While Great, the 2010 Iron Bowl Is Not What It Could Have Been
Posted on November 21, 2010 by Jacob Bunn
A month ago, the contest between Alabama and Auburn was on pace to be one of the most important Iron Bowls in the history of the series. It still has significant implications nationally, but it has lost the luster it once held.
The last two and a half weeks have been, in a word, tumultuous for Auburn, the SEC, and a number of others involved in the controversy that has captured the attention of the sports world.
On November 4th, reports began swirling about Auburn quarterback Cam Newton and the potential of his being represented by former Mississippi State player Kenny Rogers as an agent. Since then, new reports have surfaced which indicate that Newton’s father, Cecil Newton, solicited money in return for Cam signing a letter of intent to Mississippi State.
All of these questions are of extreme importance to Auburn because if true, the Tigers would be playing an ineligible player. Auburn has stated more than once during this process that its compliance department has a handle on the situation, and they must believe strongly that he is eligible because he played in the last two games.
A lot of allegations have been made. Nothing seems to have affected the play on the field. What will happen next? I think it will be most interesting to find out, so stay tuned. There is definitely a real story behind this. I hope to be able to write about that more in depth soon.
The team Auburn will be playing this week, Alabama, has had its struggles come in a different form. The 2009 national champions saw their nineteen game winning streak come to a screeching halt in Columbia, SC. The Tide responded to the loss by beating two lower-tier SEC teams, Ole Miss and Tennessee. Baton Rouge was the next stop for Alabama. They rolled in as the highest ranked one-loss team and with a terrific chance, according to most experts, to get back into the BCS Championship picture. The Crimson Tide came up short, though. A 24-21 loss to Les Miles’ LSU team dashed any hopes they had of repeating as national champions.
Alabama will come into the Iron Bowl off of a twenty point victory over a good Mississippi State team and a 63-7 win over Georgia State.
With Nick Saban in charge of preparation, you can bet that Auburn will have its hands full and then some come Friday. Only one team successfully slowed Tim Tebow down last year. And that team, of course, was Alabama.
So needless to say, this game, while important, is not going to end up being the epic match that it could have been. It will, though, maintain the level of intensity that it is known for. As always, the atmosphere in Tuscaloosa for this game will be a great one.
For Alabama, this is a chance to play a role it is not that familiar with, the spoiler. But, it will not have a chance to play for a championship regardless of the outcome of Friday's game. If Auburn wins, it will have conquered the largest obstacle in the way of the BCS Championship Game. Having said that, one has to wonder how long it will remain in the record books as an Auburn win.
Contact Jacob Bunn at Jacob@bunnsports.com
