Alabama Football: The 51 year history of Crimson Tide – FSU games
By Ronald Evans
October 23, 1965, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 21- FSU 0
After winning the national championship in 1964, Alabama was on its way to a repeat in 1965, though it did not look likely in October.
Alabama football opened the 1965 season with an 18-17 loss to Georgia in Athens. Some fans will remember the Georgia game for the controversial ‘flea-flicker’ play that assured the Bulldogs a victory.
Here is a video of the play, narrated from the Bulldog perspective.
As the video shows and Atlanta newspaper photos confirmed the next day, the Georgia player was down well before the lateral to his teammate.
A month later, Alabama football added a tie to its 1965 record with a 7-7 outcome against Tennessee at Legion Field. Tide quarterback, Kenny Stabler with fourth-and-goal from the Vols three-yard line, hurried the offense to the line for a quick snap and threw the ball out-of-bounds.
A probable game-winning field goal never happened because Stabler thought his hurry-up play was on third down. He was mistaken and most hopes for a repeat national championship were shattered.
Alabama handled FSU easily the next week in Tuscaloosa. The outcome came as no surprise. FSU had a strong season in 1964 going 9-1-1. But 1965 was a repeat of 1959-1963 when the win totals never went past four.