Well I think they could've done a good job with the rivalry, but they picked the wrong way to go about it.
3) Finally they really only wanted to focus on a period of September 5th, 2009- May 2011 There are two problems with that.
One problem is that isnt even a great period that really describes the rivalry even for that time. I would argue that the rivalry really was never more fierce than it was from 1981-1990. Maybe
@selmaborntidefan has a different period of a time in his wealth of knowledge, but the 80's are probably with Dye are probably where the real rivalry began. I mean, moving the game out of Birmingham, 315, Bo over the top, and Van Tiffin all happened in a matter of 9 years. The 2009 game is memorable, but lets be honest in that the Florida game that year and the 2008 game are far more cherished games to Alabama fans than Gmac making a last minute drive (really longer than that) to win a game against a mediocre Auburn team.
I'm in about 99% agreement with everything you said in the post (probably no surprise, heh heh).
The problem with the Iron Bowl rivalry is.......well, it's an asymmetrical rivalry.
Auburn loves to beat Alabama; Alabama fears losing the IB more than we enjoy winning it.
The Iron Bowl rivalry is pretty much the Yankees/Red Sox "rivalry" in that the powerhouse wins most of the games and virtually all of the championships while the lesser party wins mostly when the powerhouse is down. I'm guessing they chose the 2009 and 2010 seasons because both teams won titles, but the bizarre thing is that without: 1) the Cam Newton scandal; and 2) the Harvey scandal.......there is literally nothing to the documentary AT ALL.
An accomplished writer - hell, combine the talents of Lars Anderson and Phillip Marshall if you have to - could have told a compelling story, including why the two schools went four decades without playing each other. But what was the first REAL shot in the war? Was it Auburn winning the 1957 national title (while on probation)? Because the next big moment in the rivalry - at least from my "not yet born" vantage point - was the 1972 punt game. One great moment in 15 years is not exactly a rivalry by my count.
And then Auburn didn't even win the IB again for another decade, so you've got a 25-year span of one golden (er, blue and auburn) moment surrounding a bunch of losses to a six-time national champion. And you can write a FAIR story about how in a large sense Auburn is a usurper to Tennessee as the Tide's biggest rival.
Having lived through it, I concur with your assessment. The golden age of the Iron Bowl - really - was from 1981 to 1994, Bryant winning 315 through Terry Bowden's first loss as head coach. This period includes:
- Bryant winning 315 in a game where Auburn vastly outplayed Alabama led by a former Bryant asst
- Bo over the top
- Bo runs like wild and Auburn wins their first SEC title since pre-Bryant
- Wrong way Bo
- Van Tiffin
- Lawyer Tillman's reverse
- Joab Thomas appealing to the SEC to make the game on a rotational basis
- Dye moaning until he could get the game moved to Jerking Hare (big story there)
- Auburn winning the first home edition of the IB
- Langham's pick six en route to a national title
- the entire Eric Ramsey scandal that put Auburn on probation
- the hiring of Terry Bowden and his 21-game unbeaten streak
- the concurrent pending probation of Alabama due to the Langham affair
That was the real big period of intensity. You COULD conceivably add through 1997 and poor Ed Scissum.
But the games from 1998 through 2008 were among the most forgettable in any rivalry anywhere. Save for the back to back "upsets" (which time has proven weren't really upsets) in 2001 and 2002, the games weren't even overly compelling or interesting save for the first half of 2004.
