"Never seen anything like it": 84-year-old former commentator Verne Lundquist recalls one college football enmity unmatched in hate

The 2024 college football is nearing its conclusion, as there are just two weeks left on the regular season slate. The final week of the season will feature several rivalry matchups, as has often been the case.

Verne Lundquist believes there's one rivalry game that stands out above all of the others in the sport. Speaking to Ben Flanagan and Eli Gold of the Beat Everyone podcast, the retired sports commentator said:

"I did my first Iron Bowl, which would have been in 2000. I've never seen anything like the emnity between Alabama and Auburn. I mean, I've been lucky. I've done Ohio State-Michigan, I've done UCLA-USC, I've done Texas-Oklahoma and Texas A&M and Texas. I have never seen anything to adequately describe the hate between Alabama and Auburn."

The 84-year-old continued:

"We get on airplanes going to the south and people would come on and, by that time, I had a fairly recognizable face and someone would come by and say, 'Roll Tide' and then three guys behind them would say, 'War Eagle'. Well, what the heck do you think I'm supposed to do?"

Check out Verne Lundquist's comments on the Iron Bowl rivalry below:

The Iron Bowl is among the biggest rivalries in all of sports. The Alabama Crimson Tide and Auburn Tigers first met in 1893 and have played 88 times in total, including every year since 1948.

Alabama holds a 50-37-1 record in the rivalry and are on a four-game winning streak. Auburn visits their intrastate rivals next weekend with the opportunity to play spoiler.

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Could the Alabama Crimson Tide make the College Football Playoff?

The Alabama Crimson Tide have been the most successful program in the College Football Playoff era. In 10 years of the four-team format, their eight postseason appearances, six title game appearances and three national championships are all records n the sport.

The postseason field has expanded to 12 teams for the first time in 2024. Alabama's -800 odds to reach the College Football Playoff are the sixth-best in the nation. The Crimson Tide have matchups with the Oklahoma Sooners and Auburn Tigers, who are a combined 2-10 in SEC play, remaining on their schedule.

While the conference will have five two-loss teams, barring any upsets, Alabama holds the tiebreaker of that group, as cumulative conference winning percentages will seemingly decide who reaches the SEC Championship Game.

The Crimson Tide's opponents have a .509 winning percentage, which is the best of any of the six teams in the race to play in the conference title game.