Alabama Football – Birmingham, AL October 10, 1981
Alabama 13 – Southern Mississippi 13
If you have ever looked back at “Bear” Bryant quotes and interviews about Southern Mississippi football games, you may be slightly confused. Or more likely, you will wonder if Bryant was confused. For decades and up until the end of his career, whenever Bryant spoke of the Golden Eagles, he almost always said Mississippi Southern rather than Southern Mississippi. Bryant did not intend to disparage. The school was named Mississippi Southern from 1940 until 1962. Old habits die hard.
Prior to the 1981 game, Bryant’s teams had faced Mississippi Southern ten times and earned ten wins. That was not expected to change in 1981.
Southern Miss had a talented quarterback in Reggie Collier and a tough running back in Sammy Winder. In the 80’s the NFL did not value run-pass QB’s and Collier had only a brief NFL career. Winder played nine seasons for the Denver Broncos, rushing for over 5,000 yards.
In 1981, Alabama and Bryant still clung to a run on every down offense and pass only as the last resort. Against the Golden Eagles in 1981, the Tide threw three passes. Southen’s more balanced offensive attack outgained the Tide in the game but the Tide led 10-3 after three-quarters.
The Golden Eagles rallied in the 4th with a Collier touchdown and with a Tide FG the score was 13-10 late. Southern Miss got the ball with 2:51 left and without any timeouts. After a 27-yard pass completion, Southern Miss reached the Tide 21 yard line with eight seconds remaining.
Southern Miss scurried to get their players in position so they could spike the ball. With the clock slipping toward 0:00, Alabama stunned Southen Miss and everyone in the stadium. The Tide stopped the clock by calling a timeout.
Southern Miss trotted their field goal team on the field and calmly made the game-tying kick.
Who made the timeout mistake? In typical Bryant style, the coach said he did: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1981/10/11/alabama-timeout-lets-s-mississippi-tie/dfd9d5f0-c271-420d-9e4f-a01734851caf/?utm_term=.2f8493b4c491
"“I don’t know why I did that,” Alabama Coach Bear Bryant said afterward. “I guess disorganization and confusion was the reason more than anything else. “We took a timeout when they didn’t have one. They deserve everything they got. It’s a pity they didn’t go ahead and win. They did everything else.”"
Which brings to mind another Bryant quote: http://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/2012/bear-bryant-50-quotes/
"“If anything goes bad, I did it. If anything goes semi-good, we did it. If anything goes really good, then you did it. That’s all it takes to get people to win football games for you.”"