Rivalry week is here. It’s a bitter-sweet feeling, because I absolutely love rivalry week and everything that comes with it, but it also means that the regular season is coming to a close. We get to enjoy Thanksgiving, time with friends and family, rivalry football, and then it’s onto conference championships, bowls, and the College Football Playoff. You might have been able to guess, but today we’re looking at the two best rivalries in the sport (in my humble opinion), The Game (Michigan-Ohio State) and the Iron Bowl (Auburn-Alabama).
The Game
Not only is Michigan-Ohio State a bitter rivalry, but it has also had major implications in the greater college football landscape for nearly its entire existence. Michigan has the most all-time wins in Division I football history, and Ohio State is second, and The Game has frequently determined the Big Ten Champion (22 times), as well as appearances to the Big Ten Championship, Rose Bowl, and College Football Playoff.
The Game has been played 120 times since 1897, and the teams have met every year since 1918, with the exception of 2020 during COVID. The very first game was won by Michigan in Ann Arbor 34-0, and since then they hold a 62-51-6 lead. Michigan also holds the longest streak, when they won nine games in a row in the early 1900s. They started playing as conference opponents in 1918, which began the annual meetings. The Game even predates Ohio Stadium (otherwise known as “The Shoe”), which wasn’t built until 1922. Some of this will be generally familiar to most college football fans, but what may not be is what actually started the rivalry between the states, and later the universities, in the first place.
The Toledo War
The conflict started with the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, when the state of Ohio established its northern border at the south end of Lake Michigan. The state line was drawn heading east from Lake Michigan, running through Lake Erie all the way to Pennsylvania. Funny enough, the border was drawn with an outdated map, so it made it seem like the southern tip of Lake Michigan was farther north than it actually was, which provided Ohio with more land than it was actually entitled to, as well as access to Lake Erie. The founders of Ohio even realized this, but they adjusted the state constitution to include that land.
Fast forward to 1805, when Michigan was established. Congress established Michigan and its southern border, but ignored that boundary, which created a piece of land that both Michigan and Ohio had legal jurisdiction over, called the Toledo Strip. This led to a lot of contention, which materialized in 1835 with the Toledo War. An Ohio survey team was attempting to re-mark an old state line. Michigan state officials ambushed the team and ran them into the woods, firing shots. They captured and arrested nine members of the Ohio team. They even made the land illegal for Ohioans to occupy, which was a law passed in 1835. Tensions grew, and more physical and legal conflict ensued until 1836 when the war was settled. Congress awarded Toledo to Ohio, compensating Michigan by adding it to the Union as a state and giving it the Upper Peninsula.
The tensions of this conflict eventually made its way into the rivalry between the universities of the states and flourished into the rivalry that we know and love. The most interesting connection to the athletic rivalries to me is that if Ohio had lost the Toledo Strip to Michigan, the University of Michigan would be located in Toledo, not Ann Arbor. There were plans to build a campus in Toledo, but the war paused action, and eventually the land was lost, and the university was moved to Ann Arbor. Imagine if the Big House was in Toledo!
Recent Years
We’ve seen some huge swings in this rivalry in recent years. Ohio State dominated during Urban Meyer’s tenure from 2012-2018, winning 7 matchups in a row. Some key players and moments from this era include Cardale Jones winning as a third string quarterback in 2014, JT Barrett getting a huge 4th conversion in double overtime in 2016 (Jim Harbaugh is still signaling that he was short to this day), Ohio State’s fourteen-point comeback in 2017, and the top ten matchup in 2018. Ohio State dominated in 2019, behind huge games from Justin Fields and JK Dobbins, winning 56-27. The game was cancelled in 2020 because of a COVID outbreak in the Michigan locker room. Since then, Michigan has won four in a row, including a win on the way to a national championship in 2023. They won the game last season, but because of the 12-team playoff, Ohio State was still able to make the bracket and went on to win a national championship, creating an interesting dynamic that we haven’t experienced before. Ohio State had the last laugh of the season, but Michigan fans can still claim superiority, because to some fans, The Game is really what matters most. We will see if Ryan Day can get the monkey off his back and win in the Big House on Saturday at noon.
The Iron Bowl
Next up, we have the Iron Bowl between Auburn and Alabama in an intrastate showdown. These meetings started playing in 1893, a game in which Auburn won 32-22, and have played each other 89 times in total, annually since 1948. The name “Iron Bowl” was coined by Ralph “Shug” Jordan, the Auburn head coach, in a quote to reports about how Auburn has a bowl game every year regardless of record: the Iron Bowl in Birmingham. Birmingham, AL was a huge steel manufacturer in the early 1900s and also served as a neutral site location for the game, hence the name. It wasn’t until 2000 that the campuses of the two schools became the game locations (Auburn started consistently playing their home games in Jordan-Hare Stadium in 1993, and Alabama kept their home games in Birmingham until 2000). Alabama leads the total series 51-37-1, holds the longest winning streak (9 games), and currently brings a five-game winning streak into the 2025 game.
Political Origins
Not dissimilar from The Game, the Iron Bowl rivalry developed as a result of political conflict within the state of Alabama. The origin stemmed from the birth of Auburn as an institution, when state legislation battled over land grants for a new college. Alabama graduates on the state legislature wanted the college to be an addition to the University of Alabama, while Lee County and the City of Auburn wanted to be home to the new school. After years of debate, Auburn eventually won in 1872. Over the next decades, there were various land grant disputes between the institutions, and Auburn nearly closed due to financial troubles. In 1907, the state legislature even considered moving the college from Auburn to Birmingham. There was a break in athletic competition between the two schools for a number of years, and by the end of World War II, Auburn was back to full health. All parties agreed to renew football competition, and they began playing again in 1948, playing annually every year since.
Historic Moments
Also like The Game, the Iron Bowl has delivered some epic moments in college football history. The teams have met as ranked opponents 25 times, and since 2000, three of their meetings have been in the top 10 matchups. The last twenty years or so have delivered some insane games that will be talked about as long as college football exists.
In 2010, we had the Camback. The game was in Tuscaloosa, and #11 ranked Alabama jumped out to a 24-0 lead. Cam Newton put the Tigers on his back and led them to a 28-27 win on the road, saving the season, which later led to a National Championship. Just three years later, we saw the Kick Six. Alabama kicked a 57-yard field goal with one second left in a tie game, but the kick came up short and was returned 109 yards by Auburn cornerback Chris Davis to win the game at the buzzer. That play is and will always be royalty amongst the auburn fan base. If you visit Auburn’s campus during Thanksgiving week, you will definitely hear the radio call of “Auburn’s gonna win the football game!!” at least a few times during your stay.
The last five years have seen Alabama dominate the series, but not without drama. The 2021 game in Auburn went four overtimes. Auburn, with a backup quarterback and an interim head coach, hung around in a defensive battle, but let Bryce Young drive 97 yards down the field to tie the game up at the end of regulation. Alabama went on to win in the fourth overtime on a John Metchie touchdown. Then, in 2023, Auburn had Alabama on the ropes, until a muffed punt late in the fourth quarter gave Alabama the ball deep in Auburn territory. The Auburn defense held on, forcing Alabama into a 4th and 31 with the game on the line. As most of you know, Jalen Milroe found Isaiah Bond in the corner of the endzone to steal the win from the Tigers.
This year, the context is all too familiar for Auburn. It’s been a disappointing season, and Auburn comes into the game needing a win to make it a bowl game. Alabama needs a win to keep playoff hopes alive. Auburn would love nothing more than to spoil Alabama’s season, and as we’ve seen many times before, anything can happen in Jordan-Hare Stadium on the last Saturday in November. Cheers to college football, and cheers to rivalry week. Happy Thanksgiving!
