re: According to The World Wide Leader, Auburn

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I'm not big on the whole "Alabama only beats bad AU teams" moral victory, but that's an interesting number.

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It is somewhat true. It appears that since 1980, the Iron Bowl series is tied 18-18.

The years in which Auburn won the game, Auburn had a combined record of 182-42-2 (81.0%).
The years in which Auburn lost the game, Auburn had a combined record of 116-95-3 (54.9%)

That's a pretty big gap. The magic number for Auburn appears to be 71%. Auburn teams that win 71% of their games in a season are 13-1 against Alabama since 1980.

Meanwhile on the low end, it's 61%. Auburn teams that win just 61% of their games in a season (or worse) are just 1-13 against Alabama.

Those few Auburn teams that fit somewhere in the middle (62%-70%) split 4-4 in Iron Bowls.

While its logical for a series to follow this trajectory in some form or fashion, the consistency of it is what is amazing. There are just rarely upsets in this series. Great Auburn teams almost always win. Bad Auburn teams almost always lose. Mediocre Auburn teams sit right at .500. In a span of 36 seasons, only two games break from this pattern:

*The very good 1994 Auburn team (9-1-1) lost the Iron Bowl
*The pretty bad 2003 Auburn team (8-5) won the Iron Bowl

Outside of those two games, all 34 Iron Bowl matchups have followed the pattern. Very few series can be rightfully divided like that with so few outliers.