Alabama-Penn State: One Great Rivalry Full of Big Games, Reborn

Larry Burton (Syndicated Writer)

The Alabama - Penn State Series is one that is full of close games with big implications and lots of mutual respect. The Joe Paterno era in that rivalry has spanned four Alabama coaches and four decades.

This week the Crimson Tide and Nittany Lions re-unite in a rivalry that hasn’t been played for over 20 years. It re-unites two fan bases that are bound to one another by history, class and national championship ramifications.

As an Alabama sportswriter, I can say that I have personally admired few men and fewer coaches more than Joe Paterno and from all the members of the Alabama nation  I’ve talked to, I can say that this sentiment transcends to most of the Bama fans.

Here is a look at the series that is about to be renewed, along with the results during the Joe Paterno era that saw him face off with Alabama coaches from Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant on.

First Game – Dec. 31^st, 1975 – The Sugar Bowl –

In this first game, number four Alabama met number eight Penn State in the beginning of many battles between the two schools under Paterno.

Alabama won the game 13-6 in a defensive struggle that marked the first meeting of Joe Pa and the Bear.

Penn State could never get the offense going and on the best chance they had to tie the game up, Penn State QB Jon Andress got picked off by Bama defensive back Mark Prudhomme on the Bama six yard line.

Joe Pa would comment later that Alabama had the better team and Penn State just needed a break they never got. Penn State would up 9-3 and finished tenth while the Tide finished third that year.

Jan. 1^st, 1979 – Sugar Bowl – Playing for the National Championship

Prior to the game, both coaches spoke of each other and what a great coach the other was and what a team the other was. Coming into that game, Penn State was number one and Alabama was number two.

It was a rare match up of number one and two meeting and it was another defensive struggle. It is a game that will be remembered as one of the best championship games ever played.

Alabama had played over the heads on defense the entire game and with the game on the line late in the game and Penn State right on the goal line the Tide players told the Penn State players, “You’d better pass because you aren’t going to run it in on us.”

Jo Paterno wanted to throw the ball on forth down and goal from the one following three other great run stops by the Tide but was talked out of it by his assistants.

On forth down Barry Kraus stopped the PSU running back Matt Suhey at the one foot line in the famous goal line stand immortalized in legend and paintings.

It gave Alabama the National Championship and but left Penn State with nothing to be ashamed of and forever more placed Penn State as a team revered by Alabama fans as full of class and one tough team and coach.

Later Joe Paterno would say of the game, that it was one of the most intense games he ever participated in and that neither team gave an inch without a fight and that it was indeed a game worth of the build up between two champions.

Coach Bryant called it one of the most defining games of his life to show what heart and class is all about. It also forged a lifelong friendship between the two men and future games were planned.

Nov. 14^th, 1981 – Game at Happy Valley, Penn State’s home stadium

By now Coach Bryant and Paterno were good friends and both thought they should schedule another game to keep this rivalry alive but neither knew at the time they scheduled it that the game would have such high ranking teams meeting and such ramifications for the loser.

The Tide was ranked number six and Penn State was 7-1 and ranked in top 10, but the crushing 31-16 game killed any hope of Penn State making it to a title game.

After the game Paterno said that you have to find something good in every game to learn from and maybe his team has now learned they need to work a lot harder.

Oct. 9^th, 1982 – The return game at Legion Field, Birmingham, Al.

Stung by the lopsided loss the year before, the Nittany Lions did indeed go back to work. They entered the game ranked number three in the nation and the Tide was ranked number four.

It was just one more game with big national ramifications between these two.

This contest was actually close for most of the game until Jeremiah Casteele intercepted a forth quarter pass from Todd Blackledge with the Tide ahead 24-21. They would pour on 18 forth quarter points and make the game look much worse than it really was.

In an ironic twist of football fate, the Tide would crush PSU 42-21 and drop State to eighth in the polls. However they regrouped won the last six in a row including a Sugar Bowl win over number one Georgia and won the National Championship and Alabama fell apart and lost four of their next seven games and barely finished in the top 20.

Oct. 8^th, 1983 – Beaver Stadium

This game saw Alabama come in as the nation’s forth rated team against an unranked PSU squad. Alabama fans had reason to feel confident the streak would continue against a Penn State team that had struggles earlier in the year.

It was also a game with a new Alabama coach, Ray Perkins.

Alabama had their chances to win the game and the game was mired in controversy. With eight seconds left to and trailing 28-34 , Alabama tight end Preston Gothard was ruled out of the end zone with a catch that would have won the game with an extra point. The replay however showed that he was clearly in bounds and was robbed of a touchdown.

Then in a game of true reversals of history, it was Alabama with just one second left on the two yard line and just one more chance to win it.

Just as Alabama had once defeated Penn State with a goal line stand, this time Alabama running back Kerry Goode was stopped at the one by Greg Gattuso and corner back Mark Fruehan.

That loss spiraled Alabama down the polls and they would lose three more times to finish 8-4 and fifteenth in the final poll.

Oct. 13^th, 1984 – Legion Field – Birmingham

Alabama vowed revenge and got it with a 6-0 win in a defensive slugfest. 

Penn State was eleventh in the nation and Bama unranked. Just as the loss caused an Alabama spiral down the year before, the loss was the beginning of the end for Penn State who went on to lose four of the final six games and barely have a winning season at 6-5.

Ironically the win was a bright spot for Alabama which finished the season as a loser with a 5-6 record.

Oct. 12^th, 1985 - Happy Valley

Both teams regrouped the following year and entered the game with both in the top ten, Penn State number eight and Alabama number ten. A win could help one team get into a title game.

In typical Alabama – Penn State fashion, the game was nip and tuck until the end with Penn State winning a close one 19-17 over Ray Perkins and the Tide.

The win did propel Penn State into the title game which they would lose to Oklahoma and the loss was just the first of two for Alabama, who lost the next week to Tennessee.

Alabama finished the season ranked thirteenth.

Oct. 25^th, 1986 – Legion Field – Birmingham, Al.

Again this year, just like many of the games between the two, the winner would have an inside shot at a national championship match up with Penn State rated number six and Alabama coming in rated number two.

Not only did Penn State win the game, but the 23-3 was the worst home loss for the Tide in ten years.

The Tide would wind up losing two more and finish the year ranked ninth and Penn State won them all including a National Championship win over number one rated Miami.

Sept. 12^th, 1987 – State College, Pa.

This marked a change of coaches, with this game pitting Joe Pa against newcomer Bill Curry for Alabama.

As it had done in the past, the loser of this game spiraled downward. After losing this game 24-13, Penn State dropped three more and out of contention.

But winning this game did little to help Alabama’s miserable 7-5 season.

October 22^th, 1988 – Legion Field – Birmingham, Al.

This was just not Penn State’s year. They lost the game in a typical low scoring game 8-3 and saw Penn State finish the year unranked with a dismal 5-6 season.

Alabama used the game to help them to a 9-3 season and a seventeenth ranking in the final poll.

Oct. 28^th, 1989 – State College, Pa.

In what would be Bill Curry’s swan song season with the Tide, Alabama squeaked out a 17-16 win and went on play in the National Championship game which they would lose to Miami.

Bama entered the game at number six and Penn State was fourteenth at the time.

Like so many games before between these two teams, with eleven seconds on the clock Penn State was lined up to kick what was essentially an extra point length field goal for the win.

Alabama called the “Desperation Block”, a play that covered no one and sent everyone after the ball. Had Penn State faked it, anyone would have been open for a catch.

But six foot seven Thomas Rayam of Alabama got his big mitt on the ball and saved the day for Alabama.

After the game one Penn State player lamented that when you play Alabama, you just expect these kinds of games.

The last meeting – October 27^th, 1990 – Bryant Denny Stadium- Tuscaloosa, Al.

Enter Gene Stallings and this game was yet another low scoring defensive struggle that this time Alabama lost.

Some say the loss was mostly due to a newspaper article out of Birmingham that called this particular Penn State team one of the worst that Joe Paterno had ever coached.

Alabama came into this game averaging over 200 yards of rushing offense a game. In this game however, the Lions dug in to show the world that this was no bad team. When the final whistle blew, Alabama had only six yards total rushing.

Bama would finish the year 7-5 and unranked while Penn State would finish 9-3 and in the top ten in the coaches poll.

Conclusion:

Overall, that left Joe Paterno 4-8 against Alabama, with all four wins coming over Bryant’s successors.

With this and next year’s game at Penn State, these could very well be the final two games Alabama has with Paterno.

As said previously, no coach other that ones who have worn the crimson and white themselves have ever been so revered. Alabama is proud to have Joe Paterno on the beloved grass at Bryant Denny Stadium since it has been redone..

No matter the outcome, the game will be a joy to Alabama fans to have had him here. As Bryant Denny Stadium is now the home of all Alabama home games and will be for the foreseeable future, having Joe Paterno a part of that history is very important to Alabama fans.