THE DON After Auburn's 7-0 win over Mississippi State at Rickwood Field in 1919, Auburn coach Mike Donahue called the Bulldogs (née Aggies) the most unsportsmanlike team he'd ever seen and vowed that as long as he was coach Auburn would never play them again. At issue? Mostly the promising MMA career of MSU quarterback Claude Russell. Plainsman editors didn't want to … [Read more...] about Mike Donahue declared 1919 Mississippi State team dirtiest he’d ever seen
At Southern Miss, Doug Barfield went undefeated against Alabama
Tide Killer "Unfortunately we didn't beat them while I was at Auburn." That's Doug Barfield talking to me about his lack of success against Bama as a head coach when we hung out at Panera Bread a year or so ago. Yes, cost him his job. Yep, that's what everyone thinks about. That's what Wikipedia focuses on: "Barfield lost all five games as head coach at Auburn against … [Read more...] about At Southern Miss, Doug Barfield went undefeated against Alabama
Auburn vs. the Bandit: Burt Reynolds shined for Seminoles in Tigers’ first game against Florida State
1954 started rough for the Tigers. They opened with a 45-0 win over Chattanooga at home, then lost three straight on the road. But they'd been close losses; to Florida by six, to Kentucky and Georgia Tech by seven (and plenty of folks thought the zebras had as much to do with that last one as the Yellow Jackets). Shug wasn't worried; he had a good team, he knew it. Jim … [Read more...] about Auburn vs. the Bandit: Burt Reynolds shined for Seminoles in Tigers’ first game against Florida State
The Fall and Rise of Pat Dye’s Pants
It was Saturday, Dec. 8, 2007, the millionth day of a 100-year, shadow-of-death drought that the Associated Press voted the state of Alabama’s top news story that year, bigger than that horrible tornado in Enterprise, bigger than the governor going to federal prison for bribery. Nearly 2 million residents were living under water restrictions, including folks in Tallapoosa … [Read more...] about The Fall and Rise of Pat Dye’s Pants
The great Auburn University pigeon extermination of 1972
Things sure have changed in Auburn. These days, all we do is coddle lazy owls and provide eagles with free cataract surgery so they won't trigger PETA alarms by crashing into windows or whatever. Those days, April 1972 to be exact, were were just walking around killing pigeons with our bare hands. It was the poop. Charles Simmons, Auburn's assistant director of … [Read more...] about The great Auburn University pigeon extermination of 1972