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Sun Bowl 1983
Alabama 28 SMU 7 |
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"The first half was about as good a half as we have played all year. The only one that could compare would be the Ole Miss game." Coach Ray Perkins said, referring to the second game of the season, when Alabama rolled to a 31-0 halftime lead enroute to a 40-0 victory.
Saturday's halftime score was "only" 28-0, but then Ole Miss wasn't considered in the same league with No. 6 SMU.
Fullback Ricky Moore ran for two first-period touchdowns and Walter Lewis riddled the nation's second best defense with his passing to lead Alabama to perhaps its most impressive triumph of the year, The 235-pound Moore, who carried 28 times for 113 yards and his sixth consecutive 100-yard effort, capped early drives of 59 and 51 yards with touchdown runs of 1 yard and 11 yards to give the Crimson Tide a 14-0 lead after one period.
It was the first time SMU trailed by 14 points since the 10th game of the 1980 season.
Lewis, who completed nine of 14 passes for 148 yards and was named the game's most valuable player, scored from a yard out to end an 86-yard drive midway through the second quarter (video). He lofted a 19-yard touchdown pass to split end Joey Jones 43 seconds before the intermission to make it 28-0 (video).
"It was really a challenge for our players." Perkins said. "SMU is a ranked team, and they deserve that. They are a great team, but we really came out in the first half.
"I felt we could run the football (Alabama rushed for 251 yards against a team that was yielding only 102.7 on the ground), but I thought we threw it well when we had to. Walter did a super job of getting the ball off. I just think we were really ready to play.”
"I must say that the Sun Bowl people really showed the kids a good time, but we knew we were here to play a good football team and I think that challenge showed up for us."
SMU Coach Bobby Collins said Alabama "played extremely well. We knew they were good, and they proved it. We had opportunities, but we made way too many mistakes. It showed up on the scoreboard."
In fact, Alabama's first-half domination was even more complete than the scoreboard showed. The Crimson Tide piled up 303 yards in the first two periods- against a team which had yielded an average of 256.1 in 11 regular-season games- to 105 for the Mustangs and had a 17-4 bulge in first downs.
It was Alabama's 37th bowl game and 25th in a row, both national records, but the first since Perkins succeeded the late Paul "Bear" Bryant as head coach. The victory enabled the Crimson Tide to snap a two game losing streak which had dropped them out of the Top Twenty and wind up 8-4 in Perkins' initial campaign, the same as Bryant's swan song a year ago.
It also was Alabama's 20th bowl victory against 14 losses and three ties, equaling Southern California's all-time mark of 20 bowl triumphs.
SMU, the nation's winningest team over the last three seasons with a 31-2-1 record before Saturday's debacle, finished 10-2. The Mustangs, whose two setbacks in that three-year stretch were by two and three points to Texas, had their claim that they should have been in a major bowl thoroughly squashed before a record Sun Bowl crowd of 41,412 which braved wind gusts of up to 35 mph and temperatures in the 20s.
SMU, which turned the ball over three times on fumbles and twice on interceptions, finally scored with 3:41 left in the third period, going 78 yards in three plays with freshman Jeff Atkins bolting 58 yards to the Alabama 15 and Lance McIlhenny tossing a touchdown pass to split end Marquis Pleasant, another freshman, on the next play (video). That gave McIlhenny 34 career TD passes, tying Mike Ford for second place on SMU's all-time list.
SMU won the pregame coin toss and elected to take the wind. But there was no stopping Alabama in the first half as the Crimson Tide scored twice into the wind and twice with the gusts at its back.
Following Greg Richardson’s 13 yard punt return, the Tide covered 59 yards in seven plays for the first touchdown. The key plays were an 11-yard pass from Lewis to flanker Jesse Bendross and a 35-yard run by freshman tailback Kerry Goode.
Three plays later. Moore took a pitchout, broke two tackles and powered across the goal line for a 7-0 lead.
SMU, a 4 ½ point favorite, began playing Santa Claus a day early on its next possession. Mcllhenny fumbled a snap from center and Alabama cornerback Sammy Hood, who was blitzing, recovered at the Tide 19.
Alabama needed only 64 seconds and three plays to make it 14-0. Lewis passed 32 yards to Richardson, a second-string flanker, scrambled for eight and flipped a pitchout to Moore, who started right, cut back sharply and scored from the 11 without a hand being laid on him (video).
The Crimson Tide went 86 yards in 6:22 for its third touchdown. Reserve tailback Linnie Patrick started it with a 14-yard run and Lewis whipped passes of 18 yards to tight end Preston Gothard and 17 to Jones He also ran twice on third down for the necessary yardage and fired an 8-yard pass to Bendross on another third-down situation.
On third-and-goal at the one, Lewis completely fooled the SMU defense with a fake to Moore up the middle, hesitated for a second and then darted around right end to score easily. Freshman Van Tiffin's conversion made it 21-0.
Alabama strong safety Ricky Thomas recovered a fumble by Atkins at the SMU 49, but Lewis fumbled the ball back at the 15 eight players later.
However, free safety Freddie Robinson intercepted a McIlhenny pass at the Alabama 38 with 1:09 left in the half and Lewis needed only four plays and 26 seconds to make it 28-0.
After an incomplete pass, he gained 13 yards on a quarterback draw and passed to tight end Thornton Chandler for 25. One play later, Lewis found Jones in the rear of the end zone behind cornerback Fred Nichols for Alabama's final touchdown.
After SMU's third-period score, the Mustangs threatened on two other occasions. But tailback Reggie Dupard fumbled the ball away at the Tide 2l with 4:16 left in the third period and McIlhenny threw an incomplete pass on fourth down from the Alabama nine with 7:02 remaining.
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Walter Lewis led the Tide to the upset.
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Alabama's Britton Cooper brings down SMU receiver.
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| It was the 50th Sun Bowl. | Jesse Bendross leaps high to snare reception. |
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Attendance- 41,412
Scoring Summary
First Quarter UA- Moore 1 run (Tiffin kick) UA- Moore 11 run (Tiffin kick)
Second Quarter UA- Lewis 1 run (Tiffin kick) UA- Jones 19 yard pass from Lewis (Tiffin kick)
Third Quarter SMU-Pleasant 15 yard pass from McIlhenny (Harrell kick)
Individual Statistics
Rushing SMU- Atkins 9-120, Dupard 13-51 UA- Moore 28-l 13, Goode 7-59, Lewis 17-39, Patrick 4-34
Passing SMU- McIlhenny 14-27-2-141 UA- Lewis 9-14-141
Receiving SMU- Morris 5-63, Dupard 4-10, Pleasant 3-67 UA- Jones 2-36, Chandler 2-34, Gothard 2-27, Bendross 2-19
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EL
PASO. Texas (AP) After a disappointing 7-4 regular season, Alabama was
so good Saturday that the Crimson Tide needed only the first half to
crush sixth-ranked Southern Methodist 28-7 in the 50th
anniversary Sun Bowl.
