Alabama Football: The Tide and Ole Miss have a momentous history

Alabama football and Ole Miss have a long history and share an honor of bringing college football to primetime television in October of 1969.

Alabama football coach, Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant and Roone Arledge of ABC Sports had something in common. Both men understood promotion in an era before the term marketing was applied to every conceivable product.

In the 1960s, ABC had little success competing with CBS and NBC.  Before Arledge created Monday Night Football he decided to bring college football into the nation’s primetime viewing schedule. What Arledge had in mind was an epic introduction and he knew he needed star power. In the 1960s, Paul Bryant was college football’s star coach.

ABC actually tested the product idea a season earlier, broadcasting a night game between the Crimson Tide and Miami. ABC did that first night game with such little fanfare, few people know of it now. The big splash was to be in Birmingham’s Legion Field in a game between two established coaching rivals.

The game might have been scrapped after the ABC tech team surveyed Legion Field. The lighting was not adequate for television. Arledge called Bryant who assured him it would be taken care with a call to Birmingham’s Mayor.

"Don’t worry about it. I’ll talk to the mayor. If he won’t do it, he won’t be re-elected."

The game had to be delayed for an 8:30 PM CST broadcast. One of the few popular ABC shows was the Lawrence Welk Show. Welk had a contractual lock on the ABC 7:30 PM CST time slot and had no interest in adjusting for a football game.

Bryant and Ole Miss head coach, Johnny Vaught were both highly respected. The second most successful SEC football program in the 1960s was the Ole Miss Rebels. The two coaches had a rivalry going back to Bryant’s time at Kentucky. The two men hated losing and they particularly hated losing to each other.

Roone Arledge was as lucky as he was smart. The 33-32 Alabama football win is considered one of the most exciting games in college football history. Ole Miss junior quarterback, Archie Manning was the game’s star player. Manning passed for 436 yards and rushed for 104 yards more.

The Rebels gained 609 yards on a Bear Bryant – Ken Donahue defense, but it was not enough. Alabama football QB, Scott Hunter passed for 300 yards. The drama of the Tide’s game-winning touchdown as seen by millions was exceptional television. The TV audience and fans in the stadium did not know about the drama and confusion leading up to that play.

During a timeout, Tide coaches were unable to settle on a play. Rushed by an official to restart the game, Scott Hunter trotted back to the huddle. Recalling that moment later, Hunter said Bryant shouted,

"Run the best thing you got!"

That best thing was a pass over the middle to George Ranager. Ole Miss had blitzed but Hunter anticipated it and held Tide running back, Johnny Musso in the backfield to pick up the blitz. The pass protection decision proved to be the best call of the night.

At midfield after the game, the two legendary coaches met to shake hands. Bryant told Vaught it was worst game he had ever seen and Johnny agreed.

College football changed that October night in Birmingham. Roone Arledge, Paul Bryant, Johnny Vaught, Archie Manning and Scott Hunter changed it.

For the long history between the two schools, Ole Miss has not had much success against Alabama football. The Rebels have won only 10 of 65 games.