Got 14? 11?

College football needs more of these match-ups

Alabama, ranked 2nd, and 8th-ranked Michigan meet for only the fourth time in their storied histories Saturday and for the first time in the regular season. Jerry’s World seems like the perfect stage for two programs that have loomed so large over the college football landscape for more than a century.

Alabama claims 14 national championships, while Michigan claims 11. Michigan has the most wins in the country with 895, while Alabama has 814. Alabama has played in 59 bowl games — the most nationwide — winning 33 of them, also the highest total. Michigan answers with 41 bowl games of its own. And finally, the Wolverines have won 74 percent of their games, while the Tide checks in at 71 percent.

Nice classic look (Credit: The Art, The Art, The Art)

It’s hard to find a better historical match-up. But the Tide’s and Wolverines’ on-field history only includes the 1988 Hall of Fame Bowl (now Outback Bowl), the 1997 Outback Bowl and the 2000 Orange Bowl. Michigan owns a 2-1 record.

Nick Saban, who served as Michigan State’s head coach from 1995-1998, is 1-3 against his former cross-state rival.

The records, the classic helmets, Alabama’s houndstooth print and Michigan’s block M — it’s all there in Dallas on Saturday night.

Borges Knows ‘Bama, SEC

Borges was Auburn’s OC from 2004-2007

The national pundits want to talk about Michigan’s QB Denard “Shoelace” Robinson and Nick Saban’s plug-n-play defense after several elite recruiting classes at Alabama. And that’s okay. Those are the “known” names in the nation’s conscience in this weekend’s Cowboys Classic featuring the Tide and Wolverines in Dallas.

Brady Hoke begins his second season as Michigan’s head coach against the defending national champions. And although many Buckeyes fans don’t want to admit it, he was a very good hire from San Diego State and a “Michigan man” to boot. Like Saban, Hoke’s background is on the defensive side of the football, and to address his offense, he hired former Auburn offensive coordinator Al Borges, and coaching vagabond, at San Diego State. The 56-year-old Borges followed Hoke to Michigan last year and installed an offense around Robinson’s unique skills.

Former Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville hired Borges away from Indiana in 2004 to lead an offense featuring QB Jason Campbell and RBs Cadillac Williams and Ronnie Brown. The Tigers promptly went undefeated after Borges installed what he termed his “Gulf Coast” offense.

Each of Borges’ offenses at Auburn finished in the top 15 nationally

Borges stayed at Auburn through 2007 as the Tigers went 41-9 and never lost to Alabama. His offenses were the only SEC offenses to finish ranked in the top 15 nationally each season from 2004-2007.

“We played against him a lot through the years [with LSU and Alabama] when he was the offensive coordinator at Auburn and he did a really good job,” Saban said in an ESPN.com article. “He does a lot of shifts and motions and tries to give you new looks, maybe confuse your players, but not really anything to confuse his players because they end up running the same plays. They try to out-flank you and use formation shifts and motions to do that.”

The good news for the Crimson Tide is Michigan doesn’t have anyone close to Cadillac Williams and Ronnie Brown in its backfield outside of Robinson, and Alabama’s program has made a rather large change from its 2004-2007 days.

But while everyone else focuses on Robinson’s “escapability” and Saban’s defense, we’ll be eyeing the shifts and motions Borges has in store for his old rival.

Phil Neel, Aubie Creator

Aubie oversees Phil’s work

Phil Neel, the former Birmingham Post-Herald artist who created Aubie in 1957 for Auburn media guide and program covers, passed away last month at the age of 84 from non-Hodgkins lymphoma. His three children — Mike, Rick and Cindy — all graduated from Auburn, and his sons played for the Tigers in the 1970s.

First appearing on the 1957 Auburn media guide, the Aubie cartoon became a rallying point for the Auburn family as the Tigers won the first nine games the cartoon appeared on program covers, capturing the 1957 National Championship in the process.

Aubie gives Cousin Clem a dynamite welcome to Cliff Hare Stadium in 1961

Aubie graced home programs from 1957-1976, a stretch that saw Shug Jordan’s teams go 63-16-2 with the cartoon fighting off rivals on the front cover. He made a return appearance for Auburn’s last “home” game against Alabama at Legion Field in Birmingham in 1991.

The cartoon spawned the popular Aubie mascot that has roamed Auburn’s sidelines for decades.

Neel even lent his services to Clemson after “Cousin Clem” was featured on many Auburn-Clemson program covers in the 1960s-70s.

The good folks at The War Eagle Reader — an Auburn blog if you couldn’t guess — have chronicled much of Neel’s Aubie work.

Wish we could have gotten one more out of him this week. Thank you, Phil, and War Eagle.

Auburn With a Lake

The Palmetto Auburn Club couldn’t care less about living close to Lake Hartwell

The late Southern columnist and humorist Lewis Grizzard once remarked that Clemson was just Auburn with a lake, and every time the two Tigers tee it up that joke makes the rounds. Of course, Grizzard was a well-known Georgia fan and it was his way of tweaking both rivals.

But the programs do have strong similarities and a long history with each other, which was revived in the 2007 Chick-fil-A Bowl and regular season match-ups in 2010 and 2011. Auburn leads the series, which dates back to 1899, 34-12-2.

Auburn and Clemson claim two of the best stadium entrances in college football. Nova, Auburn’s War Eagle VII, circles Jordan-Hare Stadium pre-game and Clemson players touch Howard’s Rock — a rock from Death Valley, Calif., to Death Valley, S.C. as it goes — and run down the hill, which was once described as the most exciting 25 seconds in college football.

Nova, War Eagle VII, Auburn

Howard’s Rock, Clemson

The two schools have shared commonalities between their head football coaches. John Heisman became Auburn’s fifth head coach in 1895, leading the Plainsmen for five seasons before leaving for Clemson in 1900. He led the Palmetto State Tigers for four seasons before directing Georgia Tech for 16 (1904-1919).

Former Clemson head coaches Charley Pell (1977-1978) and Danny Ford (1978-1989), who led Clemson to its only National Championship in 1981, both played and coached for Bear Bryant at Alabama, and former Auburn head coach Pat Dye (1981-1992) coached under Bryant as well. Unfortunately, another commonality between these three was NCAA sanctions.

Finally, brothers Terry Bowden (1993-1998) and Tommy Bowden (1999-2008) led Auburn and Clemson, respectively.

John Heisman, arguably the most recognizable name in college football history, led both Auburn and Clemson

But perhaps the most important connection shared between Auburn and Clemson is that of Walter Riggs. The Auburn graduate participated on Auburn’s first football team in 1892 and is known as the “father of Clemson football” after arriving in 1896 to coach Clemson’s first team. He served as Clemson’s president from 1910-1924 and Riggs Hall, home to Clemson’s College of Engineering and Science, is named in his honor.

Clemson’s Tiger nickname is speculated to have been named after Auburn’s nickname with Riggs’ — and later Heisman’s — arrival, but that isn’t completely clear.

The two Tigers tee it up for the 49th time Saturday night in the second game of the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic.

Where Are They Now? Mike Archer

Mike Archer answers reporters’ questions as N.C. State’s defensive coordinator

Former LSU Head Coach Mike Archer has been Tom O’Brien’s defensive coordinator at N.C. State since O’Brien arrived in Raleigh, N.C., in 2007. The 59-year-old Archer has worked for an impressive list of head coaches including Howard Schnellenberger, Bill Arnsparger, George Welsh, Bill Curry, Bill Cowher, Rich Brooks and O’Brien.

But at 34 years old, Archer was the youngest head football coach in the nation when he took the LSU reigns in 1987 after Arnsparger left to become Florida’s athletic director. Archer was LSU’s defensive coordinator from 1985-1986 and was Arnsparger’s hand-picked successor after the players lobbied for him, getting the job over the likes of Steve Spurrier, whom Arnsparger would later hire at Florida.

The Bayou Bengals played in two Sugar Bowls in Arnsparger’s three years as head coach from 1984-1986, the first Sugar Bowl appearances for LSU since 1968. The pressure was on the new young head coach to continue LSU’s success.

After his playing days at Miami (Fla.), Archer stayed at his alma mater and coached under Howard Schnellenberger, winning the National Championship in 1983. He left for LSU the following year with the 58-year-old Arnsparger, who served as defensive coordinator for Don Shula’s Baltimore Colts and Miami Dolphins teams for the better part of 20 years.

Archer before the Gator Bowl against 9th-ranked South Carolina

Archer quickly continued LSU’s mid-’80s success with a 10-1-1 season in 1987, losing only to Alabama and tying Ohio State. The 7th-ranked Tigers defeated 9th-ranked South Carolina, which wouldn’t become an SEC member for another five years, in the Gator Bowl 30-13. LSU followed up with an SEC Championship in 1988, a title it shared with Auburn at 6-1 in conference. The Bayou Bengals defeated Auburn 7-6 in the famous “Earthquake Game,” in which the roar of the Baton Rouge crowd registered on a campus seismograph as LSU scored the go-ahead touchdown, but Sugar Bowl representatives chose Auburn as the higher ranked team. LSU finished 8-4 overall, losing to Syracuse 23-10 in the Hall of Fame Bowl (now the Outback Bowl).

Archer was forced out after two losing seasons in 1989-1990, finishing 27-18-1 overall. He hasn’t been a head coach since.

Prior to N.C. State, Archer served his second stint at Kentucky from 2003-2006 as Rich Brooks’ defensive coordinator after his first under Bill Curry from 1993-1995 as assistant head coach. Friday, he’s tasked with tackling Kentucky’s old nemesis Tennessee.

Vols, ‘Pack Atlanta History

Tennessee’s first Peach Bowl appearance was on New Year’s Eve 1982 in a 28-22 loss to Iowa to finish the season 6-5-1 with an SEC record of 3-2-1, highlighted by a win over #2 Alabama

Tennessee and N.C. State meet Friday night in the first of two Chick-fil-A Kickoff Classic games in the Georgia Dome. Both programs have a long history in Atlanta.

The Vols have played in 5 Peach Bowls (let’s call it the Peach Bowl) and 5 SEC Championship Games, while the Wolfpack have 7 appearances in the Peach Bowl, tying Clemson for the most. However, it’s the Vols’ and Wolfpack’s first meeting in Atlanta and only third overall.

N.C. State has a 4-3 Peach Bowl record, but Tennessee has recently struggled in Atlanta, losing its last 6 contests in the Georgia Dome and dropping its SEC/Peach record to 3-7.

Volunteering Agony: 2009 – Virginia Tech 37, Vols 14; 2007 – LSU 21, Vols 14; 2004 – Auburn 38, Vols 28; 2004 – Clemson 27, Vols 14; 2002 – Maryland 30, Vols 3; 2001 – LSU 31, Vols 20 

Future National Championship Coaches: NCSU’s Lou Holtz congratulates Bobby Bowden on West Virginia’s 13-10 win over the Wolfpack in the 1975 Peach Bowl at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium

Outside of its tangles with Georgia Tech, the Wolfpack haven’t played an out-of-conference opponent in Atlanta since the 1995 Peach Bowl where they defeated Mississippi State 28-24 in their only game in the Georgia Dome. The Bulldogs were also Tennessee’s last victim in Atlanta as the Vols prevailed 24-14 in the 1998 SEC Championship Game in route to its last National Championship.