit] Head coaches
†Defensive coordinator Bill Oliver coached the last five games of the 1998 season after Terry Bowden's resignation. [edit] Award winnersA number of Auburn players and coaches have won national awards, including 62 players being named as college football All-Americans. The Tigers also have eleven coaches and players that have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Indiana. [edit] Hall of Fame
[edit] National AwardsPlayers
Coaches
[edit] All-Americans
[edit] Tigers in the NFL There have been 245 Auburn players drafted into the National Football League, with 15 earning 30 All-Pro honors, 27 making Pro Bowl appearances, and 23 playing in the Super Bowl. The Dow Jones College-Football Success Index ranked Auburn as the eighth best program in the nation, with the second highest Draft Value which indicate "that a school's players perform better than NFL scouts seem to expect".[26] Auburn is tied (with Miami) for second most Top 5 NFL Draft picks this decade, and The Plains have produced 25 first round draft picks overall. [edit] Running back U Auburn currently has several former running backs currently playing that position in the NFL (see below). They carry on a long legacy of top NFL backs from Auburn such as Tucker Frederickson, William Andrews, Joe Cribbs, James Brooks, Rudi Johnson, Stephen Davis, James Bostic, Brandon Jacobs, Lionel James, Brent Fullwood, Cadillac Williams, Ronnie Brown, Tommie Agee and Bo Jackson. Over the years 1987-2008, there have been 15 Tiger running backs drafted into the NFL, with several more successfully signing as undrafted free-agents. [edit] Current NFL playersThere are a number of former Auburn players currently listed on NFL rosters. These players include seven running backs, seven linebackers, six wide receivers, two tight ends, five cornerbacks, one quarterback, one placekicker and fifteen linemen including four nose tackle, five guards, five tackles and three defensive ends. [edit] 2008 NFL DraftThe following former Tigers were drafted in the most recent NFL Draft:
[edit] Hall of Fame
[edit] Bowl historyAuburn football teams have been invited to participate in 34 total bowls and have garnered a record of 19–13–2. On January 1, 2010, at 11:00 am ET, Auburn will play Northwestern in the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Florida. It will be the first ever meeting of the 2 schools.
[edit] Future schedules[edit] 2010 schedule
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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