Alabama set to honor the 'perfect' team, the 1979 national champions

What many believe was Bear Bryant's best team will hold its 40-year reunion this weekend as Alabama hosts Ole Miss

It’s been a long time, but the more that passes the more former University of Alabama quarterback Steadman Shealy appreciates how difficult it is for any college football team to finish a season undefeated.

That’s just in general. When it comes to the 1979 Crimson Tide, when he was playing his final season at Alabama, Shealy can’t help but cherish what that team accomplished.

“It’s very hard,” he said about going undefeated. “There’s always one game you can stub your toe, and every week you have to get up [emotionally]. Every week you have bring your A game, because everyone was bringing their A game for us, I can tell you that much.”

This weekend, as Ole Miss visits Bryant-Denny Stadium, Alabama will celebrate and honor the 1979 national champions during their 40-year reunion.

No one knew it at the time, but the 12-0 season resulted in Paul W. “Bear” Bryant’s final national title. Some consider it the best Crimson Tide team ever, a debate that may go on as long as college football is played.

But the story of that Alabama team isn’t just limited to 12 months on the calendar, but rather three years.

Alabama felt like it had been robbed by the final polls in both 1977 (when Notre Dame leapfrogged past the Crimson Tide from No. 5 in the final balloting) and 1978 (when Alabama won a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup vs. Penn State in the Sugar Bowl only to split the national title with Southern California).

In both cases a loss left the door open for another team to sneak into the top spot.

In 1977, it was at Nebraska.

“We had a couple of guys who missed the bus from the hotel to the stadium, Coach Bryant wouldn’t play them,” former offensive lineman Jim Bunch said. “We get in the huddle and there’s a guy who’s supposed to be redshirting and we’re like ‘What are you doing in here?’ He said, ‘I don’t know, but Coach Bryant told me to get in here.

“We tried to throw the ball a lot in that game. Jeff Rutledge is a great quarterback, but I think he had five interceptions in that game, and he had just six that whole year, and we only lost by seven.”

Actually, Rutledge finished with five picks, all against the Cornhuskers, who won 31-24.

In 1978, it was Southern California.

Running back Tony Nathan, who had burned USC the year before, got knocked out of the game and the Trojans played like they were on a mission to avenge the 21-20 home loss in 1977. They did, 24-14.

“Normally when a team from up north, or out west, comes to Birmingham or Tuscaloosa, the second half we could pretty much rule them because it gets so hot and humid,” Bunch said. “Those big guys they’re not used to that. But that night it got cool.”

So there only one thing for Alabama to do, remove any doubt by going undefeated in 1979 and cap the most dominating decade in college football.

Led by three first-team All-Americans — Bunch, center Dwight Stephenson and defensive back Don McNeal, plus second-teamers E.J. Junior and Byron Braggs on the defensive line — that’s exactly what the Crimson Tide did.

Congratulations to former #BigRed linebacker and #Alabama All-American E.J. Junior for being on the 2018 College Football Hall of Fame ballot. Junior won 2 National Championships and 3 SEC Titles at Alabama. Only lost 4 games in college career. pic.twitter.com/Z6fU5PUvfS

— St. Louis Football Cardinals (@BigRed_STL) June 7, 2018

Alabama was the No. 2 team in the national preseason polls and lived up to the high expectations by outscoring its first five opponents 219-9.

But then came three tight tests, all against SEC opponents, which would make or break the Crimson Tide’s season.

The first was against Third Saturday in October rival, Tennessee. Alabama was down 17-0 at halftime, but led by reserve quarterback Don Jacobs stormed back for a 27-17 victory.

“At halftime, we thought he was going to chew us out,” Bunch said about Coach Bryant. “He was clapping his hands, he was almost like a cheerleader. He said ‘We’ve got them right where we want them. The second half belongs to us.’”

Bunch said no one looked at the coach like he was nuts.

“When he spoke, he didn’t really talk a lot,” Bunch described. “He had that really low voice, that thick Arkansas accent. It was kind of like the old [EF Hutton] commercials, when he spoke everyone listens, because when he said something it was really important.

“He didn’t waste a lot of his words. That was part of his mystique, I think, looking back on it.”

Three weeks later at LSU, Alabama won 3-0, but the game wasn’t as close as the score indicated. Played in lousy weather conditions, the Tigers were also vexed by the Crimson Tide defense they had trouble even crossing midfield.

The game most people remember from that season was the Iron Bowl. Turnovers nearly did in the Crimson Tide, but Shealy led an 82-yard drive on 13 plays for a 25-18 victory.

“Our winning drive was one of the finest I’ve ever seen,” Bryant said at the time.

The national championship was settled at the Sugar Bowl, with Alabama paired against future Southeastern Conference addition Arkansas. After turning an early fumble into a field goal, the Razorbacks didn’t know what hit them until it was 17-3 in the third quarter. The game’s most valuable player, Major Ogilvie, scored two touchdowns and had a 50-year punt return. Shealy guided a 98-yard touchdown drive for a dominating 24-9 victory.

At 12-0, there was no debate over which team should be No. 1, and no split national title. Alabama was the lone contender with a perfect record, and Southern California narrowly missing.

The Tide defense yielded only 67 points, compared to 383 scored, with five shutouts, against Baylor, Wichita State, Florida, LSU and Miami. Except for that LSU game the fewest points Alabama scored against an opponent was 24.

It also capped a three-year run as impressive as any in college football.

“It’s pretty significant,” said Shealy, who finished 10 in the voting for the Heisman Trophy. “Of course, I just had great people around me, some really good players, who were just really committed to what Coach Bryant wanted us to do, and we committed to doing it. We were fortunate enough to pull it off.”