Garnet and Great

TRIBE Vs. TIDE, GAME THREE: Letting a Monumental Upset Slip Away

Losers of 16 straight, FSU came to Tuscaloosa in 1974 and outplayed the outrageously favored Tide. At least until the last 33 seconds of the game, that is, when Bama kicked a  36-yard field goal to lead for the first time.

Final score, 8 - 7. Larry Key scored the only touchdown of the game. But FSU's soccer-style kicker missed three field goals and had one blocked. Any of which could have won it for the Noles. It would have been an upset then akin to App State beating Michigan today.

Darrell Mudra, who coached the Noles in '74 and '75, blames himself. Now retired and fishing the Gulf almost daily, Mudra told us his team would have won if not for making "a huge error at the end of the game."

You're talking about taking a safety?
"We thought the only way they could win was to block a punt. So we took a safety to play it safe. But we didn't take into account the fact that if we didn't take a safety, they would have had to score a touchdown. They hadn't scored a touchdown the whole game. We actually missed three field goal tries (as well as having one blocked). In our first year, we didn't really have time to recruit a kicker. We found a student, a kid from Turkey who was over here because he wanted to avoid the draft.
But he was pretty terrible. We just made a mistake playing him."

You may remember FSU led Bama in every stat except punting.
"We had a good punter, and that's one reason we took the safety. We thought he'd be able to get off a good one without any rush. He had a poor kick. Then Alabama had pretty good field position. They only had one play, I think, and then kicked the (winning) field goal."

How did you get your team pumped up to nearly pull off a major upset?
     "I don't
think we made any special preparation. But we did a real good job defensively against their wishbone. Offensively,
we played a lot of unbalanced line and that caught them off guard.

"After that game, I heard (assistant coach) Dan Henning on the phone with an LSU coach (Bama's next opponent). They wanted to know our (game) plan. So I called Bear and asked 'are you prepared for the unbalanced line?' He said, 'You're damn right. After the fiasco with you guys we're working on it pretty hard.'"

Game photos courtesy of the Paul W. Bryant Museum

TRIBE Vs. TIDE, GAME TWO: An eye-witness account of the ambush of Bama

by Howard Ellis, Class of ‘67

It can’t have been forty years!  That beautiful fall day seems like yesterday. Except for the fact that I’ve told this story probably 100 times since then. Our young, unpredictable Seminoles (“What’s a Seminole?” was a question we used to answer a lot forty years ago) were scheduled to be the Alabama Crimson Tide’s football sacrifice du jour at Birmingham’s Legion Field on Saturday the 23rd of September 1967.

I remember the date because it was the day after my 23rd birthday. As a birthday present, my sweetheart at the time had purchased tickets for the game and arranged for another couple to drive up with us to see FSU play one of the biggest games ever…against an Alabama team lead by Kenny “The Snake” Stabler and coached by Bear Bryant, legend in a pork pie hat.

Being poor college students, we packed a lunch and all chipped in for gas. Among the four of us, the most reliable car was my friend’s Nash Rambler station wagon. We all  piled into it and headed out from Tallahassee for the evening game in Birmingham. We barely got there for the kick off, and would have missed it had we not bought a newspaper from the kid selling them at an intersection where we were stopped for a red light. We initially told the young boy, who looked to be about sixteen, we didn’t need a paper, but could use directions to Legion Field. After being told to turn right and drive straight for five miles, we decided a paper would helpful in getting information on the game. Handing over the newspaper, the kid then gave us an entirely new set of directions that began with turning left…The kid was street wise on several levels.

The stadium was packed. As Seminole fans, the four of us were outnumbered about a thousand to one. The game was a wild offensive display by both teams. Kim Hammond had quite a night throwing to Ron Sellers. “Jingle Joints,” as he became known, hauled in twelve or thirteen passes for over a hundred and fifty yards. We couldn’t believe it! Alabama was a legitimate contender for the national title and here was little old FSU (at the time) running up and down the field with them. After a couple of series, we overcame the intimidation of being so out-numbered and started screaming support for the guys in garnet and gold.

When the smoke settled, the scoreboard read FSU—37  Alabama—37.  The ‘Noles had given it everything they had. In the stands, we had done the same. And I’ll never forget what great fans the Tide loyalists turned out to be. Although it was a disappointing outcome for them, many who had been seated around us shook our hands and congratulated us on FSU’s mighty effort. 

We drove a long way to see that historic game. The FSU Football program covered a lot of ground that weekend too. It was the beginning of a drive for national recognition that peaked in 1993 when we won our first title, and the making of a tradition I feel privileged to have been a part of.

TRIBE Vs. TIDE, GAME TWO: More memories of the day the Bear was fit to be tied

We tracked down Mike Bugar, a junior defensive lineman for the Noles in 1967. Mike went on to be an assistant coach on the college level, but says he's never forgotten the 37 - 37 tie with Bama -- even if it was 40 years ago:

"The game in '65 we felt kind of tentative. But the one in '67, we felt good about ourselves. We really felt that we should have won that game. But Alabama kinda woke up and got pissed off.

"One of the things I remember about that game is we returned a punt for a touchdown (or a long gain). And it was run to Alabama's sideline. As I was going by I remember Bear Bryant taking off his hat and throwing it on the ground and asking 'Do we have our best in the there!?'

"I remember missing a tackle on Ken Stabler on an option play on Alabama's two-point conversion that made it a tie. I remember feeling bad after the game because I missed that tackle.

"We felt like we were going to spring a surprise on Alabama. Danny Ford played in that game, he was an offensive tackle. I later worked for Danny at Clemson. He never would say much about that game except that we were lucky."

Photos courtesy of the Paul W. Bryant Museum, Tuscaloosa.

TRIBE Vs. TIDE, GAME TWO: Lost and Found Sound of 1967's Classic 37 - 37 Shootout

Perhaps the most impressive
win of the pre-Bowden era was actually a tie. But for FSU fans of the day, it was every bit a victory. The year was 1967 and FSU had lost its opener to Houston in the Astrodome. Next up was Alabama, riding a 21-game win streak. It looked like Bear Bryant could name the score. Instead, the Bear was embarrassed as FSU scored more points than Bama gave up the entire previous season.

Here's some rare play-by-play of the final drive as Kim Hammond and company knot the score with a minute left to play. The announcer is Alabama's legendary John Forney, an old-school gentlemen who paid tribute to FSU's tieing touchdown ("We cannot give Kim Hammond enough credit, that was a magnificent pass").

While the quality is not great -- with the radio reception fading in and out -- it's worth a listen as a monumental moment in a young football program barely 20 years old at the time.
MP3 File

TRIBE Vs. TIDE, GAME ONE: Bama and The Bear Take Care of Business

By Rich Halten

For two major schools in bordering states,
the FSU - Alabama series is surprisingly brief and, by college football standards, ancient history. Its three games are confined to a ten-year period more than 30 years ago. But what it lacks in history, it makes up for in drama -- with one notable exception.

Alabama's 21 - 0 domination in the first meeting in October '65 was nothing to write home about. I know, because I covered the game for FSU's student newspaper, The Florida Flambeau. I recall a methodical Bama ground game and FSU's inability to generate much offense (Tensi and Biletnikoff had graduated). Most of all I recall supremely confident Tide fans cheering politely but with little spirit, so assured were they of the outcome. Oh, and I'll never forget the great fried chicken served in the press box.

Joe Avezzano was a senior OL in '65. We asked him if the team might have been a little dazzled by the Bear Bryant mystique:

"Going to Alabama, that was a big deal for us. And also we didn't have as good of a football team. In '64, didn't matter where we played -- at home or away -- we knew we were going to beat anybody we played. And if we didn't, it was a huge surprise to us. In '65, we weren't the same team. I'm glad we went and wish we could have played better. But it was just one of those experiences."

In the first half, the Noles drove to the Alabama 18, and later the 38. But both drives stalled out.

The closest FSU came to scoring was a second-half drive to the Tide's 15-yard line, but an interception killed any hope of points.

The Bear threw some minor praise FSU's way, saying "We had a better football team out there today than I thought we had (referring to the Noles). Although Florida State gained a lot of yardage, they didn't do anything we didn't expect, and our defense played about as well as it could."

Coach Bill Peterson called the loss "humiliating." The next two games in the series would be a far different story.

Next -- Peterson's Revenge: the Noles humble the Tide on national TV.