Daily Dose of Crimson Tide: Peach State Pits

Alabama has a rich history of having to go through the state of Georgia somehow to get to a championship, dating back to even before the 1924 season when it had to defeat both Georgia Tech and Georgia to win its first Southern Conference title.

Granted, the Crimson Tide didn’t always have such success, but the most disappointing game against either may have been in 1962, when Alabama visited Georgia Tech on Nov. 17. The previous year, linebacker Darwin Holt caught the Yellow Jackets’ Chick Graning with an elbow when a fair catch had been called off a punt, resulting in numerous facial fractures, a concussion and five teeth knocked out.

Georgia Tech had been looking to sever the series and after the season it was announced the teams would no longer play after the 1964 game.

But neither side forgot. In the rematch, Bryant opted to try and be unpredictable, and had sophomore quarterback Joe Namath come out throwing (which Alabama almost never did at the time), attempting 38 passes. Georgia Tech made four interceptions, one of which led to its only touchdown.

The Yellow Jackets pulled out a hard-hitting 7-6 victory after Alabama came inches short of completing a 2-point conversion.

"There was no question; we had to go for the two points," Bryant said after the game. "It was my call and I'll take the blame, but when you're number one in the country you don't play for the tie."

It cost the Crimson Tide a shot at defending its national championship.

Georgia coach Bobby Dodd called it "the greatest victory I've ever been associated with."

However, both sides played a remarkably clean game. Georgia Tech was penalized exactly 20 yards, Alabama 10.

When the teams met again at Grant Field on Nov. 14, 1964, Bryant wore a helmet when walking out to the sideline, in part because fans had thrown whiskey bottles at him two years previous.

Meanwhile, in 1963, the Saturday Evening Post accused Bryant and Georgia athletics director Wally Butts of fixing their game so they could bet on it. The article also alleged that Bryant had thrown the 1962 loss to Yellow Jackets.

Bryant was already suing the publication regarding an article by an Atlanta-based sports writer for calling the Crimson Tide a dirty team (from the 1961 Georgia Tech game), and naturally, both Bryant and Butts sued. While investigating, attorneys found that the story had been based on false and fabricated evidence. A court awarded Butts $460,000 and Bryant later settled with Curtis Publishing for $300,000.

It appeared to be a turning point for the magazine, which had been extremely popular only to suffer declining readership for the rest of the decade until it folded for two years before being revived as a quarterly publication in 1971.

Of course, that 1964 team went on to win the national championships. Georgia claims only one title since then (1980), and after hiring away Crimson Tide defensive coordinator Kirby Smart to take over his alma mater reached the National Championship Game at the end of the 2017 season when it lost in overtime to Alabama despite playing in Atlanta.

The game-winning pass between freshmen Tua Tagovailoa and DeVonta Smith, is simply known as "Second and 26."

Some of this post originated from "100 Things Crimson Tide Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die," published by Triumph Books