The 5th ranked Alabama Crimson Tide of coach Ray Perkins opened the season against the 9th ranked Ohio State Buckeyes of coach Earle Bruce. Alabama’s All-SEC PK Van Tiffin hit 3 field goals & QB Mike Shula threw a touchdown pass to WR Albert Bell early in the 4th quarter as the Crimson Tide retained The Belt with a 16-10 win over the Buckeyes. Alabama played without All-American LB Cornelius Bennett due to injury but the kicking game was the difference in the score as Tiffin hit his three field goal attempts while Ohio State’s PK Pat O’Morrow, a freshman in his first game, missed 3 field goal attempts. Tiffin hit a 38-yard field goal in the 1st quarter while a low snap foiled the first attempt by O’Morrow. The Buckeye kicker’s second attempt was short from 42 yards. Tiffin connected from 44 yards early in the 2nd quarter as the Crimson Tide pushed the lead to 6-0. Ohio State got on the board when WR Jamie Holland took a reverse handoff 26 yards for a touchdown giving the Buckeyes a 7-6 lead at halftime. In the 3rd quarter, Alabama turned the ball over 3 straight times but Ohio State could only get a 37-yard field goal from O’Morrow. The biggest blow for the Buckeyes came after Alabama’s RB Kerry Goode fumbled the kickoff after O’Morrow’s field goal giving Ohio State the ball at the Alabama 10-yard line. On the next play, Buckeyes’ RB George Cooper fumbled the ball back to the Crimson Tide. Early in the 4th quarter, Alabama drove 75 yards with Shula throwing a 3-yard touchdown pass to Bell giving the Crimson Tide a 13-10 lead with 9:33 left. After forcing Ohio State to punt, Shula led a drive that ran more than six minutes off the clock with Tiffin hitting a field goal from 28 yards with 1:02 to play as Alabama took a 16-10 lead. Ohio State last hopes ended without a score at the Crimson Tide’s 18-yard line even after they got 2 extra plays with no time left when Alabama’s LB Derrick Thomas was called for pass interference on successive plays. Buckeyes’ QB Jim Karsatos final pass attempt was high in the end zone & All-American WR Cris Carter unable to make the catch. Shula had just 83 yards passing with a touchdown but 2 interceptions while All-SEC RB Bobby Humphrey was held to 50 yards rushing. Karsatos threw for 191 yards but 2 interceptions while Carter had just 3 catches for 56 yards in the loss. Alabama finished the season 10-3; ranked 9th nationally while the Buckeyes finished 10-3, Big Ten Co-Champs & ranked 7th nationally. Ohio State would play for The Belt again in 2003.
Pickin' Splinters
Rochester's Independent Sports Source
Thanks for the post on the belt. I was just at that site the other day. Wouldn’t it be something else to see Charleston Southern wrest the belt away from Florida? Kind of interesting, though I am not sure actually unique, to have the belt worn by the actual national champion.
BTW, if CSU DOES win the belt from the Gators, will it spend the next 5 years buried in complete obscurity, shuffling itself among the league and non-league opponents of Charleston Southern until one of them gets a shot at a national contender again? I always liked watching the scoreboard show and waiting to hear who won the seemingly weekly match-up between Furman and The Citadel. That could become The Belt’s Game of the Century.
In-depth analyses of ND’s upcoming season by 2 very biased grads. Ya’ gotta love their spirit and loyalty.
Dillon ’04 Alum #1
Let’s break down the full 13-0…
1-0: Week 1: Nevada. It’s Nevada – We’ll win.
2-0: Week 2: Michigan. Rich Rod is using the Charlie Weis, proven “I have no good quarterbacks, and three that are terrible, so I won’t tell anyone who the starter is and see how we do.” We finished 4-8 that year. So will Michigan.
3-0: Week 3: Michigan State. I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to hate them as much as Michigan. Only this year, they lost their best running back, and Tey-noo-ta will blitz like crazy…so no 100 yards rushing against, no loss.
4-0: Week 4: Purdue. I could make jokes around “Pur-Dumb” or “Pur-Don’t”, but instead I choose the “World’s Largest Drum”. It’s scarier than their offense this year. Probable louder too.
5-0: Week 5: Washington. They didn’t win any games last year. In the PAC-10. Against Bad Team. ‘Nuf Said.
6-0: Week 6: USC. Because I said so. I dare anyone to come up with better counter-analysis.
7-0: Week 7: Boston College. You can make the “Back-up College” jokes, or the “we’re better Catholics” jokes, but I’m going to go with hard hitting, well-researched analysis. They already messed-up one perfect season this decade, they can’t do two.
8-0: Week 8: Washington State. I had to think about 5 seconds before I remembered their mascot, and I still can’t think of what city the school is located in. Not a strong sign of a good football school.
9-0: Week 9: Navy. This time, we’ll win 430 in a row.
10-0: Week 10: Pittsburgh. Wannstadt still has the mustache, and he will still lose to ND.
11-0: Week 11: Connecticut. Their starting QB was one of the 3 QBs from ND whom I referenced from our 4-8 season. He was #3 of 3. We tried to make him a tight-end, then he transferred. We’ll win.
12-0: Week 12: Stanford. Maybe the trickiest game on our schedule…until we remember that we have Golden Tate and now a receiver named Shaq who is almost as fast. Lots of points.
National Championship Game
Urban vs. Charlie.
Urban will throw this one to us…he owes us after backing away from Notre Dame once.
Dillon ’04 Alum #2
Point of order Mr. Chairman.
1. The South Bend Tribune headline after the game: Pistol Whipped.
2. We finished 3-9, and Jimmy weighed more in junior high than Tate “Lack of” Forcier
3. Tuh-noo-tah will call “Hawaiian Rainbow Warrior Dance all over Smoker’s face all game……..what do you mean Smoker’s not still there? Eh, whatever.
4. If the Mighty Max Weinberg were beating that Drum, I’d be scared. He’s not.
5. We all know the Ty Hangover lasts at least 3 years. He hasn’t been gone that long.
6. I will be confident up until the point Petey rips his shirt off to fire up the troops. Then I will be very scared – for obvious reasons.
7. Yep, they are allowed one ruined perfect season per decade. They are at their quota. Plus, Olsen now lines up at center, so even if BJ Raji were still there, he wouldn’t be able to find Eric to bitch slap him.
8. Pullman. Still 8-0.
9. You can’t win 430 in a row if you don’t win the second one.
10. Wanny would have looked right at home in the former Purdue regime.
11. Did Gary Godsey transfer? Did Jared Clark transfer? Losers transfer after being switched to tight end. Conversely, actual tight ends transfer because Res Life has the world’s largest stick up their institutional ass.
12. You over analyzed this one. We beat them in 2007. We are currently in the process of stealing their eight best recruits. I hope Harbaugh cries on national TV.
National Championship Game:
Tebow might be the Savior, but his Mother says he can’t come out to play anymore. She likes the opposition in a rout.
Wow, Pete! How can these “recent” grads be so bullish in favor overwhelming success? Most weren’t even born when Lou last guided our troops to a title. Okay, maybe they were a few years old. But yes, ya gotta admire their spirit!
Being the pragmatist, I’m still thinking it’s gonna be a 9-3 regular season, which will be disappointing when all is said and done. ND has the talent and experience to be better than that, especially this year with a schedule that, as Pete said a couple weeks ago, is “a gift from God”. But most of us still doubt that Charlie and his staff have all the tools to make it happen. That’s why I’m afraid ND will lose one game outright and snatch two others from “the jaws of victory”. Hope I’m wrong, but I want to see consistent excellence ON THE FIELD before I buy into any hype that ND is a worthy BCS team.
Sometimes, Wally, I wonder what it takes to graduate from the Dome nowadays. These guys are just dreamin’ but then they’re just “kids” and dreaming is a part of their life. The schedule is so “cake” that 9-3 or 10-2 would seem impossible to avoid, but like you, I believe Charlie will find a way. Hope he can prove me wrong. I’d like to move on from questioning the coach to just rooting for the team again. It’s been a long time since we had an extended period of unbridled enthusiasm, especially if you don’t count the first years of Losingham and (un)Weis. Sometimes it seems to me like the Boob Davie nightmare lives on!