Eagle5 on Auburn

Nine consecutive years of bitter defeat against your archrival leaves a mark, but aside from the misery, can have an upside.  It purifies a fan base of fence sitters and fair weather fans, and creates an unbreakable bond of loyalty for those who endured the nine year plague of crimson floods, locusts, and flies.  For the devout Auburn fan, it indelibly records in your mind exactly why you hate Alabama fans, and the odd superiority complex and delusion their history has forged.  During that nine-year span, bragging rights meant relentless taunting rights from an Auburn point of view.  Hopes for civility in the rivalry, however unrealistic, were consumed in the fires of an instate civil war we call the Iron Bowl. 

Sure, most Auburn fans claim as friends or, heaven forbid, a spouse, some number of the crimson element, but there are spheres of conversation that must be managed through avoidance or the skill of a bomb squad if feuds are to be averted.  And let us be candid – the feuds are seldom averted, merely tolerated.  Arguments are not resolved; they are merely paused for intermission (Bama fans are skilled at not letting facts get in the way).  And therein is the fuel for the most intense rivalry in all of college football.    

The die-hard Auburn fan soon reaches the realization of an important axiom:  anything bad that happens to Alabama is automatically good for Auburn (and the converse of this axiom).  Reaching this awareness of the war at hand, you are amused and annoyed by the fan from either side who feigns wimpy diplomacy, claiming inexplicably to pull for both teams until they play head to head.  This, my friends, is the Iron Bowl, and is no place for the feint of heart, nor the politically correct. 

But misery can beget joy, and the suffering of a nine-year streak in fact become the stage for the hero who parts the Red Sea, and leads a scorned people out of the land of persecution.  A hero like Randy Campbell, who could have never envisioned the monumental role he would play on a very big stage indeed – “neutral” Legion Field, long ago home of the Iron Bowl.  

And so it was that the stars aligned for a young quarterback from Hartselle High School by the name of Randy Campbell to sign with Auburn University.  A little noticed Auburn signee in 1978, who on closer examination, would turn out to be a crucial piece of the puzzle in turning the bitter Iron Bowl rivalry in the Tigers’ direction.  Yet as with so many shifts in the balance of power, few or no fans could see it coming in Campbell’s 1979 freshman year at Auburn.

Randy Campbell enjoyed a stellar high school career at Hartselle High School, operating the split back veer.  “Looking back,” chuckled Campbell, “we actually threw the ball at Hartselle more than we ever did in the wishbone at Auburn.”  The Birmingham News staff took notice, placing Campbell fourth on its Top 10 list of Super Seniors.   Despite the accolades, Campbell would not be offered by Alabama, who went on to sign all four quarterbacks who joined Campbell in the Top 10 list.  Campbell was recruited by Auburn, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Vandy, and Memphis State (who had a wide receivers coach whose name may be familiar – Mack Brown).  Dave Beck was the lead recruiter for Campbell on the Auburn coaching staff.  

“I had never even been to Auburn,” said Campbell, “but when I visited for the first time, I absolutely loved it.”  Despite Auburn’s on the field struggles, Campbell’s college choice would be motivated by other factors.  “I never thought about Coach Barfield’s struggles,” said Campbell.  “The fact that Auburn was the first college to recruit me meant a great deal to me.  I never forgot it, and in the end, it was the deciding factor.  When Dave Beck called and made me a formal offer, I committed.” 

Campbell’s freshman season in 1979 as a junior varsity player even included an omen of what was to come for Auburn, as the Auburn JV team whipped Alabama by the score of 21-7, with Campbell scoring one of the touchdowns. 

After the inevitable firing of Auburn head coach Doug Barfield, Campbell would experience the complete rebuilding of championship caliber football, which began in January, 1981 with the hiring of a proven winner from Blythe, Georgia – Patrick Fain Dye.  “I will never forget Coach Dye’s first meeting with our team,” said Campbell.  “One player showed up late for the team meeting, and Coach Dye kicked him out.”  Campbell then vividly recalls Coach Dye’s declaration to an underachieving team in that first meeting.  “I’ve won a championship at every level,” said Dye, “from high school to college.  And we’re going to do the same thing at Auburn.  And I’ll tell you something else, we won’t fear Alabama.” 

For Dye, it was but the start to getting every player’s attention, and forging the habits of a winner.  Winter workouts would become a crucible of weights, “grass drills”, agility, sprinting, and the brutal “bear crawl”.  “Every player was required to participate in the workouts,” said Campbell, “even our kicker, Del Greco.  Players were frequently physically sick.  The winter drills would cull our team of 120 players down to about 85.”  

For Campbell, the 1981 season would bring more adversity, from a quadriceps muscle tear, to an overcrowded quarterback position with six quarterbacks including Hobby, Murphy, and Beauford.  In the 1981 victory over LSU at Jordan-Hare, Dye would play all six quarterbacks.  It would be hard to imagine that move in today’s football scene, as fans and analysts roundly criticize even a two quarterback rotation. 

Prior to the 1982 season, Dye would bring in Jack Crowe as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.  “It was a completely new page,” said Campbell, “with a big emphasis on the quarterback not getting us beat.  The point was hammered that we would have no turnovers.  Previously, the focus for the quarterbacks was simply to play hard, but turnovers weren’t as much a focus.”

Perhaps a beneficiary of the new ball-hogging, mistake free philosophy, Campbell would battle hard with Ken Hobby during ’82 spring practice, and would win the starting job the last day of spring ball.  It was an unscheduled practice called by Coach Dye on the Monday following an A-Day game that disgusted the head coach. 

Following the final spring practice, Coach Crowe called Campbell to his office.  “I sat down,” said Campbell, “and Coach Crowe pitched me a football he had in his hand, and said ‘You’ve won the job, Randy.  If you have a bad game, we won’t bench you.”

The 1982 Tigers would get a fast start with a 3-0 record, including a big win over Tennessee.  As the year progressed, the foundation of toughness built in winter and spring would become the hallmark of the Tigers, and was rapidly winning over fans.  A true freshman running back you may remember was fast making a move himself in the wishbone with Lionel James and fullback Ron O’Neal.  This was a new breed of Tiger, tough, physical, hard-nosed and without a trace of quit in them.  They were quickly embodying the persona of their head coach. 

The ultimate test of the Auburn turnaround would take place under the weight of history, at Amen Corner, against archrivals Georgia and Alabama.  Georgia rolled into the game against Auburn at Jordan-Hare undefeated and ranked # 1 in the nation.  Auburn fought with grit and toughness, and led 14-13 in the fourth quarter before Herschel Walker broke a long touchdown run to annex a 19-14 lead.  Showing pure heart and determination despite being outmanned, the Tigers marched to the Georgia nine yard line, but from there could not score.  The gut-wrenching loss would nonetheless become a turning point for the team, and a lesson in the Auburn family’s love.  “Very few fans left the stadium,” said Campbell, “and were chanting, ‘It’s great to be an Auburn Tiger.’”  

Going into the Iron Bowl, the loss to Georgia actually helped the team.  “It showed us we could win, as close as we came against the best team in the country,” said Campbell.  “We were confident we could do it and end the Bama streak.”

Campbell describes Coach Dye’s approach to Iron Bowl preparation as aimed at keeping the team loose.  “At one practice the week of the ’82 Iron Bowl,” said Campbell, “Coach Wayne Hall had climbed the goal post and stood on top of it.  We were dying laughing.  Coach Hall jumped down and I think he injured an ankle.”

True to Dye’s philosophy that the Iron Bowl is about effort and execution, not new gimmickry, there were few major tendencies broken, with one notable exception.  For the first game that year, the Tigers would break the wishbone and run some I formation with Bo Jackson at the fullback spot.  Privately, Dye would tell Auburn play by play announcer Jim Fyffe, with index finger pointed sternly at Fyffe, “There’s gonna be a blood lettin’ in Birmingham.”

The 1982 game, to be sure, could be a poster for the sports cliché, “statistics are for losers”, as the Tide would more than triple Auburn’s offensive yardage production.  At the close of the 3^rd quarter, the Tide had dominated several categories, with 440 to 132 total yards, 23 to 6 first downs, and 27:00 to 17:00 in time of possession.  But the Tide had two turnovers to none for Auburn.  Campbell, above all else in this epic Iron Bowl, was true to the very philosophy which won him the starting job.  He would manage the game completely mistake free, and value the football.  It was vintage Pat Dye football, and Campbell had bought in.

For the student of the game, two plays reveal Campbell’s heroism in the 1982 game, though the man himself is perfectly happy with the big win being dubbed the “Bo Over the Top” game.  Down 22-17 with less than 5:00 remaining in the game, Auburn faced a 2^nd and 7 at the Bama 40 yard line.  The call was play action out of the wishbone, with Campbell looking for wide receiver Chris Woods over the middle.  He dropped back, and quickly realized it was not there.  If he forces a throw and gets picked, the game is all but over, but he wisely protected the ball and took a sack.  Then, on 3^rd and 14 from the Bama 34, Campbell made what could be considered his play of the game.  “On that critical 3^rd down, I made the most important pass of my season,” said Campbell, “throwing a bullet to Mike Edwards on the left sideline for the first down.  Coach Dye would later say that I threw the pass in a snuff can.”  But it was Campbell’s discipline, and cool in the heat of battle that preserved the drive, and made “Bo over the top” possible.

Crow then called a pass play that was intended to find Chris Woods deep for a touchdown, but Jeremiah Castille played very deep and broke on the ball.  As Campbell was knocked down after throwing, he assumed the worst.  “Lying there,” said Campbell, “I thought I had lost the game.  And then I saw that pass interference had been called.”  Call it long awaited justice, after numerous horrible spots of the ball and questionable calls had gone against the Tigers.

Tension then gathered, and throats tightened for the play that would become the signature for this monumental Iron Bowl win for Auburn, 4^th and goal at the half yard line.  “We had a time out after Bo’s airborne leap from the five yard line had injured Bama’s Tommy Wilcox,” said Campbell, “and I knew that the coaches would call Bo over the top.  It was going to be very simple, and a gut check time for the offensive line.  What was worrying me the most on that 4^th down was the importance of getting a clean snap from center.”

Ah, the little things in college football are, in the end, the glorious things.  The clean snap from center that make big off tackle runs possible.  Quarterbacks who do not believe they have to thread every needle into double coverage, and even see the beauty of a five yard sack that protects field position and keeps a drive alive. 

Randy Campbell understood and mastered the little things, delivered, and along with a gutty coaching staff and team, parted the crimson sea which had engulfed Auburn pride for too long.  And at this renewal of the college football’s most fierce rivalry, a grateful Auburn family remembers, and smiles.

Randy Campbell resides in Birmingham, Alabama, with his wife Nancy.  Randy is a principal with Harlan Partners, Inc., and was recently nominated to serve on the Auburn University Board of Trustees.