re: Bigger Rivalry? Michigan and Ohio State or Auburn and Alabama?

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it wasn't on a national level

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It depends on the era.

Back in the old days, southern football was considered a joke. Many great teams were ignored because they considered south eastern teams to be a joke (this was changed when Alabama beat Washington in the 1925 Rose Bowl, and proceeded to go 3-1 in the first 4 Rose Bowls they went to). Prior to this, any southern rivalry would not have had any national appeal.

Secondly, during Alabama's impressive run between 1925 and 1945, there was no Iron Bowl. That means teams like some of Alabama's best (1925, 1926, 1930, 1931, 1937, 1945) and some of Auburn's (1913, 1914, 1932) never got a chance to play each other. Right when the rivalry renewed, both teams had stretches of horribleness (1948 - 1952 for Auburn, 1954 - 1957 for Alabama).

Then came the dual era of Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant and Coach Ralph "Shug" Jordan (apparently, we liked our coaches with nicknames back then). This included some huge match-ups, including 1963, 1972 and 1974.

That said, UM - OSU was also having a list of consecutive, marquee match-ups, especially in the 1970s. Outside of this era, the fact that both teams have been more impressive on a year-by-year basis (as opposed to Alabama vs Auburn, where Auburn seems to jump between impressive and "not so" impressive). So, during this time frame, both squads would have had a lot of press due to marquee coaching match-ups.

Ultimately, however, we now live in the internet age. People can read up on past rivalry games easily, but they're going to remember the ones that were important on the national landscape and were also very impressive during game time. Alabama vs Auburn has had two teams highly ranked twice in the past 5 years (2010, 2013), three epic games (The Drive - 2009, Camback - 2010, Kick Six - 2013). It's been 8 years since two teams went into the UM-OSU game ranked in the top 10, and in that time frame only once were both teams ranked (2012). While they have had a couple of good games in the same stretch as the Iron Bowl (2011 - 2013 were all by a single score), they just didn't have the national relevance between the outcome for both teams that the Iron Bowl did.

So, ultimately, the question is "who are you asking". Assuming no regional bias, ff the person is in their early 20s, possibly early 30s, they'll likely say the Iron Bowl. If they are older than that, they'll probably say "The Game". Of course, if they're from the Northeast, they'll rattle off something about hockey or baseball and walk away. ;)