#2 Alabama beat Auburn 48-21 at Legion Field on 26 November 1977. Forty-eight points was the most Alabama had scored against Auburn since the 55 they put up in the 1948 renewal, and it stood as their highest until 2012.
The shape of it
Auburn scored first and led 7-0 after the opening quarter. Alabama then scored fourteen in the second, fourteen in the third and twenty in the fourth. Auburn’s remaining fourteen points all came in the fourth as well, by which time it made no difference.
Half-time was 14-7. Beyond the quarter totals, no account of who scored what has survived in any source we have been able to check, and none is offered here — which is unsatisfying for a 48-point performance, but preferable to inventing one.
What each season became
Alabama finished 11-1 and unbeaten in the conference at 7-0, then beat Ohio State 35-6 in the Sugar Bowl and ended second in the final Associated Press poll. Oddly, the poll published two days after this win moved them down a place, from second to third; the Sugar Bowl result moved them back.
Auburn finished 6-5 under Doug Barfield. Joe Cribbs, a sophomore that year, would be an All-Southeastern Conference back the following season.
It was Alabama’s fifth consecutive win over Auburn and the third in a row by more than twenty points.