As is true most days, the 94-year-old Cotton Bowl on this recent morning was mostly empty, silent. The exception was a group of reporters and their tour guides — three stadium architects with a combined century-plus of experience — pausing in the ground-level concourse,

However, the SEC Network analyst and former Birmingham resident, said Saturday that he doesn’t necessarily consider the Iron Bowl the top rivalry game in the SEC anymore. It’s possible the Red River Rivalry — Texas vs. Oklahoma, which will be contested for the 120th time on Saturday afternoon — is now No. 1, Finebaum said.