5 Iron Bowl series active after Alabama beat Auburn 28-14 on Saturday

Alabama won the 2024 Iron Bowl on Saturday, defeating Auburn 28-14 at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa behind Jalen Milroe’s three rushing touchdowns.

In honor of the Crimson Tide’s fifth straight win in the series, here are five Iron Bowl streaks that are now (or still) active after Saturday:

1. Alabama now has its longest Iron Bowl winning streak since the Bryant era

The Crimson Tide have won five straight Iron Bowls, making it the third-longest streak in the rivalry’s history. It is Alabama’s longest Iron Bowl winning streak since Paul “Bear” Bryant’s teams defeated Auburn nine consecutive years from 1973 to 1973 Defeated in 1981. Second on this list is Auburn’s 6-game winning streak under Tommy Tuberville from 2002 to 2007. Alabama’s current winning streak is tied to Alabama’s five straight wins under Bryant from 1964 to 1968 and Auburn’s five straight wins under Ralph.” Shug” Jordan from 1954 to 1958.

2. Auburn loses fourth straight for the first time since pre-Jordan

Saturday’s loss ended Auburn’s season at 5-7, the Tigers’ fourth straight losing record. Auburn went 6-7 (losses in bowl games) in both 2021 and 2023 and 5-7 in 2022. The last time the Tigers had as many consecutive losing seasons was when they had five in a row from 1946 to 1950. Jordan was hired the next year and coached Auburn to a 5-5 record in his first year. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that Auburn has posted a losing record every year since Gus Malzahn was fired at the end of the 2020 season. Malzahn had his critics, but it’s worth noting that he never had a losing record in his eight years at Auburn.

3. Kalen DeBoer and Hugh Freeze are now part of small Iron Bowl coaching clubs

DeBoer became the sixth coach to win his Iron Bowl debut and the fourth to do so at Alabama. Other coaches who won their first Iron Bowl included Dennis Franchione (2001), Gene Stallings (1990) and Harold “Red” Drew (1948) of Alabama, and Malzahn (2013) and Terry Bowden (1993) of Auburn. Drew’s first Iron Bowl came in his second year at Alabama, as the two teams did not play from 1908 to 1947. On the other hand, Freeze is the first Auburn coach since Doug Barfield in 1976-77 to lose his first two Iron Bowls. Every Auburn coach who had coached in at least two Iron Bowls since then — Malzahn, Gene Chizik, Tuberville, Bowden and Pat Dye — had won either the first or second. On the bright side, Jordan lost his first three Iron Bowls (1951-53) and then won five straight.

4. Malachi Moore, other 2020 Alabama holdovers go 5-0 against Auburn

Moore will leave Alabama with wins in five straight Iron Bowls, something generally not possible before the COVID pandemic gave college football players an extra year of eligibility. Other players from the Crimson Tide’s 2020 recruiting class who are still on the roster include defensive linemen Tim Smith (who, like Moore, played in all five Iron Bowls) and Jah-Marien Latham, and linebacker Quandarrius Robinson, although Robinson sat out the season Arm injury in the LSU game on November 9th. A handful of Auburn players were part of five straight losses to Alabama (though none played in all five games). That list includes offensive linemen Jeremiah Wright and Tate Johnson, tight end Brandon Frazier and defensive lineman Zykevious Walker.

5. Alabama finally posted a winning record against Auburn in Tuscaloosa

It took more than 100 years, but Alabama topped .500 in games in Tuscaloosa against Auburn. The Crimson Tide are now 8-7 against the Tigers in their hometown, including two games that occurred in 1895 and 1901. What is now known as the Iron Bowl returned to Tuscaloosa in 2000, but Alabama lost its first four games to Auburn at Bryant-Denny Stadium. The Crimson Tide have won eight of their last nine Iron Bowls in Tuscaloosa, with the lone exception being the 2010 game in which the Tigers rallied from a 24-point deficit to win 28-27 in their BCS national championship. Saban won the Iron Bowl in Tuscaloosa 7-1, with DeBoer joining him as the only Alabama coaches to record a victory over Auburn at Bryant-Denny (or another T-Town facility).