sumamabiotcH!!!!!!!!!! im gonna have to hear alllll kinda shit from the bama fans now
Only if you let them.
"Yeah, I'm a Notre Dame fan. The Tide and The Irish have played some classic games, haven't they? The '73 Sugar Bowl with the 3rd ranked Irish and 1st ranked Tide had 6 lead changes. Exciting game 24-23. No trick plays like this year's Fiesta. Just hard nosed football! Ya know down 1 point with 3 minutes left in the game, Bear punted the ball away. Bama could have gotten the ball back on an ND penalty but the ball was downed on the ND 1 yd line and Bear was confident in his defense so he declined the penalty and gave up the ball. On first down ND passed from the endzone for 37 yds. I heard that was Robin Weber's only catch of the season. Incredible huh? You guys would have had another National Championship if you had won, wouldn't you?
The Orange Bowl the next season was also One For The Ages. You guys had another Undefeated Regular Season with a National Championship in your grasp against the 9th ranked Irish. The 48 yd TD pass by Richard Todd on 4th down with 3 minutes to go in the game for UA's only TD rocked the Orange Bowl. It was electric! 13-11 what a competitive game.Too bad about the 5 fumbles and the pair of INTs.
You guys came to South Bend in '76 for another great game 21-18. Ranked 10th the Tide was again the favorite over the 18th ranked Irish. Ozzie Newsome was awesome. What a great TE you guys had! Great 4th quarter TD. ND's starting QB Slager (that Montana guy was out for the year with a shoulder injury) gets knocked out and backup QB Rusty Lisch moved the team but couldn't find the endzone. If it wasn't for Jim Browner's INT in the ND endzone you guys would have won the game.
Wow, 3 games decided by 6 points. Ya can't get more competitive than that!
Ya know in 1980 Bama and ND met right here in Birmingham - Legion Field, "Football Capital of The South". Once again the 5th ranked Tide was the favorite over the 6th ranked Irish. What a defensive struggle! Classic Old Time football. Bone jarring hits. You had an All-American RB named Major Ogilvie. Could run like the wind. He was held to 4 yds rushing that day. ND backs didn't do much better. In the 2nd quarter the Tide fumbled on their 12 and ND recovered. ND QB Blair Kiel quickly returned the favor fumbling a snap for a turnover. A game of momentum. ND scored after another Bama fumble was recovered on Bama's 4 yd line. Only score of the game 7-0. Ya know that was only the 4th time a Bear Bryant Tide team was shutout in 287 games over a 25 year span. (UGA in '76,and Tennessee in '70 were shutout losses, there was a scoreless tie with Vandy in '58)
4 games decided by a total of 13 points. Damn they were close! Damn shame Bear never could beat ND.
In '86 ND came back to Birmingham to play the Tide under Ray Perkins and were crushed 28-10 behind Cornelius Bennett's devastating tackle of ND QB Steve Beurlein known forever as "The Sack". It was the only time in the series history that both teams weren't ranked in the AP Top 25. Bama was ranked #2 but ND was unranked. It was kind of bizarre though. Perkins was the first Bama coach to ever beat ND and you guys ran him out of town. Why was that? Oh yeah, you had problems with Auburn then too.
In '87 Bama traveled to ND and both teams were ranked but for the first time the Irish, ranked 7th, were a slight favorite over the Tide ranked 10th. ND's starting QB Terry Andrysiak had gone down with a broken collarbone in the 4th game of the season and a young running QB named Rice now led the Irish attack. Tim Brown, Mark Green, and Ricky Watters rolled up close to 500 yds of offense while the Tide was held to less than 200 yds and a pair of field goals as the Irish won 37-6.
Ya know, Bama and ND had a home and home scheduled for '06 and '07 but after the NCAA sanctions your AD Mal Moore back asked to be let out of that contract. I think that was right after Franchione left, or was in Price. I forget with so many coaches in so short a time. Hey did you know Mal Moore used to be a ND football coach? He's got quite a pedigree. He coached the RBs from '83 to '85 and was the ND Assistant Head Coach under Gerry Faust in '84 -'85.
Hey congratulation on hiring Saban. I hear he's bringing Tom Clements from the NFL to coach your QBs. Clements has deep roots to Tide football. Bear knew him well. He was the QB that threw the 37 yd pass from his own endzone to clinch the '73 Sugar Bowl game for ND. Maybe this time instead of knocking a National Championship from your grasp he'll lead The Tide to one.
Ya know Mal Moore and Tom Clements aren't the first ND connection with Alabama. From 1931 - 1946 Frank Thomas, who played for Knute Rockne at ND, was Bama's head coach. Won 4 SEC Championships and a National Championship. Perhaps an infusion of ND men is what's needed so you can start winning again. Look how well former ND assistants Meyer, Strong, and Mattison are doing in the SEC.
Feel free to remind them:
Alabama vs Notre Dame All-Time Record is 1-5
http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/sec/alabama/opponents_records.php?teamid=2349
If my spiel developed over 20 years of dealing with Tide fans (including a niece alumnae and a nephew undergrad) is too long for friends just politely drop, "Yeah, I'm a Notre Dame fan. Aren't they the only team Bear never beat?"
