Rivalries are what make college football fun. The passion on the field and in the stands are unmatched, especially when the two teams are not only within the same conference, but reside in the same state. Such is the case with the Iron Bowl, Alabama vs. their rival to the east, Auburn.
CBS Sports’ Barrett Sallee and Ben Kercheval named the best college football team in each 50 states.
While the state of Alabama is loaded with teams outside of Alabama and Auburn, such as UAB, Troy and Alabama A&M, the two analysts boiled it down to who has had recent success in the Iron Bowl.
Their pick: the University of Alabama.
Sallee explained his reasoning by citing the Iron Bowl record from the last decade or so.
“Even though the Tigers have won two of the last three over the Crimson Tide, Alabama has won eight of the last 12 Iron Bowls over Auburn and doesn’t suffer the consistency issues that plague the Tigers.” writes Sallee. “That’s enough to get Nick Saban’s crew the nod.”
Alabama will face Auburn in 2020 as their second-to-last game of the modified conference-only season.