The rivalry between the Alabama and Auburn football programs has long been one of the most well-known rivalries in the country and is arguably the biggest rivalry in college football. The SEC’s most notorious radio show host Paul Finebaum disputed the history of football in the state of Alabama and today made the claim that the Florida-Georgia rivalry is the best in the Southeastern Conference, even topping the Iron Bowl.
Finebaum attests that he has the best idea of the rivalries in the SEC based on the callers to his radio show, and insists that Florida and Georgia fans are driving the conference now, per Saturdays Down South:
"“I don’t want to speak for you because you live there and I don’t anymore but, on my program, which you know, is a more of an SEC-centric show — if I want to just drop some blood into the water and see sharks circling, it’s about Georgia or Florida. And it’s vicious,” Finebaum added."
The radio personality points out that the Auburn-Alabama rivalry has faded out in the past few years due to the fact that everyone knows Nick Saban is going to win most of the time. With Alabama dominating the Iron Bowl in the past decade, Finebaum argues that it’s no longer an exciting rivalry.
He even took a shot at the Auburn football program and their fans, claiming that they have surrendered completely to Nick Saban:
"“Even the most ardent Auburn fan has almost just waved the white flag when it comes to (Nick) Saban now,” he concluded. “Yeah, you know (Gus) Malzahn won three times, which is extraordinary, still got him fired, didn’t he?”"
Regardless of how entrenched Paul Finebaum thinks he is in the SEC, he still has the disadvantage of being an outsider when it comes to the Auburn-Alabama rivalry. He’s not an Auburn or Alabama fan, and just because Florida and Georgia’s fans are more suited to calling into his radio show and acting wild doesn’t mean they have the better rivalry.
I mean, does the name Harvey Updyke ring a bell? Finebaum has had some pretty vicious callers from the Iron Bowl rivalry as well. And although his claim is that the Florida-Georgia rivalry has risen above Auburn’s and Alabama’s just recently, there’s no doubt that the rivalry will heat back up with new head coach Bryan Harsin in charge.
It’s a new era for Auburn football, and that means a new era for the rivalry that is definitely bigger and better than the one between Florida and Georgia.