Tag: Auburn History

Remebering the bizarre end to Tony Franklin’s tenure at Auburn

Franklin’s brief history as Auburn’s offensive coordinator was eventful to say the least.

The 2008 season is one that Auburn fans never want to remember.

The Tigers ended the season with a 5-7 record. Several noteworthy games from that season include the infamous 3-2 win over Mississippi State, a blown game at Vanderbilt, and a 36-0 drubbing by Alabama to end a six-game winning streak in the series.

The season ended with the firing of head coach [autotag]Tommy Tuberville[/autotag], but it was another firing during that season that became the most noteworthy.

Tuberville replaced offensive coordinator [autotag]Al Borges[/autotag] with air raid guru [autotag]Tony Franklin[/autotag] ahead of the 2008 season, and it was a disaster from the very beginning.

There was a four-game stretch where Auburn failed to score more than 21 points, which led to the early dismissal of Franklin. However, the story leading up to his demise is far from normal.

According to a report by The Athletic, Franklin came up with a plan to revamp his image following the loss to Vanderbilt, which included using lyrics to a popular song by rapper Eminem.

“He was tired of walking on eggshells and wanted to express to his players that from that day forward, they’d be dealing with a whole new man. He started Monday’s team meeting by walking into the room with a stack of books and quoting lines from Eminem’s song “Without Me,” telling his athletes “Guess who’s back, back again. Franklin’s back. Tell a friend.

Franklin’s approach seemingly worked too, as Tuberville had offered his support to Franklin both privately and publicly to local reporters.”

The “new image” lasted just one day, however, as he would be dismissed from his position just one day later. The firing of Franklin tops USA TODAY Sports’ 10 most cringeworthy college football departures list. Joining Franklin on the list is Lane Kiffin’s infamous “tarmac” firing, Todd Graham’s resignation from Pitt via text, and George O’Leary’s questionable resume.

Auburn finished the 2008 season with a 1-5 record following Franklin’s firing. Two seasons later under head coach [autotag]Gene Chizik[/autotag], Auburn would win the program’s second national championship.

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For the books: Auburn athletics’ history with the Oklahoma Sooners

As the Sooners prepare to join the SEC in 2024, here’s a look at how Auburn has performed over the years against Oklahoma.

The SEC will go through exciting changes in July 2024, as Oklahoma and Texas will enter the conference.

As each team prepares to join the conference, here is a look back at how well Auburn has performed historically against each newcomer. First, we will start with the Oklahoma Sooners.

Surprisingly enough, Auburn has played several games with the Sooners in recent memory as men’s basketball, baseball, and softball have all played at least one game against Oklahoma this decade, with football and women’s basketball playing against the Sooners once since 2017.

When thinking of Oklahoma, the minds of Auburn fans usually turn toward softball. The Tigers and Sooners have played eight times since 2016, with most of those games coming in the postseason. Auburn dropped the 2016 Women’s College World Series final to Oklahoma in three of the most exciting games in Auburn softball history.

How well has Auburn performed against the Sooners historically? Here’s a look at Auburn’s history with the Sooners across five major sports.

Hugh Freeze’s record vs. every SEC team

How successful is Hugh Freeze against teams in the SEC as a head coach? Get a complete history here.

The SEC received a boost in its’ head coaching cabinet when [autotag]Hugh Freeze[/autotag] was officially named the head coach of the Auburn Tigers in November 2022.

Freeze is best known for leading Ole Miss to a 39-25 record from 2012-16. In Oxford, he coached a high-powered offensive attack that consisted of quarterbacks Bo Wallace and Chad Kelly, and NFL-caliber receivers in DK Metcalf, Laquon Treadwell, AJ Brown, and Donte Moncrief.

After resigning from his position as head coach at Ole Miss following the 2016 season, Freeze stepped back into the coaching ranks by taking over as the leading man for Liberty football. While in Lynchburg, led the Flames to 34 wins in four seasons, with wins over Virginia Tech, Syracuse, and Arkansas included in that total.

Freeze comes to Auburn with an overall record of 83-43 and is 21-23 against SEC teams (including Oklahoma and Texas, who will become full-time members of the SEC in 2024.)

Who has Freeze beaten the most? Who has Freeze never coached against? Those answers can be seen below. Here’s a complete breakdown of Hugh Freeze’s history against teams in the SEC, including Oklahoma and Texas.

Auburn Football’s all-time record vs. Big Ten teams

In honor of Auburn’s upcoming game with Penn State, here’s a look at how Auburn has fared historically against teams from the Big Ten.

A rare occurrence will take place on Saturday, as Auburn welcomes Penn State to Jordan-Hare Stadium.

The contest will mark just the fourth time in history that a current member of the Big Ten conference has traveled to Auburn to play a football game. Before Penn State’s arrival on Saturday, Auburn had played Maryland, Nebraska, and Rutgers on campus, and currently holds a 2-1 advantage over Big Ten programs in games played at Auburn University.

The most recent Big Ten program to play a game at Auburn was in 1983 when No. 3 Auburn hosted No. 7 Maryland, which was led by future NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason. However, the rushing attack of Tommy Agee, Lionel James, and Bo Jackson ran wild over the Terrapins, as the three combined to rush for 439 yards in Auburn’s 35-23 win at Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Auburn has played a total of 25 games against Big Ten foes, holding a 12-11-2 record. Most of their meetings with Big Ten teams have come in bowl games. Since 2000, nine of Auburn’s 19 bowl appearances have been against current Big Ten teams.

The most recent bowl game against a Big Ten member was during the 2020 season when Auburn met Minnesota in the Outback Bowl. Golden Gophers’ quarterback Tanner Morgan and running back Mohamed Ibrahim torched the Tiger defense in their 31-24 win. Morgan passed for 278 yards and two touchdowns, while Ibrahim rushed for an additional 140 yards.

How has Auburn fared historically against teams from the Big Ten? Take a look below:

Auburn football’s all-time record vs. Mountain West teams

Auburn faces San Jose State at Jordan-Hare Stadium this Saturday. How has Auburn fared historically against the Spartans’ home conference?

As the days continue to dwindle down to the opening day of the College Football season, Auburn Wire will take a look at each nonconference opponent that Auburn football will face this season and break down its’ history against teams in their opponents’ home conference.

This edition takes a look at the Mountain West Conference, home of Auburn’s second nonconference foe, San Jose State.

Auburn will face the Spartans at 6:30 p.m. CDT on Sept. 10 at Jordan-Hare Stadium. The game has been scheduled to take place since 2019, when Auburn agreed to pay San Jose State a cool $1.85 million to travel across the country to play.

The next meeting between the Tigers and Spartans will be the third meeting all-time between these two squads, all three being played on the Plains.

Auburn welcomed San Jose State to town for the first time in the school’s history on Sept. 10, 2014, as the second game on the schedule.

Auburn had just come off of a national championship appearance in 2013 and opened the season with a convincing 45-21 win over the Arkansas Razorbacks a week prior. Auburn struck first when [autotag]Nick Marshall[/autotag] completed a four-yard touchdown pass to [autotag]Ricardo Louis[/autotag] to give Auburn the 7-0 lead with 8:15 remaining in the opening quarter.

San Jose State quickly answered when Blake Jurich found Tyler Ervin 75-yards downfield to tie the game at 7-7 just 12 seconds after Auburn got on the board.

Auburn scored 28 unanswered points before the Spartans struck for another touchdown in the first half, and would go on to score three more times in the second half to win, 59-13.

The result of the second-ever meeting between these two squads one year later was a little too close to comfort for Auburn.

Auburn entered the game feeling tons of pressure after squeaking by FCS’ Jacksonville State at home and losing two straight games to LSU and Mississippi State in three consecutive weeks. Auburn really needed a dominating win to rebuild confidence in the program heading into the rest of the season.

[autotag]Peyton Barber[/autotag] led the way for Auburn offensively by rushing for 151 yards and all five of Auburn’s touchdowns in the Tigers’ 35-21 win over San Jose State. Auburn jumped out to a 21-7 halftime lead, but did not see a surge in the second half to run away and put the blowout into effect.

Although brief, Auburn does have a history against teams currently affiliated with the Mountain West Conference, sporting a perfect 5-0 record all-time against the conference. Here is a look at Auburn Football’s history against the Mountain West:

Throwback Thursday: Auburn’s last meeting with Mercer

Auburn Wire goes back to 2017 to recap the last time Auburn battled Mercer. Kam Pettway rushed for three scores in Auburn’s 24-10 win.

The Auburn Tigers open the 2022 season Saturday night at Jordan-Hare Stadium against Mercer. The meeting will be the 13th all-time, with Auburn winning all 12 previous matchups.

Auburn and Mercer have an odd past. These two met for the first time in 1896, with Auburn defeating the Bears 46-0 in Macon. The two programs would become annual rivals from 1907-16, as both became members of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, with Auburn winning all eight meetings. The Tigers and Bears would meet one more time in the 20th century, as Auburn defeated Mercer 50-6.

The bears disbanded their football program in 1942 and would reinstate it in 2014. Three years after Mercer’s resurgence, they would travel to Auburn to rekindle an old rivalry.

Auburn hosted Mercer for the third game of the 2017 season, and the Bears gave the Tigers all that they could handle.

Auburn had just come off of a grueling game at Clemson the week prior and needed to claw their way through to a 24-10 win. Despite the results not showing on the scoreboard, quarterback Jarrett Stidham passed for 364 yards in the win. Kam Pettway did most of the damage on the ground for Auburn, rushing for 128 yards and three touchdowns.

Although it was not a dominating effort, the win over Mercer in 2017 was a turning point for Auburn. Beginning with the Mercer game, Auburn would go on to win nine of their next ten football games en route to an SEC West championship. In that stretch, Auburn upset two No. 1 teams, Georgia and Alabama, over a three-week span.

While we prepare for the next edition of Auburn vs. Mercer, here’s a look at the best images from the last meeting between these two programs on September 16, 2017.

Auburn’s all-time record vs. Southern Conference teams

Here’s a complete look at Auburn football’s history against current members of the Southern Conference ahead of their Sept. 3 matchup with Mercer.

Auburn Football is set to kick off the 2022 campaign at Jordan-Hare Stadium against the Mercer Bears on Sept. 3 at 6 p.m. CDT.

Auburn has a lengthy history with Mercer that began when both schools were members of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The first-ever meeting took place in 1896 when the Tigers traveled to Macon, Georgia, and defeated the Bears 46-0. These two teams would go on to face each other nine times between 1897 and 1916.

Auburn would depart from the SIAC in 1921 but would play Mercer one last time in 1922, defeating the Bears 50-6 in Auburn. The Bears would disband their football program 20 seasons later and would reinstate it in 2014.

In 2017, Auburn and Mercer met on the football field for the first time in 95 years and would go on to play the closest game in the series. In Auburn’s 24-10 win over Mercer, quarterback [autotag]Jarrett Stidham[/autotag] passed for 364 yards, but it was [autotag]Kam Pettway[/autotag] who carried the load for Auburn by rushing for 133 yards and scoring three touchdowns.

Auburn holds a 12-0 all-time record over Mercer, but how have they stacked up historically against teams in Mercer’s league? Here’s a breakdown of Auburn’s history against current members of the Southern Conference: