This from an article about the Iron Bowl, thought it interesting in the last point.
1. ONLY TWO: The No. 1 reason why Alabama-Auburn is the greatest college football rivalry is that there is basically nothing else in the state as far as sports. There has never been an NFL, NBA, or Major League Baseball team in Alabama. There is no other major football program to divert attention from the big two. One can say the same thing about the Ole Miss-Mississippi State Egg Bowl, though Southern Mississippi has frequently been better than both schools to its north. That has not happened in Alabama. You are on one side or the other. Nothing else matters.
1. ONLY TWO: The No. 1 reason why Alabama-Auburn is the greatest college football rivalry is that there is basically nothing else in the state as far as sports. There has never been an NFL, NBA, or Major League Baseball team in Alabama. There is no other major football program to divert attention from the big two. One can say the same thing about the Ole Miss-Mississippi State Egg Bowl, though Southern Mississippi has frequently been better than both schools to its north. That has not happened in Alabama. You are on one side or the other. Nothing else matters.
