Throughout the state Saturday, people gathered to watch the Alabama-Auburn game, and this year’s contest was certainly an exciting one.

With this year’s Iron Bowl being one of the most dramatic in recent memory, fans of both Alabama and Auburn were in rare form during the game.

A large contingent of both Tiger and Tide fans were in attendance for the game at Santa Fe Cattle Company, where Alabama’s go-ahead touchdown pass from Greg McElroy to Roy Upchurch set off a wild celebration for Alabama fans, and depression for Auburn fans.

“I always knew McElroy had it,” said Rodney Brooks, one of the Alabama fans in attendance. “It’s never going to be a problem with him. When you have a defense like ours, it just makes the offense that much more confident. I was just waiting for Mac to get in his groove, and do what he had to do.”

Nick Brooks, one of the Auburn fans enjoying the atmosphere said he was proud of Auburn’s performance despite the loss.

“I’m going to say congratulations to Alabama, but we gave Alabama the toughest game they’ve had all year,” Nick Brooks said. “We had them 14-0, but we got too settled back. We came out pulling tricks out our hat, and they weren’t ready for that. Auburn does not have the talent that Alabama does, but the blowout that everybody said was coming didn’t happen. Auburn held its own. I’m still a War Eagle fan. I was born one and I’ll die one, so War Eagle.”

Rodney Brooks agreed with Nick Brooks’ assessment of the game, saying Auburn did appear to have Alabama confused early on.

“I wasn’t really worried because I kind of figured Auburn was going to run as many plays as they could that we didn’t know about,” Rodney Brooks said. “But, when you have a superior defense like the Tide, which is the best in the nation, you don’t worry about it. You just sit back and watch us play our game, and you see we wound up with the victory.”

Nick said he was upset that Auburn’s offense appeared to grow more conventional in the second half.

“You can’t play Alabama straight up like that with the talent they have,” Nick Brooks said. “In the second half, we should have kept doing what we were doing in the first quarter, but we didn’t.”

Now that Alabama has won, Tide fans can look forward to a year of bragging rights.

“This morning, when I got to work, all they did was talk, talk and talk,” said Sarge Jones, an Alabama fan and employee at Santa Fe. “I told them I wasn’t going to say anything to anyone of them. But, it’s going to be on for them the next few days.”

Rodney Brooks offered some advice for Auburn’s football program over the next year, while also giving his prediction for the rest of Alabama’s season.

“I’m just going to tell them to get a new coach and a new team,” Rodney Brooks said. “Also, Roll Tide and national champs.”

While Auburn fans have lost bragging rights, Nick Brooks is soon to lose much more.

“I’m going to catch a lot of static because I’ve been talking a lot of junk. I’ve got to cut my dreads too because I bet my hair on it,” Nick Brooks said.