The Auburn Tigers represent the Auburn University in NCAA's Division I-A college football tournament, playing under the Western Division of the Southeastern Conference. The Tigers football's long storied history began in 1891, playing in the Deep South as an independent team. Four years later, Auburn found a home with the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association, where the team won their first conference title in 1900. "SIAA" is the venue for the Tigers' first national championship "nomination" as the team was voted national champs by the Billingsley Report in 1910 when the team finished the season with a 6-1 record. In 1913 and '14, Auburn was coached by Mike Donahue and turned out undefeated seasons (8-0 in 1913 and 8-0-1 in '14) in both years. The 1914 team, ranked first by James Howell, accomplished a rare feat of shutting out all of its opponents, 193-0. By 1922, the team had already joined the Southern Conference and played there for 11 seasons, capturing the Southern Conference title in 1932 before becoming a charter member of the Southeastern Conference in 1933. The team took quite some time to settle down with its new home, experiencing ups and downs in the early stages and several coaching changes. The team's first postseason bowl game appearance came in 1936, in a draw with Villanova in the Bacardi Bowl. The team never made any significant stride since, not until the 1950's, when coach Ralph "Shug" Jordan took over the head coaching position. Coach Jordan steered the Tigers not only for its first Southeastern Conference Championship, but also for its first ever national title in 1957 with a record of 10-0. The Tigers duplicated the undefeated season in 1958 (9-0-1) and was ranked first by Montgomery Full Season Championship. The next time the team made it #1 in polls was during the era of one Bo Jackson in the 80's. Jackson led the team to an 11-1 season, a conference title, and a Sugar Bowl victory over Michigan in 1983. In 1993 and 2004, the Tigers made a serious run for the national title with undefeated seasons (11-0 in '93 and 13-0 in 2004) and although only coming in second in the AP and Coaches Top25 in 2004, got the nod from Fanspoll.com for the People's National Champion title.
As proof to the Tigers' successful run thus far, the team has been named by the College Football Research Center as the 14th best college football program in history [1]. Not only that, 8 various Auburn squads were listed in Billingsley’s Top 200 Teams of All Time (1869-2006) [2]. As of 2005, the Tigers' have won a single national title, ten conference titles, 3 SEC West Division championships, 33 potseason bowl game appearances, 10+ winning seasons, 11 undefeated seasons, and is home to 2 Heisman Trophy winners, and 62 All-Americans.
1913 - Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Assoc. Champions
1919 - Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Assoc. Champions
1932 - Southern Conference Co-Champions
1957 - Southeastern Conference Champions
1983 - Southeastern Conference Champions
1987 - Southeastern Conference Champions
1988 - Southeastern Conference Co-Champions
1989 - Southeastern Conference Co-Champions
2004 - Southeastern Conference Champions
SEC West Division Championships
1997 - SEC West Division Champions
2000 - SEC West Division Champions
2004 - SEC West Division Champions
Other National Championship Selections
1913 1st-N-Goal, Billingsley Report, James Howell
1914 James Howell
1958 Montgomery Full Season Championship
1983 1st-N-Goal, Angelo Louisa, ARGH Power Ratings, Billingsley Report, College Football Researchers Association, David Wilson, DKC Ratings, Foundation for the Analysis of Competitions and Tournaments, James Howell, Jeff Self, Massy Ratings, New York Times, Nutshell Sports Football Ratings, Quality Champions, Soren Sorensen, Sparks Achievement Ratings, Steve Eck, The Fleming System, Thomas Jech
1993 David Wilson, Harry Frye, National Championship Foundation, Nutshell Sports Football Ratings, Sparks Achievement Ratings
2004 Darryl W. Perry, GBE College Football Ratings
Tigers vs. Bulldogs. In 2005, rivals Auburn Tigers and Georgia Bulldogs engaged in a fierce battle that is said to be the one of the greatest, if not the greatest, game played between the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry. Auburn came out on top by just a solitary point, 31-30.