The Joe Quarterback Podcast

If you’re an Auburn University football fan (like me), there hasn’t been much to celebrate. There was the 2010 National Championship win. There was the almost National Championship in 2013 (a heartbreaking loss). But for the most part, it’s been a little rough.

The couple of seasons following the 2010 ‘ship showed promise. Between 2010-2019, the Tigers posted 9 winning seasons. However, between 2020-2025, Auburn has amassed a 34-39 (.466) record. The Gus Malzahn era ended in 2020, and the Bryan Harsin and Hugh Freeze experiments were relatively short-lived. There really hasn’t been much to celebrate.

But regardless of what happened every season, Auburn fans lived for one possibility: beating Bama in the Iron Bowl. I went to high school in the Yellowhammer State, and if you had asked fans of either team, “Would you rather have a season where you won a national championship but lost the Iron Bowl, or lost a national championship, but won the Iron Bowl?” there are many people who would need time to think about it…others would not – they’d pick the Iron Bowl.

And so, for years, we have lived for the possibility of beating Bama. Alas, it has not been the case, not even achieving a .500 mark, going 5-11 between 2010 and this most recent iteration of the annual spectacle that I believe is in the top 3 best college football rivalries in NCAA history (Ohio State-Michigan has to be in the conversation; and, I love watching Army-Navy every year…).

I had high hopes this past weekend (frankly, I always do). And it was a good game; perhaps one of the best Iron Bowls in recent memory. At the end of the day, it was the same old story – not just for the rivalry, but for the season as well. To use a collegiate metaphor, Auburn majored in one score losses this season. Of the 7 losses in the Tigers’ 2025 season, six were by 7 points or less. In contrast, 50% of the Tide’s victories were by 7 points or less. So, perhaps, this game ended exactly the way it was supposed to.

So, Auburn fans head optimistically into the offseason. As a current resident of Tampa, I’ve seen what our new head coach, Alex Golesh, has done at the University of South Florida. Over three seasons, he led the Bulls to a 23-15 (.605) record. Could this be our time? There’s always next year…