Goats of Iron Bowls past

Alabama and Auburn fans can quickly tell you the heroes of past Iron Bowls.

Some are enshrined with portraits on living room walls throughout Alabama, players like Van Tiffin, who kicked the winning field goal for the Crimson Tide in the 1985 game, and Bo Jackson, who dove into the end zone in 1982 to end Auburn's nine-game losing streak in the series.

The historic college football rivalry also has saddled some participants with less pleasant legacies. A fumble, bad coaching decision, questionable official's call and poor decisions off the field have landed some in the unfavorable light.

There likely will be heroes and possibly a goat or two Friday when Auburn and Alabama play at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn. Kickoff is 1:30 p.m. and the game will be televised nationally on CBS.

"You surely don't want to be a goat in that game," said Dennis Homan, an All-American receiver from Muscle Shoals who played for Paul "Bear" Bryant at Alabama in the mid-1960s. "If you do something to cost your team (in the Iron Bowl), you can't live it down. On the blocked-punt game (in 1972), those Alabama people are living with it today and probably will always have to live with it.

"As a member of the team, you lose the game and you know you'll live with it for an entire year. If you are the one who lost it, you live with it forever."

Depending on your perspective and the team you favor, here are 10 moments since the series resumed in 1948 that - whether they deserve it or not - have put some people in a negative light:

N 1972 - Punt, Bama, Punt.

Greg Gantt had two punts blocked by Bill Newton and returned for touchdowns by David Langer in the fourth quarter, giving Auburn a 17-16 win, handing Alabama its first loss of the season. Alabama was leading 16-3 and seemed to have the game, but the blocks resulted in "Punt, Bama, Punt" bumper stickers on Auburn fans' vehicles statewide.

N 1984 - Wrong-Way Bo.

Auburn had fourth and goal at Alabama's 1 yard line with 3:27 remaining in the game and the highly underdog Crimson Tide clinging to a 17-15 lead. Rather than go for a field goal, Auburn coach Pat Dye went for a touchdown. But tailback Bo Jackson went in motion the wrong direction as a blocker and tailback Brent Fullwood was stopped by the Tide's Rory Turner.

Auburn had gotten the ball back and drove deep into Alabama territory, where kicker Robert McGinty had a chance for a game-winning field goal with mere seconds remaining. But the freshman missed badly.

N 2001-2002 - Did the coaches have them ready?

As close as many Iron Bowls are, few upsets result. It's even more unusual for them to take place in back-to-back seasons. That happened in 2001 and 2002, when the coaches of the favored teams watched their uninspired teams lose by a combined 48-14. Coach Dennis Franchione's Tide shocked coach Tommy Tuberville's heavily favored Tigers, 31-7, at Auburn. Tuberville returned the favor in 2002, winning 17-7 in Tuscaloosa against Franchione's heavily favored Tide. Both games had fans and radio talk-show hosts wondering how a coach could possibly fail to get their teams up for arguably the biggest rivalry in the nation.

N 1989 - Split decision.

This was the year the game moved from a 50/50 split in fans at the game to a home-and-home game. Some say that ruined an atmosphere that had been unique to the Iron Bowl. Others say this belongs on a list of one of the greatest things to happen to the game. To this day, some fans even refuse to call it the Iron Bowl, because the nickname was based on it being played in Birmingham.

N 1997 - The one that got away.

With less than a minute remaining in the game, 4-7 Alabama was shocking 8-2 Auburn at Auburn. Rather than hand off, Tide coach Mike DuBose decided to call for a pass. Bama's Ed Scissum caught it and fumbled after getting hit. Auburn recovered and the Tigers avoided an embarrassing upset, winning 18-17 on a Jaret Holmes field goal.

N 1967 - Hold in the mud?

Even the officials can wear the goat horns in the Iron Bowl. Granted, whether they got crucial calls correct likely depends on whether you're watching this from crimson-and-white or orange-and-blue glasses.

Alabama quarterback Ken Stabler's famous "Run in the Mud" in the fourth quarter of a rain-soaked 1967 Iron Bowl went for 47 yards and a touchdown, lifting Alabama to a 7-3 victory. But Auburn fans will go to their grave declaring a flagrant hold against Alabama wasn't called during the play.

N 1995 - Touchdown Bama?

Like we said, your opinion whether an official is a goat and whether a call is correct likely depends on which team you follow.

Alabama fans still are enraged over a 1995 game, when a pass from Tide quarterback Freddie Kitchens to receiver Curtis Brown was called caught out of bounds in the end zone in the waning seconds, giving Auburn a 31-27 win. Photos later show it appears Brown was in bounds.

N 2003 - Jet Gate.

Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville led his Tigers to a 28-23 win over Alabama, but this time, the goats weren't the ones associated with the losing Iron Bowl team. They were Auburn officials who were revealed days earlier to have secretly flown to Louisville, Ky., to meet with Louisville coach Bobby Petrino about replacing Tuberville. Tuberville remained coach and went on to lead Auburn to an undefeated season the next year.

N 1985 - What a drag.

Auburn defensive back Luvell Bivins finds himself on this list after failing to bring down Alabama receiver Greg Richardson on a crucial play in this game.

Trailing 23-22, Alabama was fighting to get into field-goal range, but the clock was working against them. A 19-yard pass from Mike Shula to Richardson set up Van Tiffin's game-winning 52-yard kick as time expired. Richardson was able to get out of bounds - assuring Alabama time to make the kick - because Bivins couldn't take him down and was dragged by Richardson from the 40-yard-line marker on the field, all the way out of-bounds at the 35.

N 1948 - Bury the hatchet.

In some ways, we wonder if this, in itself, is a moment of infamy in this state. That was the year Alabama and Auburn renewed their rivalry, after monetary disagreements ended the series in 1907. Then again, maybe ending the series in the first place was a bad idea. Either way, representatives of both universities in 1948 will never be known as soothsayers: They literally buried a hatchet during a ceremony in Birmingham as a symbol of the end of bad feelings between the schools and their fans. Yeah, that prediction worked out well.

Bernie Delinski can be reached at 740-5739 or bernie.delinski@timesdaily.com.