When a team plays football for 120 years, it gains its fair share of rivalries. Fans of Alabama football use discussions of the “biggest” rival as offseason fodder. The general consensus is that there is no consensus. Some fans have a burning hatred for the Auburn Tigers, or the Tennessee Volunteers or a host of others. Who loathes what team depends on the fan. Through all of the debate, there must be a way to empirically decide major rivalries for the Crimson Tide, or other teams.
A rivalry takes root when two teams play each other often and the decision is up in the air. For ease of calculation, the first criteria for rivalry will be that the teams in question have played Alabama at least 60 times, or half of the time that football has been a fixture at the Capstone. Auburn, Georgia, LSU, Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Mississippi State fit the “number of times played” criteria.
It is almost impossible to include teams like Mississippi State and Vanderbilt in a rivalry discussion with Alabama because the Tide leads the series 74-18-3 over State and 59-19-4 over Vanderbilt. The wins and losses gap is simply too large. That leaves Auburn, Georgia, LSU and Tennessee as potential “biggest” rivals.
The wounds that hurt the most are generally the most recent. Alabama last played Georgia in the 2008 season, and the Tide and Bulldogs have been infrequent opponents since the SEC went to twelve teams in 1992. The rare games have solidified the Tide’s lead in the series at 36-25-4. While there is definitely history between the two teams, the lack of recent history is a major knock against the Bulldogs for being one of Alabama’s chief rivals.
The final three teams each have a strong case to be Alabama’s biggest rival. Alabama leads the series against all three. The Tide is up 41-34-1 on Auburn, 47-38-7 on Tennessee and 46-25-5 on LSU. Comparing quantitative history, Alabama has dominated LSU far more than Auburn or Tennessee, so LSU falls to the wayside as a major Alabama rivalry. If the yearly matchup between LSU and Alabama continues to be one of the highlights of the college football season, it could become a far greater factor in the rivalry discussion. The only problem is that such a trend would have to continue for at least a decade.
The final two are essentially a dead heat in terms of overall record against Alabama. The difference between the number of times that Alabama has played Auburn and Tennessee stems from the fact that the Iron Bowl was put on hold for years due to disagreements between the two sides. Recent history between the three teams presents a “chicken and egg” problem. Tennessee’s former head coach Phillip Fulmer testifying against Alabama to the NCAA drove the program into a dark age during which Auburn reeled off six victories over Alabama.
The main difference between the two is how the overall records have been compiled. The Tide’s record against Tennessee is marked by massive runs of wins, coupled with long runs of losses. Auburn is much more all over the place. Aside from the nine straight wins the Tide had after “Punt Bama Punt,” and the six wins Auburn had during the early 2000s, the game has been back and forth throughout the rivalry.
By the narrowest of margins – and hence why there is little consensus among Alabama fans – Auburn has to be considered Alabama’s biggest empirical rival. The Tide and Tigers have one of the closest overall records throughout the history of their series. Auburn has gotten the best of Alabama more often then not in the recent past, which was highlighted by the heartbreak at Bryant Denny in 2010. Even with Auburn’s streak of six wins, the series has proven to be more back and forth than any other long term series in Alabama history.
Of course, another way to decide who Alabama’s biggest rival is would be to ask the fans. Do you maintain that Tennessee is still the big rival? Or has Auburn surpassed them? What about LSU? Disagree with my reasoning? Let me know below, or hit me up on Twitter.