Mike Kern: Time for another Auburn-Alabama classic

THE LAST TIME Auburn was ranked second going into the Alabama game was 1958.

Actually, it was the only time. The Tigers, coming off their lone national title, beat an unranked Crimson Tide on the road, 14-8, to finish 9-0-1 for coach "Shug" Jordan.

But for the second consecutive year they didn't go to a bowl because of NCAA probation, and were No. 4 in the closing polls. Funny how that works.

Anyway, the Tigers have gone unbeaten just two times besides 1957. They were 11-0 in 1993 under Terry Bowden, but again couldn't go bowling due to more NCAA sanctions. That team, too, ended up fourth.

Alabama was No. 11 when it lost at Auburn that season, 22-14.

Then, 6 years ago, Tommy Tuberville's team won all 13 of its games but didn't even get to play for the BCS trophy. Why ask? It beat another unranked Tide squad in Tuscaloosa, 21-13.

Now, Gene Chizik's 11-0 Tigers are two wins away from getting to the final game. First up is Friday's trip to No. 9 Alabama (9-2), the defending national champ. The last time they met when both were in the Top 10 was 1994, when No. 4 Alabama snapped No. 6 Auburn's 21-game unbeaten streak, 21-14, in Birmingham.

In fact, this is only the sixth time it's happened. The others were 1963, 1971, '72 and '74. They split those four, all with Alabama as the higher-ranked team. The most legendary was '71, when both were 10-0. The Tide won, 31-7. But Auburn quarterback Pat Sullivan at least got the Heisman Trophy.

Chizik, who went 5-19 at Iowa State in 2007-08, is 19-5 since coming back to Auburn, where he was an assistant from 2002-04. But . . . did we mention that there could be eligibility issues with quarterback Cam Newton, the obvious Heisman leader?

"It's not about anything that's going on outside," said Alabama coach Nick Saban. "None of that really matters. It's about this week, this time, this game. The season sort of gets judged by how you do in a game like this."

Newton isn't talking.

Alabama scored late to win last year at Auburn, 26-21. In 2008 the Tide won 36-0 at home.

The last time they both were ranked was 2005, when No. 8 Alabama lost at No. 11 Auburn, 28-18.

The latest chapter awaits. The ramifications could be historical.

Auburn, which will get South Carolina in Atlanta in the Southeastern Conference finale next week, has played three road games this season. It beat Mississippi State by three on Sept. 9, Kentucky by three on Oct. 9 and Mississippi by 20 on Halloween Eve.

You think the folks at Boise State and Texas Christian are going to be monitoring the situation?

Texas, which hosts Texas A & M, has lost four in a row at home for the first time since 1956. Who was its coach that year? Hint: Darrell Royal would take over the following season.

Ed Price went 1-9 in his sixth and last season, with the lone win coming in the second game at Tulane. A former Longhorn (early 1930s), he went 33-27-1 and won Southwest Conference titles in 1952 and '53 (shared). Royal, by the way, went 6-4-1 in his debut.

SPOTLIGHT ON ... CONFERENCE RACES

OK, so we know that Auburn or South Carolina is going to win the SEC, and Oregon needs to win one of its last two (home with Arizona, at Oregon State) to capture the Pac-10. But what about everybody else? I mean, BCS bowl slots are on the line.

Well, in the Big 12, the champion will earn a spot in the Fiesta. Nebraska can wrap up the North Division by beating Colorado at home, which seems doable enough. But if not, Missouri can win if it wins at Kansas. And Oklahoma State takes the South if it beats visiting Oklahoma, which it hasn't done too often. If OU wins, and Texas beats visiting Texas A & M, OU goes to the final. If OU and A & M win, the three-way tie would be decided by those dreaded BCS standings.

The BCS could also come into play in the Big 10. If there's a tie between Wisconsin, Michigan State and Ohio State, the highest-ranked team gets the automatic bid to the Rose Bowl. Right now, that looks like Wisconsin, which hosts Northwestern. Ohio State hosts Michigan and Michigan State is at Penn State. Ohio State and MSU did not play (Wisconsin beat Ohio State, but lost to MSU). If Wisconsin loses, a tie between Ohio State and MSU would also go to the BCS, which looks like Ohio State. If Ohio State loses, a tie between Wisky and MSU goes to MSU based on head-to-head.

In the Atlantic Coast, Virginia Tech is the Coastal winner. North Carolina State gets the Atlantic if it wins at Maryland. If not, Florida State is the champ. The survivor's headed to the Orange.

In the Big East, just in case anyone's still paying attention, Pittsburgh wins if it wins out (home against West Virginia, at Cincinnati). West Virginia needs to beat Pitt (and Rutgers at home), and have Connecticut lose to either Cincy at home or at South Florida. UConn wins tiebreakers against both Pitt and WVU. And believe it or not, somehow one of them is Fiesta-bound.

SIDELINES

MAC Me Up:

For those trying to figure out where Temple might be headed this postseason, the conference has five bowl tie-ins, two of them "secondary." Right now, SI.com is projecting the Owls going to the GoDaddy.com, against Troy on Jan. 6 in Mobile, Ala. Other possibilities are the Humanitarian (Dec. 18 in Boise, Idaho, vs. the WAC), the Little Caesars Pizza (Dec. 26 in Detroit, vs. Big 10), the TicketCity (Jan. 1 in Dallas, vs. Big 10) and BBVA Compass (Jan. 8, in Birmingham, Ala., vs. Big East). SI.com had Toledo in the New Mexico (Dec. 18, in Albuquerque, vs. Brigham Young of the Mountain West).

Have you noticed:

* Virginia Tech's nine-game winning streak is its longest since 1999, when the Hokies went 11-0 before losing the national title to Florida State (46-29) in the Sugar Bowl. Michael Vick was their freshmen QB.

* Boise State hasn't trailed since late in the fourth quarter of its opener against Virginia Tech.

COUCH POTATO GUIDE

Today

8 p.m.: Texas A & M at Texas, ESPN

Tomorrow

11 a.m.: Louisville at Rutgers, ESPN2

11: Ohio at Kent State, ESPNU

Noon: West Virginia at Pittsburgh, Channel 6

2:30: Auburn at Alabama, Channel 3

3:30: Colorado at Nebraska, Channel 6

3:30: UCLA at Arizona State, Comcast Network

10:15: Boise State at Nevada, ESPN

Saturday

Noon: Michigan at Ohio State, Channel 6

Noon: South Florida at Miami, ESPNU

Noon: Kentucky at Tennessee, Comcast Network

Noon: Indiana at Purdue, Big Ten

2: Grambling State vs. Southern State, Channel 10

3:30: LSU at Arkansas, Channel 3

3:30: Northwestern at Wisconsin, Channel 6

3:30: Florida at Florida State, ESPN

3:30: North Carolina State at Maryland, ESPN2

3:30: North Carolina at Duke, ESPNU

3:30: Iowa at Minnesota, Big Ten

4: TCU at New Mexico, Versus

7: South Carolina at Clemson, ESPN2

7: Mississippi State at Mississippi, ESPNU

7: Oregon State at Stanford, ESPNU

7:30: Wake Forest at Vanderbilt, Comcast Network

7:45: Georgia Tech at Georgia, ESPN

8: Oklahoma at Oklahoma State, or Notre Dame at USC, Channel 6