What 3 losses hurt you the most in Auburn sports history?

[TeamZero77 1,785]

I've been watching and rooting for Auburn since I was very small in the early 80's. My top 3 in order are:

1) 2013 National Championship game loss

2) 2019 Final Four loss to Virginia

3) 2023 Iron Bowl loss

Honorable mention would be the 1985 Iron Bowl loss on the Van Tiffin kick. I was only 6 yrs old but it hurt. 

[Dan-0 479]

Definitely the 2013 National Championship game loss because we had the game in the bag and Gus got overly conservative, which proved to be his tendency throughout his tenure at AU. 

2023 Iron Bowl loss hurts too but the expectations were pretty low going into the game after losing to NMSU. Still, anytime you snatch defeat from the jaws of victory it hurts like hell.

[LPTiger 5,173]

Final four loss to UVA was the most painful.   We didn't deserve to win in 13 after Gus turtled into his shell in the second half, and we had just won it a few years before.  The basketball team has never won it, and the way they fought after Chuma's injury.  And, we deserved to win the game.   I don't to this day understand how the officials missed the double dribble when they were bringing the ball up the court.  There was little else for the officials to be observing.   Then calling a foul on a three point, last second heave that never gets called.   That game was taken from us.  CBP  has never has a shot at a D1 championship.  To me, all that makes it hurt more.  My college baseball travel roommate and I went to the game together.   We were high fiving and thinking the game was over before we realized the foul was called.  Still hurts today.   The Mississippi State loss under Harsin when we were ahead by three or four touchdowns, as strange as it may sound, hurt.   I really wanted Harsin to be successful and he had such a great mouth wedge, and that game told me he would be fired and we would still be even further away from being relevant.    I yearn for the days when painful losses come in championship games.     

[bigbird 60,580]

1. Final four

2. '23 IB

3a. '96 UGA

3b. '17 UGA 2.0

3c. '17 LSU

3d. '17 UCF

3e. '16 UGA 

3f. '14 TAMU

3g. '07 LSU 

3h. '06 Arkansas 

3i. '05 Wisconsin

 

Now I'm depressed and gonna stop... '13 FSU is there somewhere too. 

 

 

[JDUBB4AU 5,123]

Why are we doing this to ourselves?? 

[aubiefifty 16,915]

i watch mostly football and basketball and let me say ALL losses hurt.

[gr82be 14,472]

The obvious ones have been mentioned already but the ‘71 Iron Bowl hurt a lot. First time I ever “saw” Auburn play and lose. Undefeated and yet we got destroyed. 

[Sizzle 3,920]

Not in order but

That ‘07 LSU loss hurt like hell

The ‘21 iron bowl

The ‘23 iron bowl

’13 national championship 

An underrated one was ‘18 LSU, that one stung

 

[Carnell 592]

1. The 2019 Final Four loss to Virginia

2.  1974 Iron Bowl Loss

3.  1967 Iron Bowl loss

Maybe I remember them the most because the refs directly cost us all 3 games.

Nothing from Gus area because hiring a high school coach I knew would bring everything we got with him.

[JDUBB4AU 5,123]

Final 4 

2013- noles

2023- ua ( Ron Robert’s gift wrapped game)

2014 Texas AM ( the real end of Gus)

2018 LSU- such a great team

2023 NMXS- WTF 

[jAUSon 2,836]

Which year was LSU when they kept throwing PI flags multiple times when it wasn't even close, gave them a whole 4thqtr   drive worth of bogus PI's allowing them to win it with a field goal?

[Elephant Tipper 430]

1980 AU vs UT (the days when you could still get away with throwing oranges at the UT players as they entered the field......the splat of a direct helmet hit was always beautiful because it made such a beautiful rainbow).  I invited 10 of my best buddies to come with me to the game.  AU was predicted to win by 5 tds, instead, we lost by 6 tds and got blanked.  Man oh man that hurt, but what hurt worse was they all told me to never invite them again.

Those were the good ole Barfield days....and every single one of them hurt.

Edited November 27, 2023 by Elephant Tipper

[Bro Johnny Mac 1,399]

1)1979 Against Tennessee in the SEC basketball tournament in Bham. It was the semi finals (I was there) I was 11

2)Van tiffin game..Again, a kid at the game 

3)The last home game for Auburn vs Bammer in bham.. I remember this one because I met a friend of mine from high school that had a great career at bammer before kickoff outside the stadium. We had a good time catching up(even though I had my Auburn gear on). He was hanging out with The center that played at Bammer.. Roger Schultz I think was his name? Anyway, he ran his mouth to me and my buddy who was with me that also had his Auburn gear on. My friend used some colorful language back to him.. something about kicking a donkey 😬 I backed up my buddy and ran my mouth as well...I was young and crazy back in those days..

My friend that played at bammer stepped in and calmed down the situation... and saved us from jail time and a beating 😆And Bammer beat us in the game 

Edited November 27, 2023 by Bro Johnny Mac

[PUB78 1,364]

5 hours ago, bigbird said:

1. Final four

2. '23 IB

3a. '96 UGA

3b. '17 UGA 2.0

3c. '17 LSU

3d. '17 UCF

3e. '16 UGA 

3f. '14 TAMU

3g. '07 LSU 

3h. '06 Arkansas 

3i. '05 Wisconsin

 

Now I'm depressed and gonna stop... '13 FSU is there somewhere too. 

 

 

2021 IB. Had the game won until Tank ran out-of-bounds.

[Elephant Tipper 430]

35 minutes ago, Bro Johnny Mac said:

2)Van tiffin game..Again, a kid at the game 

How could I forget that one.  A buddy of mine and I, like so many other AU fans, left the stadium as the game was ending because there was no way the UpDykes would win, only to hear the YUGE crowd roar as VT's kick went through the uprights.  What a bummer !

[fishepa 1,911]

The Final Four loss will never be topped for me personally.  It took  away what would have been a NC in BASKETBALL, as we would have beaten Texas Tech in the finals.  Winning a NC in basketball is extremely difficult.

[Win4AU 4,054]

2013 Natty

2001 Iron Bowl - my first in person and my Sophmore year Iron Bowl and they beat the crap out of Auburn 

2003 USC -  the hype for that game was unreal.  my senior year.  Jim Fyffe had just died.  Auburn lays a turd.  The game was never in doubt.  
 

2006 UGA - Auburn would have won the west and possibly played for the BCS National Championship if they had beaten a 6-5 Georgia team with a freshman Qb.  
 

I guess the 21 & 23 iron bowls really didn’t let me down too bad because I had zero expectations going into both games.  I miss Georgia, LSU, and Alabama being 50/50 games like they were for the 90s, 00s, and most of the 10s.  I miss going on the road in big games and shocking people.  I’ve been in Sanford stadium when it’s just Auburn people cheering.  It’s great!

[WillMunny 1,384]

10 hours ago, TeamZero77 said:

I've been watching and rooting for Auburn since I was very small in the early 80's. My top 3 in order are:

1) 2013 National Championship game loss

2) 2019 Final Four loss to Virginia

3) 2023 Iron Bowl loss

Honorable mention would be the 1985 Iron Bowl loss on the Van Tiffin kick. I was only 6 yrs old but it hurt. 

I have to list 5, in order:

1. 2013 BCSCG loss.

2. 2023 Iron Bowl loss.

3. 2021 Iron Bowl loss.

4. 1985 Iron Bowl loss (I had just graduated AU).

5. When Virginia double-dribbled.

[johnnyAU 3,650]

2013 NCG

Final Four 

2023 IB (because I was there...and 1st IB with my son)

Honorable Mention

2021 IB

2016 UGA 

2017 SECCG loss 

2018 UCF

2021 Birmingham Bowl (because I was there)

1992 UGA (last game with my Dad)

Edited November 27, 2023 by johnnyAU

[VicTree 143]

Mine:

2013 FSU, because it was for a championship

Final 4, because we were robbed, it would have put us in the championship game, and we had already beaten the best teams in the tournament.

1988 - earthquake game at LSU,  we would probably have at least played for the MNC

1985 Iron Bowl - because I was there.

2023 Iron bowl is high on the list now because it still hurts, but in the grand scheme of things this game was not nearly as meaningful as the top 3.  A win would not have given us a conference championship or eliminated their chance at one.  It would have knocked them out of the playoffs and stopped their winning streak against us, but that's about all.  Their 5 stars made one more play than our 3 and 4 stars.  Of course, if they end up winning another championship, it will hurt more that we missed our chance to knock them off.

Other games I remember are the one against UGA in 2002, and another one against LSU that had a similar miracle catch, where we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

[Georgeair 5]

The pain of the 2013 loss was deep and enduring for me, almost physical for 4-5 years whenever it came up.  I had finally gotten beyond that, apparently just to make room for this new gut punch. Ouch.

[Auburn85 432]

2013 National Championship game

1999 Sweet 16 loss to Ohio State

2005 vs LSU

2007 vs LSU

 

 

[Mikey 16,740]

1. 1985 Iron Bowl (Tiffn's kick)

2. 2013 BCS game

3. Final Four game

Maybe this 2023 Iron Bowl makes its way in there sometime in the future. Right now it's too soon to even think about.

Three best wins:

1) 1972 Iron Bowl (Punt Bama Punt)

2) 1983 Auburn 37, Tennessee 14. (Maybe you had to be there in Knoxville)

3) 1989 Iron Bowl (Welcome to JHS, Bammers)

[JerryAU 1,689]

15 hours ago, LPTiger said:

even further away from being relevant.    I yearn for the days when painful losses come in championship games.     

AMEN Brother!

I saw it posted somewhere that in the last 15 yrs Auburn is a combined 12-34 over LSU/UGA/UA in 46 games for a 26% winning percentage vs our 3 main rivals and that's during our hay-day of '10/'13 w/Cam & Nick. 

It's hard to grasp just how far this program has fallen into irrelevance.   

[aucanucktiger 1,798]

Earthquake game vs LSU

This Ironbowl 

2012 loss to LSU where the team just laid down after 1st quarter.

 

Edited November 27, 2023 by aucanucktiger