Auburn linebacker Quentin Riggins (41) helped the Tigers open the second half of the 1989 Iron Bowl with a 20-0 run as they defeated Alabama 30-20 in their first meeting ever at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
The 2019 Southeastern Conference football season is upon us, providing anticipation and excitement for the weeks and months ahead.
Of course, how better to explain the passion for SEC football in the present than with the countless memorable moments from the past. Years that end in “9” have delivered with regularity throughout the league’s history, including these fabulous four:
80 YEARS AGO
The 1938 Tennessee Volunteers coached by Robert Neyland rolled to an 11-0 season by outscoring foes 293-16, and hopes were high for more good things in 1939.
Tennessee produced four All-Americans in 1939 – halfback George Cafego, tackle Abe Shires and guards Bob Suffridge and Ed Molinski – and outscored its 10 regular-season opponents by an astounding 212-0. Following a 21-0 triumph over No. 8 Alabama and a 20-0 win at No. 18 LSU, New York World Telegram sports editor Joe Williams exclaimed, “Open the portals of the Rose Bowl, boys, there’s a pretty fair country football team heading out that way, the Tennessee Volunteers.”
The Vols indeed headed to the Rose Bowl after completing their 10-0 regular season with a 7-0 victory over Auburn, but an injury to Cafego hindered Tennessee in a 14-0 loss to Southern California. Tennessee completed a third consecutive 10-0 regular season in 1940, and the 1939 Vols remain the last team in college football history to go an entire regular season without surrendering a single point.
60 YEARS AGO
On Halloween night in 1959, the SEC showcased a showdown between No. 1 LSU and No. 3 Ole Miss in Baton Rouge.
The host Tigers entered having won the 1958 national championship and having extended their winning streak to 18 games, but an early fumble by LSU star running back Billy Cannon was recovered by Billy Brewer, which set up a 22-yard Bobby Khayat field goal that gave the Rebels a 3-0 lead.
Sensing that his defense was winning the battle of field position, Ole Miss coach Johnny Vaught punted on first down three consecutive times during the third quarter. With the Rebels facing a third-and-17 at their own 42-yard line early in the fourth quarter, Jake Gibbs had a 47-yard punt to the LSU 11.
Cannon collected the ball on the bounce and then managed to elude seven Rebels who had a chance to make the tackle for an 89-yard return to the end zone that gave the Tigers a 7-3 win.
“I owed my team something,” Cannon said. “My fumble early in the first quarter gave Ole Miss three points. I’m just glad our blocking got it back for me.”
LSU’s winning streak came to an end the very next week, when the Tigers were upset 14-13 at No. 13 Tennessee. The Vols halted Cannon on a two-point-conversion try to seal the triumph.
Cannon would win LSU’s only Heisman Trophy to date, but the Tigers fell flat in a Sugar Bowl rematch against Ole Miss, losing 21-0.
“I can’t believe they agreed to play us again,” Vaught said. “That was the dumbest thing anybody ever did. There was no way we were going to lose that game.”
50 YEARS AGO
The first nationally televised night game in college football history took place at Birmingham’s Legion Field on Oct. 4, 1969.
It was between No. 15 Alabama and No. 20 Ole Miss, and it delivered.
Rebels quarterback Archie Manning completed 33 of 52 passes for 436 yards and added 104 on the ground to amass a staggering 540 total yards, and he was on the losing side. Alabama counterpart Scott Hunter completed 22 of 29 throws for 300 yards, and his 15-yard touchdown pass to George Ranager with 3:42 remaining proved to be the difference in the Crimson Tide’s 33-32 win.
“After the game was over with, I was looking for Archie and found him,” Hunter said. “He had tears in his eyes. I didn’t even know what to say. I reached out and shook his hand, and he looked me in the eye.
“We didn’t have to say a thing to each other. We knew what we had done that night.”
Alabama failed to build on that triumph and concluded a 6-5 season with a loss to Colorado in the Liberty Bowl. Ole Miss rebounded and got to the Sugar Bowl, where they defeated Arkansas to complete an 8-3 year.
30 YEARS AGO
From 1948 to 1988, the annual rivalry between Alabama and Auburn took place at Legion Field.
In 1989, the Iron Bowl came to Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium for the first time.
Jordan-Hare had its capacity expanded before the 1987 season from 72,169 to more than 85,000, and the first Iron Bowl in Auburn was heightened by Alabama being 10-0 and No. 2 in the country. Bill Curry’s Crimson Tide took a 10-7 halftime lead, but Pat Dye’s Tigers scored the first 20 points of the second half on their way to a 30-20 victory.
Auburn quarterback Reggie Slack threw for 274 yards, while Stacy Danley rushed for 130 yards and Alexander Wright had 141 receiving yards. Crimson Tide quarterback Gary Hollingsworth racked up 340 aerial yards and two touchdowns but was intercepted twice.
The No. 11 Tigers improved to 9-2 and forced a three-way tie for the SEC crown with Alabama and Tennessee.
“We’ll play Alabama many times in Auburn,” Dye said. “Sooner or later, they’ll beat us in Auburn, but life will go on as it always has. The sun will come up, and we’ll get ready to play them again the next year.
“But in the year 1989, Auburn won the biggest game Auburn ever played.”
Auburn won its first four games against Alabama inside Jordan-Hare and has a 9-5 record against the visiting Tide, which includes the memorable “Kick Six” thriller in 2013.