Mattingly: Auburn proved up to task of hosting Vols

When Tennessee and Auburn square off Sept. 27 at Jordan-Hare Stadium on the Plains, it will be like the good old days when Tennessee and Auburn played the last Saturday in September, with the winner having an advantage in the conference race and the loser needing help to get back in it.

Tennessee and Auburn hadn't played since 1939 when the series was resumed Sept. 29, 1956, at Birmingham's Legion Field. Tennessee won 35-7 on its way to the SEC title. Between 1956 and 1991, Auburn was right there at the head of the schedule, save 1968, when the two teams slugged it out as the nightcap of a muddy day-night doubleheader at Legion Field. Alabama knocked off LSU in the afternoon, and Auburn upset Tennessee that night.

After much discussion, posturing, and negotiation, Tennessee finally came to Auburn Sept. 28, 1974, losing 21-0. The Tigers led 6-0 much of the game, before breaking it open in the fourth quarter.

Tennessee came to Auburn to stay in 1980. That was the day the Vols put it all together with a 42-0 win on the dedication day of an enlarged Jordan-Hare Stadium. The Vols also played there in 1982, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1998 and 2003.

Auburn never liked playing in Birmingham, particularly when artificial turf adorned Legion Field. There were newspaper stories about the Tennessee game perhaps going to Auburn earlier in the 1970s, but 1974 was the year.

Auburn had resisted the movement to the ersatz turf and reveled to see those fashionable souls who went with turf come back to the real stuff. Auburn's grass surface was so good that one observer thought it had the consistency of a fairway or green at Augusta National.

David Housel wrote that the 1974 win over Tennessee was "especially meaningful" to the legions of Auburn followers.

"The Vols did everything they could to keep from playing in Auburn," he wrote. "They agreed to play in Knoxville and Birmingham, but not at Auburn." Shug Jordan considered that a slap in the face, particularly when Tennessee people termed Auburn "too small" and "too country" to host a game of such magnitude.

"I've heard some people up there talk about how country Auburn is," Jordan said. "If there's any place more country than Tennessee, I'd like to see it."

You have to wonder whether handing Jordan, an exceptional coach otherwise, such a psychological advantage was a wise move, given that Tennessee won against Auburn only three times in 11 tries when the renewed series was played at Legion Field. Auburn also won some big games in Knoxville under Jordan's lead. Maybe, in retrospect, it was better to let sleeping Tigers lie. It couldn't have been any tougher to win at Auburn than it was to win in Birmingham.

The 1998 national champion Vols had a major test at Auburn Oct. 3. The Tigers dominated the proceedings on the first series until Shaun Ellis intercepted a pitchout and lumbered 90 yards for a score. The Vols led 17-0 in the first quarter, before Jamal Lewis banged up a knee and the Vols struggled offensively the rest of the day.

Auburn grabbed a fumble at the Vol 1, and the crowd sensed the Tigers were ready to tighten the game. The Tigers probed the Vol line and made mere inches in four tries. Raynoch Thompson led the charge as the Vols refused to yield and ended up with a 17-9 victory.

The other side of the coin came in 1990, when the Vols, superbly prepared by John Majors, led 26-9 entering the fourth quarter, but saw the blueshirts rally to tie the game 26-26. Greg Burke had a shot at a game-winning field goal, but it went wide. It was a "good tie" for Auburn," given its comeback and a "bad tie" for Tennessee, given the lead the Vols had squandered.

In both cases, you could have envisioned the same thing happening in Birmingham, but, as stated in earlier columns, there's something special about the college stadium atmosphere, particularly at Auburn.

Since 1956, the Vols and Auburn have squared off five times on Sept. 27, UT losing 13-0 in 1958 in Birmingham, winning 45-19 in Knoxville in 1969, winning 21-17 in Knoxville in 1975, winning at Auburn in 1980, and losing at Auburn 34-8 in 1986.

The trip out of Auburn, particularly after a night game, is a bit iffy, with the world seeming to descend on the Waffle House in Opelika sometime near midnight, but it was no worse than getting out of most any other SEC venue.

Jordan had said Tennessee fans coming to Auburn would find "running water, inside toilet facilities, nice motels with swimming pools, and strip sirloins." They did.

They also found a remarkable venue for football.

Tom Mattingly is the author of "The Tennessee Football Vault: The Story of the Tennessee Volunteers, 1891-2006" (2006), to be published in second edition in 2009, and "Tennessee Football: The Peyton Manning Years" (1998). He has seen every Tennessee-Auburn game since 1966. He may be reached at tjmshm@comcast.net. His News Sentinel blog is called "The Vol Historian."