SEC Flashback : Virginia Tech vs Alabama , 1973

Disclaimer : long, lots of trivia and lots of stuff about Bear . You've been warned.

The upcoming Virginia Tech-Alabama game in Atlanta should be a very good game.Two fine teams and fine coaches.Both teams will be in the top 15,if not higher at kickoff time.However,when these two played in Tuscaloosa in October of 1973 whereas Alabama had one of the top teams in the country, "VPI",as they were more commonly referred to,may have been close to the bottom 15 that year.

Virginia Tech's program wasn't anything like it is now.Having become an ACC powerhouse after being a Big East powerhouse, VPI was a 'Southern Independent' back then much like a lot of teams now in conferences. These teams would typically go on the road for a decent paycheck and lose while being applauded for 'their scrappy effort'.

VPI showed up for Alabama's homecoming that night 1-6. They had given up an average of 34 pts in each defeat. Their offense was okay ,scoring an average of 21 including 27 in their lone win so far,27-15 over in-state Virginia the week before.

Whereas VPI had not been anywhere near the behemoth they are now, it was unusual for them to be such a punching bag,too. The Hokies had been to two Liberty Bowls in the 1960's coached by former Bear Bryant player,Jerry Claiborne.

Claiborne's Virginia Tech teams played Alabama three times losing all three. They lost in Birmingham 14-7 in 1968 and 17-13 in Blacksburg in 1969.However, in 1970, in what turned out to be Claiborne's last year at Virginia Tech, Alabama pulverized VPI 51-18 at Legion Field the week after the famous "Sam Cunningham/Southern Cal" game on the same field.Alabama licked its chops with 584 yds , 364 on the ground with seven different players scoring the Tide's 7 touchdowns.

Virginia Tech hired Charlie Coffey off Frank Broyles' Arkansas Razorbacks staff following the 1970 season.Broyles was in the midst of having some of the best assistant coaches in America who were going from his staff to head coaching jobs.Doug Dickey was hired at Tennessee in 1964,Johnny Majors at Iowa State in 1968, Bill Pace at Vanderbilt in 1967,and Jim Mackenzie at Oklahoma in 1966 who took an asst and former Hog player with him, Barry Switzer were just a few over Broyles' tenure. Coffey was hired away from Tennessee's staff to replace Mackenzie and Switzer in '66.

Coffey had been a rugged lineman for Tennessee from 1953-1955. As a sophomore,Coffey's Tennessee team in '53 lost to Bear Bryant's Kentucky team 27-21 in what was Bryant's lone win at Kentucky over Tennessee and also what turned out to be Bryant's last game as UK's head coach before heading down to College Station.

While Coffey was known as a defensive guru, it was his offenses under offensive coordinator Dan Henning (who would be the Falcons' head coach,among many NFL stops)that had the most success and ignited the fanbase selling the most season tickets VPI ever had in '72 and into '73.

The Hokies struggled to a 4-7 record in 1971,but improved to 6-4-1 in 1972 under the nation's leading passer,Don Strock.However,after a hiatus from the Tide in '71,they did meet in 1972 with Alabama winning big, 52-13 and holding Strock to 98 yards on 15 of 35 passing completions.

Alabama came into the game 6-0 and ranked #2 in the nation behind Ohio State.The Tide had won 4 of its games going away and was winning its games on an average of 41-6.Game one was a 66-0 laugher over California,coached by Mike White (who would be the last coach Bryant would ever face in the '82 Liberty vs Illinois).Bryant emptied the bench early in Nashville over one of his favorites,Steve Sloan and his Vandy team winning 44-0 ,which could have been much worse.Tennessee and Florida each fell by 21 pts.

Only Kentucky and Georgia had really pushed the Tide ,with each losing by the score of 28-14.

Whereas there was no official line for this game,the 'unofficial line' was 40 points.Still, 'you never know'.And, Bryant had lost to VPI before. His first loss at Maryland was to VPI in 1945.

With most of VPI's older players still overseas fulfilling WWII service (after Japanese surrender)a team with mainly 17 and 18 yr olds referred to as the "Beardless Wonders" were shutout in their first two games.Bryant sent one of his assistants,Frank Moseley,who had been one of Bear's roommates at Alabama to scout VPI vs William & Mary. Moseley,who became VPI's head coach in 1950, after seeing William and Mary win 38-0 reported back to Bear and said there was no need to worry about VPI.Bryant took his word for it and spent that week getting ready for the following week's opponent,West Virginia.

Final Score: VPI 21 Maryland 13. That had to be an interesting bus ride back for Moseley and Bryant.

Bryant had a few more wins and championships under his belt in October of 1973.This was also year three of Bryant's wishbone which revamped and rejuvenated his program while tormented others since that Friday night in Los Angeles in September of 1971 vs Southern Cal.

Charlie Coffey did have experience with the wishbone as Arkansas' defensive coordinator facing arch-rival Texas' wishbone. In fact,his last game with the Hogs was against Texas in year three of the Longhorns' wishbone. In 1968, Texas won 39-29. In 1969 in the famed 'Game of the Century',which lived up to its billing, Texas won 15-14.

In 1970, Arkansas and Texas again played one another in the last regular season game with the Cotton Bowl on the line.Arkansas' 6-2 defense they ran that year was similar to Oklahoma's defense ,which Texas had drubbed 41-9 earlier in that year's 'Red River Shootout'. Former Hog player and assistant Barry Switzer called Broyles and warned him the 6-2 would be a disaster vs Texas.Despite Broyles' objections, Coffey stuck with the 6-2. Texas won 42-7.Not long after getting back to Fayetteville,Coffey left for Blacksburg.

On the fifth play of the game, Wilbur Jackson went 51 yds for a touchdown.Later, Randy Billingsley scored from 2 yds out to lead 14-0 at the end of the first quarter. Alabama scored 28 pts in the second to lead 42-6 at halftime.

Final Score: Alabama 77 Virginia Tech 6. Alabama had 828 yards of offense, 743 on the ground on 63 carries for an average of almost 12 yds a run.

Alabama never punted,which they didn't have to do in Nashville earlier,either. The Tide scored on 10 of 14 possessions (one td came on a blocked punt recovery in the end zone). Once they were stopped by an interception,another time a fumble,a dropped pass at the VPI 23 and finally the clock ran out.VPI didn't have any turnovers,or who knows what the final may have been.

Alabama played 53 players in the first quarter alone and 64 by halftime. 66 dressed,66 played. It was 70-6 at the end of three.As hard as it is to believe or imagine, Alabama let up ,early in the game. 4th string tailback James Taylor led the Tide with 142 yards rushing(which included an 80 yarder). Alabama had four runners rush for over 100 yards. In addition to Taylor, Wilbur Jackson had 136, Calvin Culliver had 127 and Richard Todd had 102 yards. Third team quarterback Jack O'Rear had the lone touchdown in the 4th, a 29 yard run.