Auburn beat Alabama 23-22 at Legion Field on 27 November 1982, ending nine consecutive defeats in the fixture and sending Bear Bryant out of the rivalry on a loss.
The drive
Alabama led 22-17 in the fourth quarter. Auburn drove the length of the field, converting a fourth-and-one at the Alabama 42 on the way, and a Randy Campbell pass moved them eight yards to the Alabama one. On fourth down from there, Pat Dye gave it to his freshman running back, and Bo Jackson went over the top of the pile into the end zone.
Jackson carried seventeen times for 114 yards that afternoon. He was nineteen years old and in his first season.
Two unranked teams
Neither side was ranked going into this game. Alabama had lost its previous two games; Auburn’s rise under Dye was a season old and not yet reflected in the polls — they entered the Associated Press top twenty for the first time that year in the poll published two days after this result, at nineteenth. It is one of only a handful of Iron Bowls since the war in which neither team carried a number.
Bryant’s last
Bryant coached once more, leading Alabama to a 21-15 Liberty Bowl win over Illinois on 29 December. He had announced his retirement earlier that month and died the following January. The 1982 Iron Bowl was the last of the twenty-five he coached.
Auburn finished 9-3 and beat Boston College in the Tangerine Bowl. They won the next three meetings as well, which is the part that made this one look like a hinge rather than an upset.