Fifty years ago today, Alabama played one of the more amazing football games in the program’s storied history.
The second-ranked Crimson Tide crushed Virginia Tech (which then went by VPI, for its full name, Virginia Polytechnic Institute) 77-6 at Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa on Oct. 27, 1973. Alabama was in the midst of a national championship season, but the VPI game stood out even among a series of blowout wins for Paul “Bear” Bryant’s team that year.
Its wishbone offense clicking on all cylinders, Alabama led VPI by a 42-6 score at halftime and then added 35 more points in the second half. The Crimson Tide improved to 7-0 on the way to an 11-1 finish, while the Hokies (then alternately known as the Gobblers) fell to 1-7 and would end up 2-9.
The game left players, coaches and sportswriters who witnessed it aghast.
“I didn’t want the score to be like that,” Bryant said. “They just got tired and we played over 70 people who were rested. They’ve got nothing to be ashamed of and I hope people realize that. We definitely were not trying to run up the score.
“I’m really embarrassed over the score. There’s not that much difference in our teams. But I’m proud of our kids for winning. I thought the offense was terrific.”
“When we came in at the half, we were praying that those rumors about them (Alabama) being a second-half team were false,” VPI quarterback Eddie Joyce said. “Golly, we found out the hard way.”
“Thanksgiving came early for Virginia Tech Saturday night as Alabama attacked the Gobblers with all the desperation of a starving Pilgrim,” Clyde Bolton wrote in the Birmingham News. “When the last drumstick had been digested, Alabama owned a 77-6 victory and the NCAA record for total offense and rushing yards in a single game.”
“Whew!!,” Alan Mitchell wrote in the Alabama Journal of Montgomery. “What a night to be remembered in the annals of the glorious University of Alabama football history. The Crimson Tide, the nation’s second-ranked grid power, ran, and ran, and ran, and ran, and …”
“The Virginia Tech University football team got approximately $50,000 in guarantees to play Alabama (in Tuscaloosa) Saturday night,” John Pruett wrote in the Huntsville Times. “That wasn’t enough. Heck, $1 million wouldn’t have been enough.”
“Move over Ohio State, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, and Penn State,” Charles Hollis wrote in the Anniston Star. “Those 60 points or better you score every afternoon in an attempt to regain national recognition and a higher ranking, won’t help matters this week. All them points is just mere chicken feed.”
AL.com reviewed contemporary media reports from the game, as well as the archived statistics and also viewed the coach’s game film provided by the Paul W. Bryant Museum (the game was not televised). Here are 10 interesting, amazing and downright crazy facts and statistics about one all-timer of an Alabama victory:
1. It was a rare night game in Tuscaloosa for that era
Alabama played its first night game in Tuscaloosa in 1948, but didn’t use the lights on Saturdays very often in those days. In fact, the 1973 game against VPI was just the ninth true night (post 6 p.m.) kickoff in the history of Denny Stadium (which added “Bryant” to its name in 1975), and just the fifth of Bryant’s tenure. Kickoff was at 7:30 p.m. Central, but it didn’t exactly start a trend. Alabama would play just one more night game in Tuscaloosa — a 1975 contest vs. Clemson — before 1991. Regular night games at Bryant-Denny didn’t become a trend until the early 2000s, when Alabama moved all its home games to Tuscaloosa and most games began to be televised.
2. Alabama set numerous records that night, some of which still stand
The Crimson Tide’s 748 rushing yards (on just 63 carries) set an NCAA record, as did its 833 total offensive yards. Those are both still SEC and Alabama program records, as are four backs rushing for at least 100 yards, 10 rushing touchdowns and 11 extra-point kicks. The Crimson Tide’s 11.3 yards per carry and 11.9 yards per play are still the most in program history. Oklahoma later broke Alabama’s rushing-yardage record with 768 in a 70-24 win over Kansas State in 1988, but did so on 72 attempts (10.7 yards per carry). The Sooners also surpassed the Crimson Tide’s total-yardage mark with 876 in an 82-42 win over Colorado in 1980, with 758 of that on 71 rushing plays and 117 on seven passing plays. Nebraska gobbled up 883 total yards (677 rushing) in a 68-0 rout of New Mexico State in 1982, but did so on 104 plays. However, the all-time major-college total offense record belongs to Houston, which famously rolled up 1,021 yards in a 95-21 win over SMU in 1989, the Mustangs’ first year back after the NCAA-administered “death penalty” shut the program down for two years.
3. It’s the most points the Crimson Tide has scored vs. a Division I program
Alabama has exceeded the 77 it scored vs. VPI in 1973 on six occasions, only one of those taking place since 1922. The Crimson Tide beat Delta State 89-0 in Montgomery in its 1951 season opener, but the Statesmen were then in the NCAA’s “college” division, the pre-cursor to Division I-A/FCS (Division II, where Delta State now resides, wasn’t created for another two decades). Alabama also beat Marion 110-0 in 1922 and 81-0 in 1902, Bryson 95-0 in 1921, Birmingham Southern 81-0 in 1913 and Alabama Southern 80-0 in 1916, but those were all essentially what we would now consider junior-college or NAIA programs. Virginia Tech is the only opponent on that list who had anything close to the number of scholarship players as Alabama did when the teams played. In the half-century since, Alabama has come closest to matching the 77 it hung on the Hokies 50 years ago vs. Vanderbilt in 1979 and vs. Ole Miss in 2017, both 66-3 victories.
4. Alabama had 5 TDs after its first 4 offensive possessions
The Crimson Tide scored the first four times it had the ball, and even one time when it didn’t. Wilbur Jackson ran 51 yards on Alabama’s fifth play from scrimmage to make it 7-0, then Randy Billingsley powered in from 2 yards away to put the Tide up 14-0 after one quarter. Ralph Stokes ran 7 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the second quarter, then Alabama’s defense and special teams got into the act. Dick Turpin blocked a VPI punt, which rolled into the end zone before Conley Duncan fell on it for a TD. That gave Alabama a 28-0 lead with 13:56 left in the second quarter. After Virginia Tech missed a field goal, the Crimson Tide again drove to the end zone for Richard Todd’s 28-yard touchdown pass to Warren Dyar and a 35-0 lead. Todd threw an interception on Alabama’s next possession, the only time the Crimson Tide had the ball in the first half that it did not score.
5. Alabama tied an NCAA record with four 100-yard rushers
The Crimson Tide was the third team in NCAA history and remains among only six who have had four 100-yard rushers in the same game. James Taylor (142 yards), Wilbur Jackson (138), Calvin Culliver (127) and Richard Todd (102) all cracked the century mark rushing against VPI. The other teams with four 100-yard rushers in a game are Arizona State (1951 vs. Arizona), Texas (1969 vs. SMU), Army (1984 vs. Montana), Nebraska (2001 vs. Baylor) and Nevada (2009 vs. San Jose State). However, Alabama is the only one on the list in which all four rushers had single-digit carries. Incidentally, only two Alabama players scored multiple touchdowns in the game, and neither ran for 100 yards. Halfback Randy Billingsley scored on runs of 2 and 7 yards, while third-string quarterback Jack O’Rear got into the end zone on runs of 14 and 28 yards.
6. Two then-little-known running backs had career days
Jackson was the Crimson Tide’s star offensive player in 1973 and was already immortalized as Alabama’s first African-American scholarship football athlete, while Todd played extensively as the No. 2 quarterback behind Gary Rutledge and later went on to a solid NFL career. However, Taylor and Culliver had the games of their young careers (at least to that point) vs. Virginia Tech. Taylor had his 142 yards on just five carries, including an 80-yard touchdown burst just before halftime that put the Crimson Tide up 42-6 and later a 40-yard run. Culliver, then a freshman, ran for his 127 yards on eight carries, with his 87-yard run on a fullback dive putting Alabama up 70-6 in the third quarter. Culliver went on to be a key contributor for the next four years, and ended his Alabama career with more than 1,500 rushing yards. Taylor remained largely anonymous outside of sharing his name with a famed singer-songwriter, though that changed somewhat when son Lance joined the Alabama team as a wide receiver in the early 2000s. Lance Taylor later became a graduate assistant under Nick Saban, coached on staffs at Notre Dame, Stanford and Louisville and is now the first-year head coach at Western Michigan.
7. Richard Todd and Wilbur Jackson ran wild as well
Not to be outdone, Todd and Jackson also had big moments in the game. Jackson got his 138 yards on just five carries, following up his 51-yard touchdown run in the first quarter with a 74-yarder in the third that might have been a touchdown if he hadn’t stepped out of bounds at the 7. Billingsley scored on the next play to make it 49-6. Todd took over for Rutledge on Alabama’s third series and played until late in the third quarter when O’Rear stepped in at quarterback. Todd ran for 102 yards on six carries, including a 46-yard run and a 9-yard touchdown on an option that put Alabama up 56-6 early in third quarter. Alabama lined up to punt only once in the game but didn’t actually kick it. Instead, Todd — in the game instead of regular punter Greg Gantt — ran six yards for a first down on fourth-and-5.
8. Alabama might have set a record for “explosive” plays
The Crimson Tide had 11 offensive plays of 20-plus yards, five of 40-plus yards, four of 50-plus yards, three of 70-plus yards and two of 80-plus yards. Those “explosive” plays accounted for 477 of Alabama’s 828 yards in the game, or 58 percent. The 11 plays were, in order: (1) Jackson’s 51-yard touchdown run; (2) Gary Rutledge’s 20-yard run; (3) Richard Todd’s 24-yard run; (4) Todd’s 28-yard TD pass to Warren Dyar; (5) James Taylor’s 80-yard touchdown run; (6) Jackson’s 74-yard run; (7) Mike Stock’s 23-yard halfback pass to Ralph Stokes; (8) Todd’s 22-yard pass to Dyar; (9) Taylor’s 40-yard run; (10) Calvin Culliver’s 87-yard TD run; and (11) Jack O’Rear’s 28-yard touchdown run. In addition, Willie Shelby returned a third-quarter punt 53 yards to the VPI 24, but it was called back by a clipping penalty. Culliver’s 87-yard touchdown came on the next play.
9. The Crimson Tide piled up all those points and yards with basically one dimension
As was generally the case in the wishbone days, Alabama didn’t throw the ball a whole lot nor did it need to. The Crimson Tide attempted just seven passes, completing four for 85 yards with one interception. Todd completed passes of 28 and 22 yards to Dyar, while Stock threw 23 yards to Stokes. The other completion was a 12-yarder from Todd to Johnny Sharpless in the second quarter. Alabama ran the ball on 63 of 70 offensive snaps, right at 90 percent of the time. And though the Crimson Tide averaged 12.1 yards per pass attempt vs. VPI, it averaged 11.8 yards per rush. For the 1973 season, Alabama ran the ball 663 times (60.2 times per game, 87.5 percent of the time) and passed it just 94 (8.5 per game). The Crimson Tide ran for 4,027 yards as a team in 11 games (bowl stats weren’t counted as part of the official record back then), setting an SEC record that still stands by averaging 366.1 yards per game on the ground.
10. Virginia Tech tried a really, really long field goal for some reason
VPI got its only points of the game with 58 seconds left in the first half, when halfback Phil Rogers ran seven yards for a touchdown to cut Alabama’s lead to 35-6. The Gobblers went for two, however, but the Crimson Tide’s Mike Washington intercepted the ball in the end zone. When VPI did actually kick the ball, it didn’t go especially well. In addition to the blocked punt for a touchdown by Alabama in the second quarter, Washington also blocked a 54-yard field goal attempt in the first. But that wasn’t the longest missed field goal of the day for the Gobblers, as Wayne Latimer inexplicably attempted a 61-yarder with Alabama leading 28-0 in the second quarter. The kick was well short, but made it into the end zone, resulting in a touchback under NCAA rules at the time. VPI actually moved the ball fairly well in the game, completing 19 passes and totaling 289 yards and 14 first downs. However, the Gobblers’ drives other than the one touchdown and two missed field goals ended in seven punts, three turnovers on downs, a blocked punt and the end of the first half.
We could go on, but we think you get the picture. Alabama’s 77-6 victory over Virginia Tech in 1973 was one of the more unforgettable games in the long history of Crimson Tide football.
(Special thanks to David Mize of the Paul W. Bryant Museum for providing the game film, as well as his colleague Brad Green for research assistance. Also thanks to Meredith McDonough of the Alabama Department of Archives and History for photo help.)
Creg Stephenson has worked for AL.com since 2010 and has covered college football for a variety of publications since 1994. Contact him at cstephenson@al.com or follow him on Twitter at @CregStephenson.
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