Rivalry week in college football provides enough hate to start intense conflicts, but can provide enough joy to solve the world’s problems.

Growing up in Charlotte NC, with parents who spent all their lives in Miami, FL, rivalry week in our house revolved around Miami vs. Florida State and the tobacco road matchup of Duke and North Carolina in basketball.

The ACC was so conditioned in my brain I viewed other college rivalries like the Iron Bowl as just regular primetime games.

Fourth-and-31, or “Gravedigger” inside Jordan-Hare Stadium last season changed my view of the Iron Bowl forever.

My first Iron Bowl since moving down to Alabama left my dad and I speechless in my living room. Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe crushed the hearts of Auburn fans, finding former Tide receiver Isaiah Bond in the corner of the endzone to defeat the Tigers 27-24.

The passion, storylines and euphoric feeling behind that game gave me a newfound respect of this state’s most passionate rivalry. No other collegiate pairing can line up with it.

My Iron Bowl experiences are a lot different from readers across the state. Coming from my ACC background it’s a shame I took this game for granted for so many years.

Entering my first Iron Bowl as a college beat reporter, I think about some of the Iron Bowl’s I watched when I was younger, wondering why I didn’t appreciate these games in the moment.

Here’s how the Iron Bowl shaped my fandom for football today and help me connect the dots to the rivalry with all the states I have lived in:

How an Iron Bowl moment impacted my hometown team forever

When I moved to Alabama in April 2023, my mom and I took a day trip to the rainy Auburn A-Day Spring scrimmage. Despite the weather and missing the scrimmage, we saw the statue of Cam Newton making up for all the blunders that day presented.

I was so elated to see that statue. Every kid growing up in Charlotte from 2011-2018 knows Cam Newton was a superhero to us. His nickname was Superman, but he was actually Clark Kent. He could do no wrong and gave the city hope every Sunday when he graced the field at Bank of America Stadium.

After several pictures beside the legendary sculpture, I had the honor of reminding my mom about his magical Heisman season leading Auburn to the 2010 BCS National Championship. ‘He wouldn’t have the statue without that season,’ I shouted to her during the ride back to Montgomery.

But as the story is told, the moment that made that decided his Heisman fate came in that year’s Iron Bowl.

Coined as the ‘Cam-back’, Newton’s four touchdowns rallied for a 28-27 comeback victory for Auburn after trailing 24-0 to Alabama at halftime.

Watching that game with my dad was my first memory of an Iron Bowl. It almost secretly turned me into an Auburn fan, but I couldn’t tell my dad I was no longer pulling for the Miami Hurricanes.

After that game, watching Newton lead his to team a SEC championship victory over South Carolina, winning the Heisman trophy and take down Oregon in a classic BCS title game. I was sold. Whichever team drafted Newton; I was going to support.

And lo and behold, he found his way to the Queen City as the No. 1 overall pick the following spring to the Carolina Panthers.

We know how the story goes after that as that move changed the trajectory of Panthers franchise for the next decade.

A Kick-Six in Miami

Everyone remembers where they were when the “Kick-six’ happened at Plains as the No. 4 Auburn knocked off No. 1 Alabama in the most dramatic Iron Bowl of all-time.

I was in Miami spending the Thanksgiving break with my family and believe it or not, I only watched part of the fourth quarter of that game.

Since moving my siblings and I to North Carolina in 2008, every year my folks would take us down to Florida and visit family during summer or holiday breaks. So, that Saturday in-particularly was lined up with last minute family visits and Christmas shopping.

It was our last day before we were hitting the 14-hour drive back to North Carolina the following morning. So, The Iron Bowl was the last thing on their minds.

In the days before owning my own smartphone, I was forced to ask ‘What’s the score’ to at least a million random people at every stop we made to check on the game.

My social battery drained quickly trying to hunt down updates and it took a ‘Can I take a picture on your phone’ plea to my mom to sneak and search the 21-14 halftime score.

Just about an hour later, visiting a family friend. We briskly barged through the front door to see Aj McCarron launching a 99-yard touchdown pass to Amari Cooper giving Alabama a 28–21 lead with 10:28 remaining in the game.

In what seem impossible hours before, I made it in time to see how the Iron Bowl would play out. Little did I know it would turn out to be one of the greatest finishes in college football history.

History always repeats itself

The Iron Bowl helped lead the Carolina Panthers to drafting Cam Newton. Ten years later, the roles were reversed, and another quarterback would leave his mark on the Iron Bowl and get handed the keys to the city Superman left behind.

Just like Newton, Heisman trophy winning quarterback Bryce Young used the Iron Bowl stage to prove to the world why he should win the prestigious award and become a future No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft.

The dual-threat Alabama quarterback conducted a 97-yard drive in 95 seconds on the road to send the 2021 Iron Bowl into overtime.

In the fourth overtime, Alabama walked away with the 24-22 victory over Auburn behind Young’s 12-of-22 passes for 174 yards and two touchdowns.

That performance was played a vital role in Young’s draft evaluations leading him to being the Panthers second ever No. 1 pick in the NFL draft in 2023.

The impact the Iron Bowl has on the Panthers organization connected me through my journey from a spectator to a young journalist now living in the epicenter of the Iron Bowl.

Whichever side you root for, the Iron Bowl has a way of creating stories that brings generations together.

Despite the two different types of seasons both Alabama and Auburn are having entering this year’s Iron Bowl, the history always connects the dots between the two programs making for a high stakes matchup every year.