The Bear & Bama Win 1979 National Championship
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Tide Defeats Hogs 24-9 To Cap Sensational Season
1979 University Of Alabama National Champions
UA Photo
The 11th National Championship in football for The University of Alabama Crimson Tide came in 1979. This was the sixth and final national championship credited to head coach Paul "Bear" Bryant. This was Bama's 85th overall season in football, and the 45th in the Southeastern Conference. It was Bryant's 22nd year.
The '79 Tide went undefeated during the regular season, finishing at 11-0-0, and winning the Southeastern Conference Championship with a 6-0 slate. It should be noted that Alabama defeated a pair of Top-20 Southeastern Conference rivals during the regular season. Bama bested the 18th-ranked Tennessee Volunteers 27-17, as well as the 14th-ranked Auburn Tigers 25-18.
1979 marked Alabama's seventh perfect, unblemished season in college football history. The others were 1925, 1930, 1934, 1945, 1961, 1966. This does not include the 1897 season as Alabama played only one football game that season, but did win the contest. The Crimson Tide defense was spectacular, recording five shutouts and allowing only two teams to score in double digits. The offense scored thirty points or more seven times.
The Crimson Tide then received an invitation to play the 6th-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks in the January 1, 1980 Sugar Bowl. Alabama routed the Hogs 24-9 to finish the season at 12-0-0, and were the consensus national champions. The outstanding player of the game was Major Ogilvie.
1979 Alabama Football Schedule
09/08 @Georgia Tech W 30-6
09/22 Baylor W 45-0
09/29 @Vanderbilt W 66-3
10/06 Wichita State W 38-0
10/13 @Florida W 40-0
10/20 Tennessee W 27-17
10/27 Virginia Tech W 31-7
11/03 Mississippi State W 24-7
11/10 @LSU W 3-0
11/17 Miami W 30-0
12/01 Auburn W 25-18
01/01 Arkansas W 24-9
1979 National Championship Ring
UA Photo
Bama Always Makes The Cover
Bryant's Final National Championship Ride
Photo Credit: The Birmingham News
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Alabama Track & Field
Gholston & Burks Are Academic All-Americans
Alex Gholston
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
University of Alabama track and field head coach Dan Waters commented, "This really shows the balance we strive for at Alabama, To have an NCAA champion and All-American also earn Academic All-America is a tremendous feat. We are very proud of everything Quanesha and Alex have accomplished to this point in their Crimson Tide careers."
Gholston, a junior, boasts a 4.0 cumulative grade point average and finished 16th at the 2016 NCAA Championships in the 400 meter after posting a personal-best time of 52.11 at the Southeastern Conference Championships. An English major from Town Creek, Ala., she ran the lead leg of the Tide’s 4x400 relay that recorded the fifth-, sixth- and eighth-fastest times in school history at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, NCAA East Regional and SEC Outdoor Championships, respectively. She was also a member of the Tide’s indoor 4x400 relay that finished seventh at the SEC Indoor Championships. Gholston recorded a leap of 22 feet, 2 1/2 inches.
Burks is a two-time NCAA champion, having won the national long jump title at botht he NCAA outdoors in 2015 and the indoors in 2016. She has a cumulative GPA of 3.5. She also finished as the NCAA runner-up in the long jump in last month’s NCAA Outdoor Championships. A two-time SEC long jump champion, the junior from Hartselle, Alabama, who is majoring in elementary education, currently holds the 10 best jumps in Alabama women’s track & field history. Her winning jump at the SEC Outdoor Championships was the best in the NCAA in 2016.
Gholston and Burks are now the fifth and sixth members of the Alabama women’s track and field team to earn Academic All-America honors. Along with the pair, junior thrower Joe Williams earned a place on the 2016 Capital One/CoSIDA Academic All-District IV Track & Field/Cross Country Team earlier this season.
Quanesha Burks
Photo Credit: RollTide.com
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Phil Steele Predicts This Season's Playoff Teams
Well known college football guru Phil Steele has predicted the four college football teams to be involved in this season's college football playoffs. Steele is predicting The Alabama Crimson Tide to meet the Oklahoma Sooners in the Peach Bowl, while he likes Florida State and LSU in the Fiesta Bowl.
Steele predicts the Crimson Tide to defeat the Sooners, and State to beat LSU for the Alabama-Florida State matchup for the national championship. He picks the Seminoles to win the 2016 National Championship.
