Upsets are not the norm in the football game they call the Iron Bowl, but they certainly have happened on both sides. Going into Saturday’s game. Auburn is a 14-point underdog at Jordan-Hare Stadium. By my count, since the series resumed in 1948, Auburn has won 10 times when it was the underdog. Four of Auburn’s upsets came when it was a double-digit underdog.

In 1949, a year after Alabama had won 55-0 in the first game of the modern series, the Tide was favored by more than three touchdowns by most. Auburn won 14-13. Auburn finished the season 2-4-3.

In 1972, though Auburn had lost just one game, it was a 16-point underdog. That game is part of Auburn lore. Bill Newton blocked two punts, David Langner ran them both in for touchdowns and Auburn won 17-16 and finished 10-1.

In 2002, with running backs Cadillac Williams and Ronnie Brown and fullback Brandon Johnson out with injuries, Auburn was a 10 ½-point underdog at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Tre Smith picked up the slack with the game of his life and Auburn won 17-7 at Bryant-Denny in Tuscaloosa. Auburn finished the season 9-4.

In 2013, once-beaten Auburn was a 10-point underdog at home against unbeaten Alabama. Chris Davis went 109 yards with a missed field goal as time expired and Auburn won 34-28 on its way to the SEC championship and the BCS Championship Game. Auburn finished the season 12-2.

Other than 1949, Auburn’s double-digit underdogs were teams with good records. And that brings us to this season. First-year coach Hugh Freeze will try to join Gus Malzahn and Terry Bowden as the only Auburn coach to win the modern Iron Bowl in his first season. Ironically, at Alabama, Bear Bryant, Ray Perkins, Bill Curry and Nick Saban were on the losing end of their first Iron Bowls.

Alabama’s biggest upsets were in 2001 and 1984. Both of those teams had four wins going into the game and won. The 2001 team, according to what I could find, was a three-point underdog at Jordan-Hare. Auburn was 7-3 going into the game. Alabama won 31-7. In 1984, Alabama won 16-14 at Legion Field. Auburn was a seven-point favorite.

I was surprised to find that Auburn’s 2010 national championship team was a slight underdog against Alabama at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

Auburn won as an underdog – large or small – in 1949, 1963, 1972, 1982, 1986, 2002, 2010, 2013, 2017 and 2019. I could find no betting lines for the 1950s.

And that bring us to Saturday’s Iron Bowl at Jordan-Hare Stadium, where Auburn has won two out of two of the last three over Alabama, both as an underdog. The Tigers took Alabama to four overtimes in 2021 as a 20-point underdog.

Can this Auburn team add to the list of Iron Bowl upsets at Jordan-Hare, where Saban is 4-7 in games he has coached at LSU and Auburn? That won’t decided by what has happened in the past. It will be decided by who plays the best on Saturday.