I watched the " Against The Tide " documentary the other day. As we all know the historical backdrop and significance of the 1970 game was to change Southern football forever. USC went on to defeat Alabama 42-21.
But my question is how did Alabama's defense managed to hold USC to only 10 points in Los Angeles in the rematch??
Did the newly installed wishbone keep the Trojan offense on the sidelines?
Did our young defense grow up?
Sam Cunningham was a returning sophomore.
Old timers please shed some light...
You might want to PM Keith Dunnavant, who sometimes posts here for firsthand info.
However:
1) Cunningham was a junior, not a sophomore. Freshmen were not allowed to play until (IIRC) 1971. I say IIRC because I was 2 years old and have no personal recollection of it.
2) It wasn't "just" our defense; USC's offense was not as good in 1971 as it was in 1970 while our defense was also better than the prior year. Go look at the point totals for USC for 1970: 42 on us, 48 on Iowa, 45 on Oregon St, 70 on Washington State, and 38 on a 10-1 Notre Dame team. The 1971 USC offense was not so great - they only topped 28 points once, and they got 30 that time. This is somewhat bizarre since the 1972 team (Cunningham's senior year) was national champs. Keep in mind that in both 1970 and 1971, USC was a 6-4-1 team that played VERY tough schedules.
And in 1971 our defense was MUCH, MUCH better. Until the Nebraska debacle in the Orange Bowl, only 2 teams (Tennessee, 15, and Houston, 20) scored more than ten points against us. SEVEN opponents out of 11 scored in the single digits.
3) We rushed for 302 yards and held them to 287 (they got 405 in 1970).
4) Three notes for history:
a) USC was in the midst of a 22-game unbeaten streak in 1970
b) The 1971 game was actually played on Fri night
c) it was Coach Bryant's 200th career victory and came the night before his 58th birthday.