CLOSING ARGUMENTS Which is the better rivalry?

Sporting News, The, Nov 20, 2000

Ohio State-Michigan

By Tom Dienhart

Ohio State-Michigan. Michigan-Ohio State. No matter how you slice it, this rivalry is the most intense and has meant the most nationally over the years than any other. Sorry, Alabama-Auburn.

No other game has consistently had as big an impact on a conference title race as the Ohio State-Michigan game. That has been especially true the past three decades, when Michigan or Ohio State won the Big Ten title seven times per decade.

The Alabama-Auburn rivalry is intense, but not as much has been at stake the past 30 years, and each school has had more valleys than OSU and Michigan. Over the past 10 years, Alabama has won only two SEC titles, and Auburn has failed to capture any. The 1980s were a little better, with the Tigers claiming four titles and the Tide two. Bama dominated the '70s with eight titles, but Auburn won none.

Further sullying the Bama-Auburn feud is that it rarely shapes the national-title picture. In the 1997 Ohio State-Michigan game, the No. 1 Wolverines beat the No. 4 Buckeyes and eventually won a share of the national title, Since 1974, Alabama and Auburn have played once (1994) when each was ranked in the top 10. Over the same period, Ohio State and Michigan have met as top 10 teams seven times.

Another thing that makes the Ohio State-Michigan series the nation's best is the legacy of Woody and Bo. Their game-planning served as a subplot to the rivalry each season and added to the flavor of the battle. Yes, the Bear Bryant-Shug Jordan matchups were exciting, but Bear ruled the SEC.

Alabama's refusal to play at Auburn until 1989 further diminishes this rivalry when compared to the Ohio State-Michigan series. From 1904-88, the Tide-Tiger games were played at Birmingham, Alabama's second home. Michigan and Ohio aren't in the same state but always have been on equal terms.

Alabama-Auburn

By Matt Hayes

Go have fun this weekend. Beat your rival, and talk about how good it feels and how it's just not the same when you don't.

Now let me introduce you to Alabama-Auburn.

Rivalries are about passion and pride, not championships and rankings. The Iron Bowl takes fandom to a maniacal, menacing level, then turns it up full blast at kickoff. This isn't a yearly event--it's day-by-day hatred.

It's more than just wins and losses and streaks and any other numerical minutiae. It's about which side you're on the day you're born, and how it plays out until the day you die. "The game," former Auburn coach Terry Bowden once said, "is the state of Alabama's lifestyle."

Alabama-Auburn is mystical and moving, it transcends time and changes lives. Friends go months without talking to each other because the other carped about winning. It takes about three hours to play the game and another 364 days for players, coaches and fans to replay it. Over and over and over again.

You can have Florida-Florida State, the rivalry of the 1990s. Or Michigan-Ohio State or Stanford-Cal or Texas-Texas A&M. None can compare to what happens in late November in the state of Alabama.

Fans burn the score of the game in their neighbors' lawns. Others cancel phone service for weeks after the game instead of listening to irate, winning fans. Never has one game had such a profound impact on the lives of those involved. Coaches are fired over losing the game, or hang around longer because they win it. Careers are made and lost; friendships end and are never recovered.

Alabama-Auburn is a birthright in the state of Alabama. So have fun with your rivalry this weekend. They'll be playing for a whole lot more in Alabama.