Alabama completes 3 sports sweep at Auburn for the first time since 1970

Alabama eliminated the nets on Tuesday night to celebrate a title they technically won a few days earlier. It was significant, since the basketball team Crimson Tide had not won a SEC championship since 2002.

What he did against Auburn completed an even more unusual feat.

The 70-58 victory over the Tigers not only completed the men’s sweep in the basketball season, but also one that includes football and women’s basketball. Crimson Tide took women’s hoops games earlier this year and the Iron Bowl at Bryant-Denny stadium to complete the circuit.

The last time this happened?

Try 1977-78. It’s 43 years.

It is only the third time that Alabama is undefeated against its intra-state archrival in these three sports. The other came a year before the last in 1976-77, although it came close to sweeping in the years that followed.

The 2014-15 teams had a 4-1 record with a loss in women’s basketball preventing them from ending that streak.

Auburn has a sweep over that period by winning all five meetings in the 2006-07 seasons.

This is not exactly a statistic kept in an official record book. It is the result of some AL.com record book searches, when Alabama got off to a great start in the 2020-21 season against Auburn.

The Tide is undefeated against Auburn in seven head-to-head matches in NCAA-sanctioned sports, including gymnastics and women’s football. After connecting these points, we wanted to see when Alabama was the last time undefeated against Auburn, so the two basketballs and football became the starting point.

As the series of women’s hoops officially started in 1974-75, this was the starting point.

Combining all three sports, Alabama has a 131-109 lead in head-to-head competition against Auburn since 1974. Tide was 1-5 against Tigers recently in 2018-19, with a football victory being the only barrier for an Auburn sweep after the Tigers won the men’s basketball games and three in the women’s basketball games.

The chances of another Alabama-Auburn meeting being slim are slim. Tiger’s male team has self-imposed a post-season ban, so they won’t be in Nashville at next week’s SEC tournament. Tiger women have a seed of 13, making it highly unlikely that she will find the tide with the seventh seed.

In terms of the overall Alabama-Auburn season series, the Tigers have some future opportunities to end the stoppage. The women’s tennis teams meet on March 4, while the men play on March 5. Softball teams play three games from 12 to 14 March, while the baseball series takes place from 15 to 17 April.