By Dan Harralson
When you think of college football rivalries and tradition, you usually do not think Alabama vs. Penn State: At least that is the case for the current younger generation. These two historical football programs began fielding great games under two of the best college football coaches this sport has ever seen. Two Sugar Bowl classics in the 1970's (plus the respect for each other), allowed the two coaches to ink a decade long home-and-home series throughout the 1980's. From 1981-1990, Alabama edged out Penn State to a 6-4 series winning record. We all knew Bear Bryant would not finish the decade long series he wanted for the Crimson Tide during the 1980's, but he wanted dearly to have this series booked for the next coach after he retired. Bryant gained so much respect for the State College of Pennsylvania's football program dating back to his 7-0 Liberty Bowl loss in 1959. The 83 year-old, Coach Paterno, is nearing the end of his coaching career and this years home-and-home series with Alabama makes it more than special. Nick Saban is arguably the best coach in college football today, but he knows he cannot get caught up in the moment of renewing memory lane versus Joe Paterno. Saturday will be the sixth Saban vs. Paterno match up. Here are the all-time results between the hall-of-fame coaches:
1995: Penn State 24 Michigan State 20
1996: Penn State 32 Michigan State 29
1997: Michigan State 49 Penn State 14
1998: Penn State 51 Michigan State 28
1999: Michigan State 35 Penn State 28
Today I had the opportunity to catch up with Coach Saban regarding the Penn State game Saturday (below the video are the all-time results between Alabama and Penn State.)
1959: Penn State 7 Alabama 0 (Liberty Bowl)
1975: Alabama 13 Penn State 6 (Sugar Bowl)
1978: Alabama 14 Penn State 7 (Sugar Bowl)
1981: Alabama 31 Penn State 6 (State College)
1982: Alabama 42 Penn State 21 (Birmingham)
1983: Penn State 34 Alabama 28 (State College)
1984: Alabama 6 Penn State 0 (Tuscaloosa)
1985: Penn State 16 Alabama 14 (State College)
1986: Penn State 23 Alabama 3 (Tuscaloosa)
1987: Alabama 24 Penn State 13 (State College)
1988: Alabama 8 Penn State 3 (Birmingham)
1989: Alabama 17 Penn State 16 (State College)
1990: Penn State 9 Alabama 0 (Tuscaloosa)
Alabama leads 8-5 (Joe Paterno is 4-8 vs. Bama)
*If you crunch the numbers, Saturday's game could be Alabama 15 Penn State 12, but here is my prediction: Click Here
