1986 Tigers

[WarEagle1982 491]

I went down a rabbit hole this morning and started watching the 86 Iron Bowl.  The 86 team is one that you don’t hear talked about a great deal.  They lost 2 games by a total of 5 points.  The comeback win in the Iron Bowl was epic and against the best Bama team since the Bryant era.  They probably could’ve played with anyone in America.

[SaltyTiger 8,526]

5 minutes ago, WarEagle1982 said:

I went down a rabbit hole this morning and started watching the 86 Iron Bowl.  The 86 team is one that you don’t hear talked about a great deal.  They lost 2 games by a total of 5 points.  The comeback win in the Iron Bowl was epic and against the best Bama team since the Bryant era.  They probably could’ve played with anyone in America.

One of my favorite all time wins. Went to that game. Always a fun day to win in B’ham. Reception by Gainous to keep the winning drive going was great and Fullwood was a stud. That win set the stage for a fun 4 year run.

[WarEagle1982 491]

Just now, SaltyTiger said:

One of my favorite all time wins. Went to that game. Always a fun day to win in B’ham. Reception by Gainous to keep the winning drive going was great and Fullwood was a stud. That win set the stage for a fun 4 year run.

No doubt.  I was only 6 years old at the time and really not old enough to appreciate the glory days of the 80s as much as I do looking back on it now.  To me, the play that Trey Gainous made was the epitome of an Auburn man.  He wasn’t the most talented dude on the team, but worked his guts out and had the mental toughness to step up when his family needed him the most!

[Auburn93 732]

22 minutes ago, WarEagle1982 said:

I went down a rabbit hole this morning and started watching the 86 Iron Bowl.  The 86 team is one that you don’t hear talked about a great deal.  They lost 2 games by a total of 5 points.  The comeback win in the Iron Bowl was epic and against the best Bama team since the Bryant era.  They probably could’ve played with anyone in America.

86-89 needed some breaks against a lot of great teams. By adding Oklahoma and Texas, other SEC teams are gonna get our schedule. The team was definitely responsible for the UF loss in 86. We simply relaxed in the 4th quarter.

Edited July 7 by Auburn93

[Auburn93 732]

3 minutes ago, WarEagle1982 said:

No doubt.  I was only 6 years old at the time and really not old enough to appreciate the glory days of the 80s as much as I do looking back on it now.  To me, the play that Trey Gainous made was the epitome of an Auburn man.  He wasn’t the most talented dude on the team, but worked his guts out and had the mental toughness to step up when his family needed him the most!

The following year we needed Burger to Tillman against Georgia tech.

[SaltyTiger 8,526]

1 minute ago, WarEagle1982 said:

No doubt.  I was only 6 years old at the time and really not old enough to appreciate the glory days of the 80s as much as I do looking back on it now.  To me, the play that Trey Gainous made was the epitome of an Auburn man.  He wasn’t the most talented dude on the team, but worked his guts out and had the mental toughness to step up when his family needed him the most!

The 80’s were great. Knew we were going to be physical and competitive against anyone. Wish every Auburn fan could experience a decade like it. Trey was a good athlete. Returned punts at one point. Also was a good baseball player in the spring.

[WarEagle1982 491]

2 minutes ago, Auburn93 said:

86-89 needed some breaks against a lot of great teams. By adding Oklahoma and Texas, other SEC teams are gonna get our schedule. 

No doubt.  Was there another team in the conference that played the likes of Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, and Alabama on a yearly basis?  That’s over half of their conference games.  And then, on the years you added LSU to the schedule, WOW!

[Auburn93 732]

1 minute ago, WarEagle1982 said:

No doubt.  Was there another team in the conference that played the likes of Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, and Alabama on a yearly basis?  That’s over half of their conference games.  And then, on the years you added LSU to the schedule, WOW!

We were playing FSU too. Miami and Florida State were the most dynamic efficient big play offenses of this period before Spurrier. And they played great defense too.

Edited July 7 by Auburn93

[WarEagle1982 491]

9 minutes ago, SaltyTiger said:

The 80’s were great. Knew we were going to be physical and competitive against anyone. Wish every Auburn fan could experience a decade like it. Trey was a good athlete. Returned punts at one point. Also was a good baseball player in the spring.

No doubt.  I remember watching his punt return against Tennessee in 83.  Epic!  I agree with you on the 80s.  What an amazing time for a youngster to develop a love of Auburn football!  My first time at Jordan-Hare was the 1988 Tennessee game.  It was two weeks after my 8th birthday!  I was definitely hooked after that!

 

[WarEagle1982 491]

11 minutes ago, Auburn93 said:

We were playing FSU too. Miami and Florida State were the most dynamic efficient big play offenses of this period before Spurrier. And they played great defense too.

No doubt.  I was going to mention the FSU rivalry.  My late father absolutely hated FSU!!

[WarEagle1982 491]

21 minutes ago, Auburn93 said:

86-89 needed some breaks against a lot of great teams. By adding Oklahoma and Texas, other SEC teams are gonna get our schedule. The team was definitely responsible for the UF loss in 86. We simply relaxed in the 4th quarter.

Yeah.  That loss to Florida was bad.  I also still scratch my head over the loss to Georgia that year.

[WarEagle1982 491]

21 minutes ago, SaltyTiger said:

The 80’s were great. Knew we were going to be physical and competitive against anyone. Wish every Auburn fan could experience a decade like it. Trey was a good athlete. Returned punts at one point. Also was a good baseball player in the spring.

Here’s some irony to all of this.  Of course I was the starry eyed kid that saw all of those guys back then as heroes.  I am a high school football coach and the guy that gave me my opportunity to work my way up and learn on my way to becoming a varsity coach at the 6A level was Alvin Briggs.  I was an assistant under him for 5 years.  He helped me grow up and become a man in the profession.  Wonder if he has a little Pat Dye in him?

[im4aual 494]

Probably the most underrated Auburn team of the last fifty years. 

[SaltyTiger 8,526]

3 hours ago, WarEagle1982 said:

Here’s some irony to all of this.  Of course I was the starry eyed kid that saw all of those guys back then as heroes.  I am a high school football coach and the guy that gave me my opportunity to work my way up and learn on my way to becoming a varsity coach at the 6A level was Alvin Briggs.  I was an assistant under him for 5 years.  He helped me grow up and become a man in the profession.  Wonder if he has a little Pat Dye in him?

Great story. Great player and sure Dye had a lot of influence on Briggs. I doubt that I ever missed a home game in the 80’s. Graduated about the same time Dye came to Auburn and was able to make my home/career living in Auburn. Fun times with everyone on the same page. Dyes page of course.

[WarEagle1982 491]

11 minutes ago, SaltyTiger said:

Great story. Great player and sure Dye had a lot of influence on Briggs. I doubt that I ever missed a home game in the 80’s. Graduated about the same time Dye came to Auburn and was able to make my home/career living in Auburn. Fun times with everyone on the same page. Dyes page of course.

I really hate the things that happened with Coach Dye at the end.  They weren’t doing anything different than anyone else was doing, and mainly in an effort to help people get by.  If I remember correctly the only conversations he was actually recorded in were helping Ramsey get a loan that he had to pay back.  I may be completely mistaken, but I don’t recall anyone ever saying that Auburn paid them X amount of money to sign there.

[SaltyTiger 8,526]

1 hour ago, WarEagle1982 said:

I really hate the things that happened with Coach Dye at the end.  They weren’t doing anything different than anyone else was doing, and mainly in an effort to help people get by.  If I remember correctly the only conversations he was actually recorded in were helping Ramsey get a loan that he had to pay back.  I may be completely mistaken, but I don’t recall anyone ever saying that Auburn paid them X amount of money to sign there.

Hated to see him go the way he did. I will always believe folks used the situation as pay back for taking the Iron Bowl out of B’ham. That was inevitable though.
 

Dye did have some health issues and doubt he would have continued coaching much longer anyway. Stress level and pace of coaching is too much. Saw him a day or two after his final game and he claimed to feel like the weight of world was off of him. 

[SLAG-91 1,604]

The '86 team flies under the radar a bit, but they were a handful.

I remember us scoring a TD very late, I mean less than 10 seconds left, against Tennessee to make it 34-8. Jeff Burger looked like he was going to take a knee, kind of stood around and then headed for the end zone.

Mississippi State was feeling their oats after a 6-1 start and we went into Starkville for a night game and cleaned their clocks 35-6.

We went pretty much unchallenged in our first seven games.

Florida...vomit. They pretty much tried to gift-wrap that game for us with all of their turnovers and we couldn't get a safe enough margin and hold on. It wasn't televised live because Florida was on probation, so I was listening on the radio with an impending sense of doom. Even more galling was Robert McGinty, he of the missed last-second FG against Alabama in 1984, kicking a long FG for Florida as part of their comeback. Redemption for him, but a gut-punch for us.

Georgia...won that one with their backup QB. Seems like there was some officiating that went against us at the wrong time as well, but that happens. The only thing that most people remember was the fire-hosing of the Georgia fans that ran on the field and started ripping out chunks of sod. My roommate got a bumper sticker after the season that said "the good we hose, the weak we beat." 

Alabama...tough and tight all game long. Team showed a hell of a lot of onions coming back to win that game. Fullwood played maybe his best game considering the circumstances. The last drive was a white-knuckler, and I've always been grateful that the officials didn't see us trying to call timeout to get Scott Bolton in the game instead of Lawyer Tillman. Trey Gainous was big-time clutch, too. They had won a couple against us at the gun in '84 and '85, so to turn the tables felt pretty good.

 

[SaltyTiger 8,526]

2 hours ago, SLAG-91 said:

The '86 team flies under the radar a bit, but they were a handful.

I remember us scoring a TD very late, I mean less than 10 seconds left, against Tennessee to make it 34-8. Jeff Burger looked like he was going to take a knee, kind of stood around and then headed for the end zone.

Mississippi State was feeling their oats after a 6-1 start and we went into Starkville for a night game and cleaned their clocks 35-6.

We went pretty much unchallenged in our first seven games.

Florida...vomit. They pretty much tried to gift-wrap that game for us with all of their turnovers and we couldn't get a safe enough margin and hold on. It wasn't televised live because Florida was on probation, so I was listening on the radio with an impending sense of doom. Even more galling was Robert McGinty, he of the missed last-second FG against Alabama in 1984, kicking a long FG for Florida as part of their comeback. Redemption for him, but a gut-punch for us.

Georgia...won that one with their backup QB. Seems like there was some officiating that went against us at the wrong time as well, but that happens. The only thing that most people remember was the fire-hosing of the Georgia fans that ran on the field and started ripping out chunks of sod. My roommate got a bumper sticker after the season that said "the good we hose, the weak we beat." 

Alabama...tough and tight all game long. Team showed a hell of a lot of onions coming back to win that game. Fullwood played maybe his best game considering the circumstances. The last drive was a white-knuckler, and I've always been grateful that the officials didn't see us trying to call timeout to get Scott Bolton in the game instead of Lawyer Tillman. Trey Gainous was big-time clutch, too. They had won a couple against us at the gun in '84 and '85, so to turn the tables felt pretty good.

 

Great post and memory. Kerwin Bell limps onto the field and beats us in Gainesville. Georgia has no business beating us and gets hosed by a jet like sprinkler system. Recall it being a cool night to get wet.

 

limps into the game 

[WarEagle1982 491]

8 hours ago, SaltyTiger said:

Hated to see him go the way he did. I will always believe folks used the situation as pay back for taking the Iron Bowl out of B’ham. That was inevitable though.
 

Dye did have some health issues and doubt he would have continued coaching much longer anyway. Stress level and pace of coaching is too much. Saw him a day or two after his final game and he claimed to feel like the weight of world was off of him. 

We should all be indebted to him, as fans, for bringing the game to Auburn.  Heck, Bama fans should love that it’s in Tuscaloosa.  Think about this:  with the exception of 2001 and 2011 every Iron Bowl in Auburn has been very competitive.  It certainly gave Auburn an equal footing with the Tide

[Gowebb11 9,801]

The 1986 roster. A lot of NFL talent on it. Interesting to note the size difference of today’s players. Not one 300 pounder on the roster. 

https://auburntigers.com/sports/football/roster/season/1986

[boisnumber1 2,897]

1 hour ago, Gowebb11 said:

The 1986 roster. A lot of NFL talent on it. Interesting to note the size difference of today’s players. Not one 300 pounder on the roster. 

https://auburntigers.com/sports/football/roster/season/1986

I remember going to an AU game as a kid and my dad and friends going on and on about how huge Frank Warren was. He weighed 275.

[meh130 1,056]

On 7/7/2024 at 9:26 AM, SaltyTiger said:

One of my favorite all time wins. Went to that game. Always a fun day to win in B’ham. Reception by Gainous to keep the winning drive going was great and Fullwood was a stud. That win set the stage for a fun 4 year run.

I called that 4th down play when it happened. We had run the same play in an earlier game in a critical 3rd down situation. It was a "pick" play where the tight end crosses which screens the defensive back covering the wide receiver.

[Viper 3,457]

10 hours ago, WarEagle1982 said:

with the exception of 2001 and 2011 every Iron Bowl in Auburn has been very competitive

They blew us out in 2001. We returned the favor in 2005.

[SaltyTiger 8,526]

10 hours ago, WarEagle1982 said:

We should all be indebted to him, as fans, for bringing the game to Auburn.  Heck, Bama fans should love that it’s in Tuscaloosa.  Think about this:  with the exception of 2001 and 2011 every Iron Bowl in Auburn has been very competitive.  It certainly gave Auburn an equal footing with the Tide

The 87 and 88 games vs Bammer were not competitive as the scores would indicate imo. Obvious that we were the better team and pretty well controlled both games. We should have scored a couple of more times in each game. Would have been a better indicator of the separation in the teams.

[Viper 3,457]

4 hours ago, SaltyTiger said:

The 87 and 88 games vs Bammer were not competitive as the scores would indicate imo. Obvious that we were the better team and pretty well controlled both games. We should have scored a couple of more times in each game. Would have been a better indicator of the separation in the teams.

89 IB as well. Game was never in doubt.

Still remember the bammer tshirts after the 88 IB…

bammer 10

AU 8

zebras 7