Numbers, Facts and Names That Drive Auburn Fans Crazy
By: Larry Burton
Hardly anything drives an Auburn fan crazier than being called “Little Brother”. But the sad truth for Auburn fans is that it’s a title that not only fits, but is well earned.
Going back 50 years and I pick that time frame because that is the lifetime of the average athlete on Auburn’s team and their parents, Auburn has done little to escape the “second fiddle” to Alabama’s achievements.
In that fifty year period, since 1964, Auburn has won one national title while Alabama has won nine in that time frame.
Also in the last 50 years, Alabama has the following records over Auburn –
SEC Titles – Alabama has 17 SEC titles compared to Auburn’s seven
Ten Win Seasons Back to Back – Auburn’s had one while Alabama has done it 12 times
Beat Down Games – Games won by more than ten points – Auburn’s done it once, Alabama’s done it 14 times.
Downright laughable blowouts – wins by 24 points or more – Auburn zero, 12 for Alabama
Then you have to consider that when Auburn plays Alabama during these last 50 years, that the usual margin reflects that an Auburn win is a close fought hard win and an Alabama win is an butt kicking blowout.
When you consider that no living player on Auburn’s team has ever seen Auburn blow out Alabama or their parents can’t tell them about a game they’ve ever seen that Auburn blew out Alabama, that’s something that certainly makes them little brother.
Alabama on the other hand, has active players on the roster that were part of a 42-14 whipping and 49-0 laugher. In the current player’s lifetime, they have seen Alabama blow out the Tigers 6 times in their 22 years. So while Auburn’s players or parents have never seen one, to expect one is something equally as elusive. Alabama’s players on the other hand expect to win and expect to blow out Auburn in the process.
When Auburn wins the margins average very low, the Alabama wins tend to be butt whippings.
That’s just something big brothers expect to do to little brothers and whether the Auburn die hards will admit it, they never expect to win big against Alabama, they just hope for win. That’s the difference in expectations in this game and also the difference in the fans of the two teams.
Auburn is content as long as they beat Alabama, no matter what the season’s totals are. They pray all year with this one game being the forefront of their hopes, even in the years they expect to win.
Alabama fans on the other hand, have much higher hopes and expectations. They not only expect to win every game, but contend for a national title each and every year. The fact that Alabama looks for loftier goals than just beating their cross state rival however, doesn’t mean this game isn’t important to them. Every game is important to them.
While Auburn fans delight in having temporary bragging rights over their big brother with a win and live and die to enjoy those brief moments, Alabama fans mainly want to win that game to cement a spot in the SEC and college playoffs. But there just isn’t as much joy in it for the Alabama fans because they expect to win every contest with Auburn.
Because of that mentality, Auburn will be the “Little Brother” for the current players lifetimes. It would take more than the lifetime of these players reverse these numbers even if Auburn doubled the number of wins over Alabama they’ve had over Alabama in the last 50 years. Even if they tripled the number of wins, they’d still not reverse these numbers in their lifetime.
So get used to it Auburn, you will always be the “Little Brother” until you die. Maybe your great grandchildren can reverse these numbers, but I wouldn’t count on it.
Larry has been published in almost every media outlet for college sports and now primarily writes here for Touchdown Alabama. Follow Larry on Twitter for inside thoughts and game time comments at https://twitter.com/LBSportswriter
