One of the defining incidents of the Alabama mystique happened versus Penn State. We all eitherr saw or read about the goal line stand against Penn State in the 1979 Sugar Bowl, and the famous "You'd better pass" comment followed by Barry Krauss making the cover of SI with his 4th down play.
A couple or three years later Alabama and Penn State had signed on for a regular season series and were playing at Penn State. Penn State had a first and goal from the Bama 4. Bama apparently held, but a pass interference call in the end zone gave the Nittany Lions anotehr shot at it. Four more plays failed, Bama took over on downs and went on to win the game.
Fast forward to 1989. Bill Curry and company are undefeated and carry a two point lead into the waning moments of the fourth quarter. Penn Stae mounts a late drive and their power running game seems to be grinding the will out of Bama's exhausted defense. Once again it is first and goal from the five, and three running plays pushed it inside the Alabama one. The home team took their final time out after letting the clock run down to only a few seconds. Coming out of the last time out Penn State sent out their field goal unit, and Thomas Rayam got one of his big mits on the kick, earning his place in the pantheon of Alabama heroes who made game saving plays.
Even the great Joe Pa was affected by the Alabama mystique. After that game he sdmitted he hadn't given much thought at all to another running play. After all, by his count, on the last 15 plays they had run against Alabama starting from inside the 5, he was still looking for the first TD. Joe Pa didn't think his team could make that last yard.
