Alabama 77 VPI 6

[CB4]

I grew up in Tuscaloosa and was at the game — age 14. Somebody gave me a free ticket, so I was there by myself, and that was a big deal, too.

Hadn’t thought about Calvin Culliver in years, but he did bust up the middle and looked like Secretariat running away from the defense.

We led 21-0 at the end of the first quarter, and Gary Rutledge’s day was done. 42-0 at the half, and Richard Todd was on the bench well before the half. Remember, that was running the wishbone, so games tended to be shorter. Jack O’Rear got the most playing time of his career.

VT had a QB named Don Strock who was supposed to be pretty good, but he was no match.

We could have scored 100 if we’d wanted to, but ran it up the gut starting midway through the 2nd quarter, using every player including maybe the waterboy.

I thought the loss to Notre Dame notwithstanding, it was Bryant’s second-best team. I thought 1979 was his best.

Strock actually went on to have a pretty good career in the NFL, mostly as a backup to Bob Griese with Dolphins.

 

[TexasBama]

Ole Calvin Culliver wore number 33 if I remember correctly

Culliver also ran the 100 meters for the Bama Track team

ETA. Culliver was a football player that ran track. A few years later, arguably the fastest guy that ever played for Bama, James Mallard, played some WR. He was a track guy playing football. He was the SEC 200 meter champ in 1979 and 1980, and would have probably ran in the Olympics had we not boycotted the Games in 1980.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

All I know about this game is what I've heard. It was played the day before I turned four years old, a day of which I have only the VAGUEST recollection at best, maybe none at all.


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Btw - anybody look at the schedules for either Alabama OR Notre Dame that year?
Pretty not tough to put it mildly.

We had 2 semi-tough games on the schedule, the Vols and LSU.
Notre Dame played 3 riff-raff B1G teams, 3 service academies, Rice and Pitt. Oh yeah, and #6 USC at home.

So the 1973 Sugar Bowl featured "team who played 2 good teams" against "team who played one" for the national championship. (For anyone about to say "but Georgia," they lost to 5-6 (1-5 in SEC) Vandy.

I'm not knocking - that's how it used to be EVERYWHERE. (Go look at 1976 Pitt, who beat Notre Dame, played a bunch of hot garbage, got Penn State at home after an off week - and moved up when Michigan blew another one).

That's where all this "team A is SKEERED to play team B" came from.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

Btw - knowing about this game and the one in 1979 - made it hilarious when Va Tech became pretty good under Beamer.

 

[TexasBama]

Btw - knowing about this game and the one in 1979 - made it hilarious when Va Tech became pretty good under Beamer.

I went to the Bama/VPI game in 1968. Jerry Claiborne was their coach. One of their cornerbacks was Frank Beamer.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

I went to the Bama/VPI game in 1968. Jerry Claiborne was their coach. One of their cornerbacks was Frank Beamer.

I think Jerry Claiborne is one of the most underrated coaches in CFB history.

He had six straight winning seasons at Va Tech - in the SIXTIES.
He had eight straight winning seasons (7 with 8 wins or more) in the SEVENTIES - at Maryland.
He had Kentucky at 9-3 his third year after an 0-10-1 first year.

Bear in mind that SEC parity was never higher than in the mid-80s except for the Western Division off and on in recent years, so his record there is less than stellar but good for Kentucky AT THE TIME.

I think he was severely underrated, and I'm guessing the fact he was 54 and timing was bad as he'd just arrived at Kentucky helped keep him from Alabama. He won at a .592 clip at Va Tech/Maryland/Kentucky.

Considering the teams and the time he coached there?
He was clearly very good.

Here's an interesting data point:
Jerry Claiborne - first 5 years at Maryland - 41-16-2
Bobby Bowden - first 5 years at WVA - 42-26

I was stunned years ago when I was looking at a number of coaches how good Claiborne's record was for the time and the teams.

Claiborne (who has been gone a long time) was actually only born 15 months before Bowden. But to be fair, he had been a head coach for 10 years (compared to 4 for Bobby) at that time.


Who knows what he could have done in a better situation?

 

[Professor]

I was there!
Since I am a UVa grad, I enjoyed watching the Hokies get taken to the cleaners.

 

[GrayTide]

Remember that game well. Was living in SC at the time and had to listen to the game on my car radio. Reception was iffy and it would come and go. It was a track meet, but I had plenty of beer and a fresh pack of Marlboros. At the time my fiancee (later my wife) did not enjoy football so I sat by myself in the car, and relieved myself in the bushes. Young and foolish do go hand and hand.

 

[Tenntiderman]

I remember this game from my freshman year with pleasure. The score and how the game was played is an obvious reason, but another was that it was a night game. Back then, games in Tuscaloosa weren't televised and had a standard start time of 1:30 (I think). The smaller stadium with its Astroturf field was HOT, even in October. The night game was much more comfortable.

I remember looking in my program in the second have to try to figure who we had on the field and we were playing guys who weren't even in the program!

Wasn't unusual for Bama to have played 14 RBs by mid 2nd Qtr. The Wishbone required lots of 'Backs for several reasons. All had to be able to block. Fullbacks had to be tough. Their hands took a beating every snap. The Wishbone was good to Bama, but Bama was able to do a bit more with that scheme than most Wishbone teams could. I used to love to see one of our QBs go to the 2nd option...reverse direction and drop back to throw the ball. We didnt see a lot of that, and when we did it was mostly successful. As for that VPI game, It was over with pretty quick. That was a good team