🏈 Losses at Bryant Denny

[It Takes Eleven]

In 80+ years of football at Bryant Denny, Bama has lost 46 times. Although many marquee games have been played at Legion Field instead of BDS, it's still amazing that one-half of the all-time losses at BDS occurred under DuBose (eight), Franchione (five) and Shula (ten).

As a season ticket holder during this time, I realize I've endured half of the all-time losses at BDS during 1997 through 2006. To have experienced another ten losses, I would have needed to attend every game from Coach Stallings' final game in 1996 back to Coach Bryant's first game in 1958. Ten losses over 39 seasons vs. twenty-three over ten seasons.

It's been two years and nine months since we last lost a game in Bryant Denny. After those ten years in the Wilderness, it sure feels good to say that.

RTR,

Tim

 

[LBS]

Really good insight, and fantastic job of putting it in words.

I too realized that I have lived through the bad times, noting the length of time between Bryant's last NC and Stallings', as well as between Stallings and Saban. Nearly 30 years straight with only the '92 team to sustain us. How far back do we have to look to find that again? That period would take us back to the years between the beginning of Football at Bama in 1892 and their second NC in 1926.

But a year removed from an epic dry spell, how far have we come to be run away favorite to win Back-to-Back titles?

 

[Oiler99]

I remember how I longed for us to get the hell out of Birmingham and play every home game at Bryant-Denny Stadium. In the late 1990's, we finally got the Tennessee game moved to Tuscaloosa every other year when it's our home game, and then in 2000, something I thought I would never live to see, we got the Iron Bowl moved to Tuscaloosa every other year. Then on one of the happiest days I can remember, we played our last game at Legion Field on August 31,2002 and have never been back since. Due mostly to debilitating probation, we would not see a win at BDS over Tennessee until 2005 and would not beat the barn at BDS until 2008. As frustrating as it was to have to wait years to finally beat our biggest rivals at BDS, those moments were awesome when they did happen. I remember just moments after the 36-0 beatdown in 2008, I called a barner friend of mine and asked him "what do you think of Bryant-Denny now?" He replied "I think the days of that place being auburn's home away from home are definitely over". And with the place now seating 101,000, it's going to become even tougher for visiting teams.

I think we have arrived at the point I dreamed about since the 1980's. No more games in Birmingham. Every Alabama home football game is now a complete, on campus experience. And BDS has become one of the nicest stadiums in the country.

 

[252BAMA]

Can I "one up" you here? In my first five years(1953-1957)as a Bama fan, Bama was shutout SEVENTEEN times. In the FIFTY TWO seasons since then, Bama has been shutout only eleven times. Believe me, it is Hell just hoping that they would score.

 

[Oiler99]

Yep, and it has now been 10 years since the last shut out.

 

[BamaDelta]

And I thought it was just me....I think I sat through every one of those 23 except UCF under Dubose. :frown:

I remember seriously wondering if I'd ever see Alabama win a BIG one at Bryant-Denny again. Thank you Coach Saban! It's truly amazing and a lot of fun. :td:

 

[Oiler99]

There were so many (in fact TOO many) frustrating losses at Bryant-Denny under Dubose, Franchione, and Shula. And the thing of it is, none of them were necessarily beat downs. Just games we let slip away some how. Florida in 1998 for example. They were by far the better team that year, but we held them to only 1 touchdown and had the ball and a chance to win it with less than 30 seconds to go. Georgia in 2002. I'm sorry, we had that game won. No excuses that day. Arkansas and Tennessee in 2003, the over time meltdowns. I still cringe at those. Huge leads in both games, and still we lost in over time! And of course, one that haunted me for a long time, the 2005 game vs LSU. Had that damn thing won time and again. Fortunately, Saban has replaced those memories newer, better ones. Like Rocky-Block, and the Beatdown in T Town in 2008. Of course, the 41-17 drilling of the Vols in 2007 wasn't too shaby either!

 

[BamaDelta]

There were so many (in fact TOO many) frustrating losses at Bryant-Denny under Dubose, Franchione, and Shula. And the thing of it is, none of them were necessarily beat downs. Just games we let slip away some how. Florida in 1998 for example. They were by far the better team that year, but we held them to only 1 touchdown and had the ball and a chance to win it with less than 30 seconds to go. Georgia in 2002. I'm sorry, we had that game won. No excuses that day. Arkansas and Tennessee in 2003, the over time meltdowns. I still cringe at those. Huge leads in both games, and still we lost in over time! And of course, one that haunted me for a long time, the 2005 game vs LSU. Had that damn thing won time and again. Fortunately, Saban has replaced those memories newer, better ones. Like Rocky-Block, and the Beatdown in T Town in 2008. Of course, the 41-17 drilling of the Vols in 2007 wasn't too shaby either!

36-0 is probably my new favorite. That was sweet!

 

[UAgrad93]

Some painful big game losses at BDS for me include the OU game and the UCLA games. Not blowouts and with chances to win both against quality opponents, I believe OU was ranked in the Top 5 that year.

 

[ExiledTidefan]

Crazy things your guys are talking about here. Fond memories, and not so fond ones. When I arrived on campus in 1993, of course, we were defending national champs. 93 was a fine season, and 94 was a winner too. But man, it felt like it went downhill quick after that. Losses against Tennessee year after year. Losses to UCF, La Tech, the Arkansas game in 95 (dont get me started on officiating), then the mess toward the end of the century and in 2000.

I wondered where the program was going after we got the sanctions in Feb 2002. But I thought Fran would be a guy who would keep building through it. Then he let us down. Then Price let us down. I just wondered what could happen next. My expectations of Shula were low, and he didn't disappoint, sadly. But 2005 was a nice feeling that maybe we were turning the corner, until Prothro went down. I thought that was another low water mark for the program. I felt snake bitten. Even through Saban's first season, nothing was easy.

Dear Lord, thank you for the last two years. Here's praying for more of the same!

 

[bamatommy]

Excellent summary of BDS losses. I didn't realize that half the losses were under three recent coaches.

 

[RollTideinGA]

I know Bama has a great record at BDS. But in all fairness to reality the Tide didnt play big opponents there due to the size of the stadium. You'd have to add BDS and LF together to get an honest picture of the "Home" record.

I know as a kid everytime we went to see LSU/ Tennessee/Auburn/ Penn State play at "Home" it was always at LF.

Bama didnt start inviting Auburn to town until 2000 and wasn't Tenn in 2001?

 

[AFF]

I know Bama has a great record at BDS. But in all fairness to reality the Tide didnt play big opponents there due to the size of the stadium. You'd have to add BDS and LF together to get an honest picture of the "Home" record.

I know as a kid everytime we went to see LSU/ Tennessee/Auburn/ Penn State play at "Home" it was always at LF.

Bama didnt start inviting Auburn to town until 2000 and wasn't Tenn in 2001?

The Crimson Tide posted an all-time record at Legion Field of 160 wins, 52 losses and 12 ties
Alabama has a record of 218 wins, 46 losses and 3 ties at Bryant-Denny

For a combined 378 - 98 - 15. Not too shabby.

 

[RollTideinGA]

The Crimson Tide posted an all-time record at Legion Field of 160 wins, 52 losses and 12 ties
Alabama has a record of 218 wins, 46 losses and 3 ties at Bryant-Denny

For a combined 378 - 98 - 15. Not too shabby.

Oh not at all. I was just pointing out that the big games were always played at LF. I looked at it a little father.

If you look at Championship seasons in my lifetime:
1973 Bama played 3 games in BDS, 3 in Legion
1978 Bama played 3 games in BDS, 5 in Legion
1979 Bama played 4 games in BDS, 3 in Legion
1992 Bama played 3 games in BDS, 4 in Legion
2009 Bama played all home games at BDS.

The only BCS Conference teams invited to Tuscaloosa have been UCLA (2000), Penn State (3 times), and Oklahoma in 2003. When the Tide played Nebraska, So Cal, and ND it was always at LF.

Tennessee first played in T-town in 1999 and Auburn in 2000. Even LSU only played in Birmingham for home except for two occasions until 1988.

 

[ExiledTidefan]

I am thinking that Tennessee first played in Tuscaloosa in the modern era in 1999. A narrow loss which probably derailed an outside shot at a national title run. Up to that point, we had only lost to La Tech early in the year, and Alexander was getting a good look at a heisman thanks to his performance against UF in the swamp. he was either hurt before or during the UT game, and we lost it. We bounced back nicely after the loss, and won out.

 

[It Takes Eleven]

I know Bama has a great record at BDS. But in all fairness to reality the Tide didnt play big opponents there due to the size of the stadium. You'd have to add BDS and LF together to get an honest picture of the "Home" record.

I know as a kid everytime we went to see LSU/ Tennessee/Auburn/ Penn State play at "Home" it was always at LF.

Bama didnt start inviting Auburn to town until 2000 and wasn't Tenn in 2001?

My original post didn't set out to compare coaching records at home games, but to specifically address the timing of the less than four dozen losses at BDS. That's why I kicked it off saying, "Although many marquee games have been played at Legion Field instead of BDS, it's still amazing that one-half of the all-time losses at BDS occurred under DuBose (eight), Franchione (five) and Shula (ten)."

That being said, during Coach Stallings' tenure we played many "easy" as well as "difficult" opponents at Legion Field. In his first year, we played Cincinnati, SoMiss and aubrun at LF while taking on LSU, Florida and Penn State at BDS.

RTR,

Tim