Crimson Tide Top 10 Sugar Bowls: No. 6, 1966 Alabama vs. Nebraska

The Alabama Crimson Tide will be making its 17th appearance in the Sugar Bowl, the most of any team, when it squares off against the No. 9 Kansas State Wildcats inside Caesars Superdome on Dec. 31 (11 a.m. CT on ESPN).

BamaCentral is counting down the Top 10 Sugar Bowls for Alabama:

#3 Alabama 34 (Final: 12-0-0)
#6 Nebraska 7 (Final: 9-2-0)

The story has completely overshadowed the game.

Alabama was the two-time defending national champion (though both the 1964 and 1965 titles were somewhat controversial) and ranked No. 1 in the preseason polls. Led by players like quarterback Kenny “Snake” Stabler, end Ray Perkins, and tackle Cecil Dowdy — not to mention All-American defensive tackle Richard Cole, guard John Calvert, and back Dicky Thompson — the Crimson Tide destroyed every team it faced minus one, Tennessee, which it still came back to defeat in the Knoxville rain, 11-10.

The defense allowed just 37 points all season with five shutouts, including 21-0 against LSU and 31-0 over Auburn.

Even the Orange Bowl was a complete Crimson affair, as Alabama played Nebraska in a rematch of the previous year’s decisive title game. With Stabler throwing a 45-yard pass to Perkins on the first play from scrimmage to set up the first score, and defensive back Bobby Johns making three interceptions, Alabama crushed Nebraska in a 34-7 rout.

However, it didn’t lead to the coveted three-peat.

Despite the perfect season, the Crimson Tide was ranked third behind Notre Dame and Michigan State heading into the postseason – with both the Associated Press and United Press International holding their final voting before the bowl games were played (FYI, the AP held its final voting after the bowls in 1965, but switched back in 1966, before making the switch permanent in 1969. The coaches’ poll followed suit in 1973).

On top of that, the Spartans and Fighting Irish had played to a 10-10 tie earlier in the season, in what was hyped as the “Game of the Century,” with Notre Dame, which was No. 1 at the time, running out of the clock instead of going for the road win.

Coach Paul W. “Bear” Bryant was quoted as saying, “At Alabama, we teach our men to win,” and the Crimson Tide felt it was robbed of its place in history as the first program to win three consecutive national titles.

Excerpt from "100 Things Crimson Tide Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die."

Alabama Recap

Nebraska’s hopes for a revenge victory over Alabama’s Crimson Tide in the 1967 Sugar Bowl Classic ended abruptly — the first play of the game, to be exact.

The Cornhuskers, 39-28 Alabama victims in the 1966 Orange Bowl, picked the Sugar Bowl for a chance to meet the Tide again, and by doing so became the only Big 8 team to land a spot in the four major bowls. But that was the only satisfaction the Huskers could gain as The Tide struck early and quickly established dominant superiority.

On the first play after the opening kickoff, Tide quarterback Kenny Stabler blazed the ball through the soggy, leaden skies to All-American end Ray Perkins sailing full speed at the NU 40. Perkins wasn’t hauled down until he hit the Husker 27. Seven plays later Alabama scored and launched the rout that was to see the Tide lead, 17-0 at the quarter, 24-0 at the half and 27-0 before the Huskers could muster a fourth-quarter touchdown and avert a shutout. It was a convincing display of Alabama speed, quickness and determination as the Tide sought to become the only major unbeaten claimant to the national title.

Stabler’s pin-point passing, Perkins’ amazing pass catching skills and some fine running by Stabler — he won the Miller-Digby Memorial Trophy as the outstanding player of the game — put the Cornhuskers in a huge hole early and they were never able to regain the initiative

Sugar Bowl Summary

In prayers and predictions, Bob Devaney, outstanding coach that he was, batted a thousand.

Rain swept the city for two days before the Sugar Bowl. A steady, light shower finally stopped an hour and half before kickoff, but the field remained in good condition – with the exception of one spot at the 10-yard line on the north side.

As Devaney predicted, on the game’s first play from scrimmage, at the Alabama 28, Ken Stabler faked fullback Les Kelley into the line, stepped back and lofted a pass to Ray Perkins at the 49. Perkins made the catch and slithered down to the Nebraska 27 for a 45-yard gain. “We wanted to give them a set we would use the first time we got the ball,” Coach Bear Bryant said. “We wanted to throw long to Perkins and see what defense they were in. If Ray was covered, Kenny Stabler was to overthrow him. Perkins got behind his man, though, and that really gave us a big lift.”

Perkins, who in 1983 succeeded Bryant as coach of the Crimson Tide, said the completion was no big surprise. “We felt it would work because we were pretty certain our receivers could get open on their defensive backs. They were kind of slow.”

Seven plays afterward, Kelley scored from the 1. That, for all practical purposes, ended the game.

…

Devaney was also disappointed, although he immediately knew where he went wrong. “Sure, I prayed for rain. But that was a mistake,” he admitted. “I should’ve prayed for a driving rain.”

Excerpt from the book “Sugar Bowl Classic: A History” by Marty Mulé.

Sports Illustrated Said ...

"Best and Worst of the Bowls," Jan. 9, 1967

By Dan Jenkins

Be truthful now, Notre Dame and Michigan State. Would you really want to play Alabama? Would you honestly care to spend an afternoon trying to swat those gnats who call themselves linemen and swirl around your ankles all day long? Why, heavens to Bear Bryant. Nobody ought to want to play Alabama unless it just plain enjoys going to football clinics. Which is what last week's Sugar Bowl was—a clinic, with The Bear instructing the nation on what a top team is supposed to look like.

The New Orleans game bore the only resemblance to a contest of importance as the collegiate season finally ended last Saturday and Monday with five bowl attractions. Alabama went into its game wanting to prove that it was as good, or better, than either Notre Dame or Michigan State by defeating a big, talented Nebraska team convincingly. It did exactly that, 34-7, with Bryant second-and third-stringing it throughout the damp afternoon. Had he not substituted mercifully, the score might have gone much higher and the chart of superlatives below would have been even more heavily weighted in his favor.

There was little doubt that Alabama would remain the only unbeaten, untied major team in the land (11-0) after the first play of the game. Quarterback Kenny Stabler, a cool, bazooka-armed junior, faked, raised up, waited, then passed 45 yards to End Ray Perkins, and the rout was under way. No fewer than 12 different Alabama backs darted through and around Nebraska's huge but outquicked line any time yardage was needed on the ground. Overall, Alabama's mistakes could have been charted on a postage stamp.

Alabama Recap

Sugar Bowl Summary

Sports Illustrated Said ...

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