{"id":250554,"date":"2025-10-25T10:45:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T10:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/250554\/"},"modified":"2025-10-25T10:45:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T10:45:13","slug":"ryan-clark-discredits-iron-bowl-rivalry-due-to-auburns-record-it-cant-be-a-rivalry-if-one-team-dont-ever-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/250554\/","title":{"rendered":"Ryan Clark discredits Iron Bowl rivalry due to Auburn’s record: ‘It can\u2019t be a rivalry if one team don\u2019t ever win’"},"content":{"rendered":"

ESPN\u2018s First Take continued its HBCU campus tour by hosting Friday morning\u2019s show from inside Birmingham\u2019s Legion Field ahead of Saturday\u2019s Magic City Classic between Alabama A&M<\/a> and Alabama State<\/a>. But it was another well-known college football rivalry that got its start inside Legion Field that sparked a heated debate between the fiery First Take panelists.<\/p>\n

During a discussion about college football\u2019s greatest rivalry, ESPN\u2019s Cam Newton<\/a> opened things up by extolling all the reasons the Iron Bowl<\/a> between Alabama<\/a> and Auburn<\/a> stands head and shoulders above all others, including The Game between Michigan<\/a> and Ohio State<\/a>. Newton\u2019s point boiled down to one simple reality \u2014 the Iron Bowl is the only game that matters to the people of Alabama.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Alabama, football is a religion. Football is a way of life,\u201d Newton said. \u201cAnd if you don\u2019t understand that, you can\u2019t be from the South.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newton\u2019s diatribe prompted fellow ESPN analyst Ryan Clark<\/a> to take aim at Auburn, Newton\u2019s alma mater, which has lost five straight in the bitter rivalry series that dates back to 1893. In fact, the Tigers haven\u2019t beaten Alabama since a 48-45 upset in 2019 inside Jordan-Hare Stadium, with the Crimson Tide claiming victory in nine of the last 11 Iron Bowls.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, if we\u2019re being honest, since Cam left school, more people care about LSU<\/a>\u2013Alabama than care about Auburn-Alabama. Listen, guys, it can\u2019t be a rivalry if one team don\u2019t ever win,\u201d Clark countered. \u201cThe greatest rivalry in college football is Michigan-Ohio State. And I\u2019m an SEC guy, but they\u2019ve been playing this game since 1897. The reason this game is important is they were having a border dispute. It\u2019s called the Toledo War \u2013 a war was apart of this game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe watched Charles Woodson, my favorite football player of all time, go to throw hands with David Boston in this game. Jack Sawyer<\/a>, just last year, had to be pulled off the field because them people tried to plant (the Michigan) flag on the field,\u201d Clark continued. \u201cRyan Day<\/a> had won a million games and was fixing to get fired last year until he won the (national) championship because he couldn\u2019t beat Michigan. When Cam Newton found a way to come back against Alabama, they weren\u2019t trying to fire Nick Saban<\/a>. So, no, (the Iron Bowl) is not the greatest rivalry in college football. It\u2019s Ohio State-Michigan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, The Game has also been a little one-sided of late, with the Wolverines currently holding a four-game win streak and a 62-51-6 all-time advantage in the series that began in 1897. But prior to Michigan\u2019s 42-27 win in 2021 to begin its win streak, the Buckeyes had won the previous eight straight between 2012-19.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Alabama holds a 51-37-1 advantage in the all-time series vs. Auburn. The Crimson Tide own the longest win streak in the Iron Bowl after claiming nine straight between 1973-81.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ESPN\u2018s First Take continued its HBCU campus tour by hosting Friday morning\u2019s show from inside Birmingham\u2019s Legion Field…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250555,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-250554","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ncaafootball","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250554\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}