(Author's note: 2018 marks the 30th anniversary of Derrick Thomas's last game as an Alabama legend. This thread consists of firsthand memories, newspaper research, and viewing of the games in question to verify accuracy. If you note any mistakes of fact then please bring them to my attention. This recap is dedicated to #55, DT, the greatest linebacker I ever saw don the crimson and white).
JANUARY
Two days into the new year and already Alabama had another loss. After a roller coaster year in 1987 that saw them hire Bill Curry as head coach, beat defending national champion Penn St, defending SEC champion LSU, and thump rival Tennessee - while somehow still losing to Memphis and being routed by Notre Dame in South Bend - the Tide ended the 1987 campaign with a loss to Michigan in the Hall of Fame Bowl, the first-ever meeting between the two legendary schools. That very occurrence may serve as an apt metaphor for Alabama's performance during the Curry years: it rarely made any sense at all. And if Tide fans thought 1987 was a roller coaster, they needed to wait less than a week for the new trials to begin. In fact, Pat Dye and Auburn President James Martin had already begun stoking the fires with demands that the Iron Bowl, played annually in Legion Field since 1947, be played on the Auburn campus at Jordan Hare Stadium starting in 1989. There was a dispute over the soon ending contract, with the Auburn version showing the Legion Field contract ending in 1988 while Alabama's version had Coach Paul Bryant's written agreement in the margin claiming 1991. On January 8, 1988, the city of Birmingham filed suit in an attempt to prevent the game, which provided nearly $20 million annually to the city's economy, from leaving. As this suit played out over the next three months, other issues came to the fore. But two days later, Bill Curry made what was to be the most important decision of his brief Alabama career when he hired former UCLA offensive coordinator Homer Smith to run the notoriously conservative Alabama offense and also hired Tommy Bowden, the son of Florida State Coach Bobby Bowden, as quarterbacks coach. Smith's offenses were among the most complicated and intricate in college football, and one could argue that the hire of Smith was the move of a both a positive coach as well as a desperate one. Smith's schemes would take time for the young offense to learn and after a five-loss season in 1987, rumor was that Curry may not have much time anyway.
Curry had played center for the legendary Vince Lombardi in Super Bowl I. When Curry's old teammate and fellow offensive lineman Forrest Gregg resigned the head coaching position of the Green Bay Packers to revive his alma mater, SMU, in the wake of the NCAA's first ever death penalty, Curry's name received prominent mention as the Packers' next head coach. Curry squelched the rumor quickly, observing that his name came up because he had been both a player and an assistant coach with the Packers but that he had plenty of work left to do at Alabama. Despite it being still January, the Tide had been in the news non-stop.
Recruiting landed a bountiful harvest although much of it would require some cultivating. Eric Curry, who would later win the SEC's Defensive Player of the Year award, signed with Alabama but was immediately ineligible to play due to being a Proposition 48 casualty. Though Curry would become one of many all-time Alabama greats and a first-round NFL draft pick, his time at Alabama would have to wait. Charley Dare was also among the recruits, and Dare would figure prominently in the elevating of the bad blood between Alabama and Auburn over what may have been the longest and hottest summer most Tide fans had seen at that point.
CAN ANYBODY AROUND HERE THROW THE DAMN BALL?
Spring ball didn't make things any better. Curry needed to settle on a quarterback between Jeff Dunn, David Smith, and Vince Sutton. Bobby Humphrey went down with a stress fracture of his left foot. For the moment the problems seemed to be on the field. But on April 15, the Birmingham lawsuit was settled and the venues for the next six Iron Bowls were set. The 1989 and 1993 games would be played on the Auburn campus while the other four would be at Legion Field in Birmingham. The ticket split for 1988 was reorganized as an Alabama home game as opposed to the 50/50 split in previous years. The 1991 game would be in Legion Field yet it would be an Auburn home game. Tide fans seethed at both Coach Curry and Athletic Director Steve Sloan for "allowing" Auburn to hijack the Iron Bowl as if there was really anything else they could have done. Alabama President Joab Thomas had attempted to head off the pending move by changing the Iron Bowl from an annual affair to an SEC rotational setup. He found no takers in the SEC given that both Alabama and Auburn were among the top programs in the country in the late 1980s.
The returning team had a lot of potential on both sides of the ball. The Tide had a bona fide Heisman candidate on each side of the ball, running back Bobby Humphrey and linebacker Derrick Thomas. Jeff Dunn, who had become the starter as 1987 progressed, was back as was fullback Murry Hill and two competent tight ends, Howard Cross and Lamonde Russell. The offensive line was anchored by Roger Schultz and Larry Rose. The defense returned Willie Wyatt on the line and another linebacker gem in addition to Thomas, Keith McCants. On top of this, the Tide - as always it seemed during the 1980s - had one of the best field goal kickers in the nation in Phillip Doyle. In the meantime, Curry's hold on his job got even looser on June 27, the same day that Mike Tyson flattened Michael Spinks in all of 91 seconds and began his own path into disaster. That was the day when Alabama President Joab Thomas announced he was leaving at the end of August. Thomas was generally considered Curry's benefactor as he had overseen the hire and the coach, who had already spent his brief Tide tenure in the cross hairs of fan discontent, saw his job security become that much less certain. And then came July, a month filled with tragedy for the Crimson Nation.
THE HITS JUST KEEP ON COMING
The month began with the discovery of former Alabama quarterback Bart Starr's 24-year old son Bret found dead and partially decomposed on July 7. His death was eventually ruled an accidental acute cocaine overdose. The Crimson family rallied to Starr's support in his time of need, but this was just the beginning. Five days later, the largest player on the Alabama team, a 6'7" 315-lb offensive lineman named Joe King, loaded up some liquid courage and ventured into "the Brickyard," a known drug haven in Birmingham. King claimed to be looking for some fast food and wound up the victim of cocaine drug sort of hit. Two assailants robbed him of his $7 and shot him in the back, leaving him to run for four blocks before locating a convenience store and hospital transport. King survived the shooting, but he didn't survive the wrath of Curry, who threw him off the team. Three nights later, Heisman candidate Humphrey and linebacker Vantreise Davis were attacked in the parking lot of the Citizen Club, a Tuscaloosa disco. Davis suffered cuts and bruises and a knife wound while Humphrey lost three teeth to a crowbar and saw his status as a starter downgraded to questionable for the September 10 opener against Temple. Police later claimed that Humphrey and Davis were unfortunate victims of mistaken identity, a fact that brought little comfort to a program in disarray. The following week backup DB Steve Wilson entered alcohol rehab at the urging of the team's new director of player development, Kevin Croom. The final tragedy in August was the death of Coach Bryant's daughter, Mae Martin Tyson, who passed away after a bout with cancer at the age of 52. It seemed as though tragedy had taken up permanent residence in Tuscaloosa. And in all times tragic, Tide fans turn for normalcy to a winning football team. The question was whether Curry would learn from the mistakes of 1987 or regress further. Although the popular tune across the country was Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy," the Tide faithful could look at the first seven months of 1988 and say, "Worry, Don't Be Happy." The blockbuster summer movie, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," may well have described the Alabama offense - they weren't bad, they were just drawn that way. The hope was a team that could contend for the SEC title with talent on both sides of the ball. But in typical "Curry at Alabama" fashion, it wouldn't take long for controversy to open yet another door.
THE SEASON BEGINS
Alabama ventured to Philadelphia to open the 1988 campaign ranked #14 against Temple University. The Owls and Alabama had negotiated a "2 for 1" setup that saw Temple travel to Alabama twice in exchange for one Tide trip to the City of Brotherly Love. Curry started David Smith at quarterback, and Humphrey started, broken jaw and all. The opening drive saw Homer Smith's (no relation) new offense roar right down the field in 12 plays for a 75-yard drive that ended with a Humphrey touchdown. That was all the Tide would need, and they played like it. The lead was only 10-0 at the half, thanks to a 53-yard boot by Doyle. Humphrey sat out most of the second half and the Tide went to work on the opening kickoff of the second half when Gene Jelks raced 96 yards for a touchdown. Kevin Turner scored twice in the second half in lieu of Humphrey, and the Tide enjoyed a comfortable 37-0 pasting of Temple. Despite Humphrey's problems there were some bright spots. Smith was 15 of 23 and of his eight incompletions, SIX were straight up drops. Derrick Thomas had a sack, Vantreise Davis had two, and Lee Ozmint intercepted a pass. After eight months of controversy, the Tide was back to normal playing football.
On September 13, the disaster known as the Michael Dukakis campaign had its seminal moment when Dukakis donned a helmet and hopped aboard an Abrams M1 tank in Michigan and crippled his team beyond redemption. On the same day on a football field 800 miles away, the disaster known as the Alabama offense watched quarterback David Smith don a helmet, suffer a knee injury during a non-contact drill, and cripple the Tide offense beyond redemption. Smith was rumored out for the year, a prognosis that was later amended. The unanswered question concerns what role Smith's injury played in the disaster that befell the Tide next.
Alabama's next game was on the road at College Station against the Texas A&M Aggies, coached by former Alabama receiver Jackie Sherrill. This was the away half (for Alabama) of the home and home that saw the Ags come to Alabama in 1985 and leave a 23-10 loser. Given the rich history of both programs with each other (even then), Texas was filled with excitement at the notion of Alabama coming to College Station. Sherrill would later brag (or perhaps complain) that it was a million dollar day for the university. But all eyes were on the weather as Hurricane Gilbert, the first Category 5 hurricane to enter the Atlantic Basin since David in 1979, was bearing down on the Brownsville, Texas area. Gilbert eventually made Texas landfall as a Category 3 hurricane,
but the larger issue for Curry and Sloan was with Delta Airlines' refusal to guarantee safe passage for Alabama returning from Houston after the game. In a move still debated thirty years later, Curry and Sloan opted to forego the Texas trip. Early Friday afternoon, the University suddenly announced they were not going to Texas. Jackie Sherrill held an impromptu press conference and was (by his standards) rather professional. Confusion reigned throughout college football. ESPN, who would air the game, would now double their production costs while Sherrill voiced frustration that there was no way 50,000 people would show up to the game on December 1, the date it had been rescheduled. Fans hardly took predictable positions as some Aggies fans sympathized with Alabama's plight while some Tide fans wanted to go play. When Gilbert never really even came close to College Station, the temperature escalated and tempers flared. Instead of winds measuring 150 mph hitting the stadium, the weather was crisp and humid 90 degrees. Oh and empty. The anger bubbled to the surface as restaurants in College Station began serving a dinner called Chicken Curry while Sherrill, never known for his ability to think before speaking, unloaded on Curry with the charge that the real reason Curry cancelled the game was due to Smith's injury. Sherrill then played the ultimate Alabama trump card against his alma mater by declaring, "Coach Bryant would have been here." Curry retaliated with the observation that the decision was easy for Sherrill, whom Curry labeled "an expert on hurricanes," but he conceded that regardless of what decision he made that he was going to get criticized. Curry got the worst of all worlds even from the Alabama fan base. Those who drove to Texas prior to the Friday announcement were upset the decision was made so late while others felt he had jumped the gun and should have gone ahead to Texas and awaited the weather. Whatever the truth regarding Curry's decision, Alabama had an unplanned week off. But if Curry thought he'd (pardon the pun) weathered the storm with Sherrill, he was about to find further clouds ahead for his football team.
On September 24, ninety degree temperatures greeted longtime Crimson punching bag Vanderbilt at the newly upgraded Bryant-Denny Stadium. The expected happened as Alabama drilled the Commodores, 44-10, and Bobby Humphrey scored two touchdowns to pass Johnny Musso's career record of 38. But fate seemed to be exacting a heavy toll on Alabama as first Gene Jelks and then Humphrey both left the game with season-ending injuries. Jelks got the Bama scoring barrage going with a 37-yard punt return for a touchdown but on the next play from scrimmage, Jelks went down with a knee injury while playing cornerback. Although nobody could have known it at the time, Jelks's knee would exact a heavy toll on Alabama's football program for the next two decades. Humphrey broke his foot in the third quarter, and his Alabama career was over. In 1985, the future had seemed so bright with both in the backfield sharing duties. Curry had moved Jelks to the defense in 1987 but allowed him to continue returning punts. Much of the Tide offense - with Homer Smith's complicated scheme - was now on the bench, and it would only get worse as the calendar turned to October.
OCTOBER SURPRISE(S)
The Tide was up to #12 in the country as they ventured to Commonwealth Stadium to face Coach Bryant's former Kentucky team led by Bryant's former assistant Jerry Claiborne. A muggy but rainy day greeted the Tide along with a quick 17-0 deficit that had fans enraged from Sheffield to Dothan. In fact, had Kentucky just been able to hold onto the football, they would have beaten Alabama for the first time since the Roaring Twenties. The turning point in the game came on a Wildcat fumble at their own 14 that George Bethune recovered. The Cats held the Tide to a fourth down field goal attempt, but the notoriously conservative Curry lit a spark on his team when holder Chris Mohr tossed a 12-yard touchdown pass to kicker Phillip Doyle that cut the deficit to 17-7. Murry Hill's 76-yard touchdown dash with 11:18 remaining got the Tide close, but the two-point conversion attempt failed. Kentucky took less than two minutes to get seven points back and with only six minutes remaining, the Cats still led, 27-16. With Smith hurt and Jeff Dunn ineffective, Curry went for his third-string quarterback, the formerly highly touted fifth-year senior Vince Sutton. Sutton drove the Tide for a touchdown coupled with a Murry Hill two-point conversion run that got the Tide within three points with 5:38 left. With the ball on their own 14-yard line, Sutton led a gem of a drive that included a 16-yard run on fourth down to keep the Tide heart beating. A 45-yard toss to Todd Richardson put Alabama in striking distance and with ten seconds left, Sutton hit Gene Newberry (another fifth-year senior) with a three-yard TD toss on fourth down that upended the Wildcats and sent a wave of relief through the Crimson Nation. The narrow win took the luster off a phenomenal performance by Derrick Thomas, who recorded 14 tackles that included four sacks and national defensive player honors.They'd made it through Kentucky with a 3-0 record and Ole Miss was next. If only it had been that easy.
It was Homecoming weekend at Tuscaloosa as Billy Brewer's Ole Miss Rebels, still suffering from crippling sanctions, returned to television after a one-year NCAA imposed TV ban. It would also be the grand opening of the Paul Bryant Museum. The performance and end result of the game would have made the legendary coach go into high rotation in Elmwood Cemetery. The Tide offense did look like a few of Bryant's offenses - from the 1940s. They couldn't pass, ending the game with only 172 yards of total offense, zero completions and eight first downs. The running game, however, looked nothing at all like Bryant's old teams. With the game tied with goose egss at halftime, Pierre Goode took the second half kickoff for an Alabama touchdown that gave the Tide a 7-0 lead. A quick tack on safety by Tommy Cole boosted the lead to 9-0, and a later Doyle field goal gave Alabama 12 points in ten minutes and a 12-0 lead. But the Rebels converted a third and five at their own 47 for a 53-yard touchdown that cut the lead to 12-7. Starting at his own one - and not completing a single pass - Jeff Dunn drove Alabama 82 yards down the field to the Rebel 17 only to watch Doyle shank what was (for him) a chip shot. Late in the fourth quarter, Ole Miss went on a drive that netted them a touchdown and a successful two-point conversion that gave them a 15-12 lead in the final minute. Needing to put together a passing drive, Dunn fumbled and Ole Miss recovered and then delivered the coup de grace with a quick touchdown that netted a final score of 22-12, Ole Miss. The year finally got too much for one particular coach to take. The coach wasn't Curry but assistant Don Lindsey, who got so angry at heckling from fans that he took out after one of them and had to be forcibly restrained by several members of the football team. As if that weren't enough, sometime after the Saturday game but before Curry's Monday arrival in his office, a rock - or a brick - or perhaps nothing - was thrown through the window of Curry's second floor office. It should be noted as one Tide assistant said at the time that there was no way the rock could have been thrown by any of the Tide quarterbacks since none was that accurate. But if Bill Curry thought his 10-6 record had him on a hot seat, he could certainly sympathize with Vols Coach Johnny Majors, whose own seat was a raging inferno. The Third Saturday in October was back but with a twist: no national television coverage thanks to the Vols' horrific 0-5 start. ESPN considered the game but ultimately backed out. Without the coverage or intensity of previous Crimson-Orange clashes, the game was still excellent.
Alabama held the power in its own hands to clinch a losing season for the Vols and give them the first 0-6 record in school history. After a punt apiece, Alabama began a drive from their own one-yard line. In luck typical of the 1988 Vols, they held the Tide without a first down only to commit a personal foul and move the Tide out of the shadow of their own goalposts. Bama responded with a 99-yard drive capped by a touchdown by running back Wayne Shaw. Moments later, John Mangum picked off a Jeff Francis pass and raced 60 yards for a pick six that gave the Tide a quick 14-0 lead as the first quarter ended. The Vols owned the second quarter, with a touchdown and a blocked Mohr punt for a safety that had the score a close 14-9 at the intermission. A Tennessee field goal made the came a precariously close contest at 14-12 entering the fourth quarter. But a drive capped by a 7-yard run by David Casteal and another epic dash by Murry Hill put the game out of reach, and the Tide escaped Knoxville with a 28-20 victory. The victory masked continuing problems with the team. It was the third game in a row where the Tide offense was substantially outgained. Indeed, had it not been for turnovers and horrible penalties - 10 for 94 yards against Tennessee - the Tide would have lost this game as well. The special teams, generally a strength of 1980s Alabama teams, made mistake after mistake, with two blocked kicks and an inexplicable fair catch at the one-yard line, a circumstance so frightening that Curry held a Sunday practice to review special teams. The loss also obscured a phenomenal game by Vols linebacker Keith DeLong, who had 19 tackles and an interception. With a 4-1 record, the Tide went up the road to Birmingham for the eighth installment of the Penn State series.
The ten-year series negotiated by Coach Bryant and Sandusky Enabler Joe Paterno had been a friendly rivalry with unforgettable performances. Bryant tying Amos Alonzo Stagg. Alabama being the only team to beat PSU's 1982 national champions. The infamous Preston Gothard non-touchdown call. Penn State blasting #2 Alabama en route to a surprising second national title. The apex of Curry's career at this point was his stunning upset of the defending champions early in 1987. With a CBS national television audience watching, an epic defensive struggle unfolded.
Derrick Thomas was born on January 1, 1967, in Miami, Florida to Robert and Edith Thomas, the eldest of seven children. Robert Thomas was a bomber pilot in the United States Air Force. Two weeks before Derrick turned six, his father's B-52 was shot down during a bombing run over North Vietnam. Robert Thomas, co-pilot of the aircraft, was the last to bail out and while others survived the attack, Robert Thomas was missing in action for eight years until his remains were returned in 1980. Raised by his mother and grandparents in a lower class neighborhood near Miami. By eighth grade, Thomas was a phenomenal running back and a terrible student both academically and attendance-wise. Thomas was involved in at least minor gang rumblings in his early teens. He grew up cynical of a government he felt lied and profited from the war and oversaw such young thrills as breaking house windows and stealing cars for joy rides. A high school teacher named Miriam Williams took Thomas under her wing (amusing as she was nine inches shorter than the six foot tall Thomas in junior high). After suspending him from school for three days for cursing her, Williams tried to work with Thomas, particularly after learning his home situation. Derrick later spent 31 days in juvie for burglary and upon his release was sent to a state-run school for troubled youth. He missed a year of high school football thanks to this episode but returned to wreak havoc on the football field, now as a linebacker. He signed with Alabama out of South Miami High School and spent his sophomore year playing behind a Crimson legend at linebacker, Cornelius Bennett. Thomas heard repeatedly about how Bennett was the greatest linebacker in Tide history and he'd never be as good as the adored "Biscuit." Bennett has set a single season Alabama record with ten sacks in 1986. Thomas nearly doubled that with 18 in 1987 and then nearly tripled Bennett's total with 27 in 1988. The Penn State game was Derrick Thomas's coming out party, and he would be prominent on the tongues and minds of all football fans across the nation from this day until his tragic death as a consequence of an auto accident in February 2000.
It was a perfect day for college football as 76,000 fans packed the Old Grey Lady under 68 degree weather and a slight breeze. On the second play from scrimmage, PSU quarterback Tony Sacca rolled out to the right under heavy pursuit from linebacker Derrick Thomas. While Sacca completed this pass play to David Jacobs for a first down, it was to become a familiar scene: Sacca trying valiantly and futilely to escape the oncoming rush of Thomas. The game also showcased the return of competent signal caller David Smith behind center for Alabama. His return netted zero touchdowns, but he did restore some leadership to an offense lacking same.
The first quarter was an old fashioned grudge match that ended with no points. Doyle shanked yet another 32-yard field goal early. Andre Collins of Penn State may not have matched Thomas's game, but he held his own in making the Tide offense miserable. Early in the second quarter, Sacca uncorked his best throw of the day. On this rare occasion when Thomas was not making him miserable, Sacca had time and let fly with pass that Tipson hauled in for a 69-yard lightning strike touchdown to give Penn State the lead. It turned out to be the biggest play of the game after it was called back on a holding flag. A field goal for each team sent the rivals in tied at three for halftime. Doyle added a field goal for a 6-3 entering the fourth quarter. But it was Derrick Thomas who made Tony Sacca's life miserable. Eight tackles, including three sacks, batted away a pass, and forced Sacca to rush his throws eight times. Thomas, of course, clinched the win for Alabama by planting Sacca in the end zone for a safety that gave Alabama an 8-3 win in what CBS announcer Brent Musberger said was, "the most dominating performance I have ever seen by a college football player." After falling out of the rankings thanks to the Ole Miss debacle, Alabama was back in the top 20 - barely - at 19. And Thomas won the national defensive player of the week honors from 12 different publications and was named as a finalist for both the Lombardi and Butkus awards. And Georgia's loss to Kentucky put Alabama in an enviable position: win out and go to the Sugar Bowl. The month of November would feature an SEC elimination derby as Alabama faced both LSU and Auburn while Auburn would meet Georgia. Though Auburn was the pre-season favorite, the league was still very much up for grabs. There was just the little nuisance of a trip to tiny Scott Field in Starkville, and David Smith made up for lost time by winning SEC player of the week honors in a passing deluge that racked up over 500 yards of total offense. Lost in the 53-34 demolition was the fact Alabama had blown a 33-9 halftime lead that saw MSU close the gap to a 40-34 margin before the Tide reasserted itself and pulled away. Keith McCants put together a performance rivaling Thomas a week earlier with 14 tackles, and the Tide actually scored their fourth safety in five games. Thomas himself had two sacks, and the Tide entered November with a chance to redeem what had been a trying year all the way around. And yet if any one game encapsulated the 1988 Alabama season, it was the heartbreaking loss to LSU.
JUST GET IT OVER WITH
Although LSU had two losses to Alabama's one, the Tigers entered the game five spots above the Tide at number 13. It was a winner take all game in the sense that the winner was still alive in the SEC title race while the loser was finished. After struggling on offense the bulk of the year, Alabama roared out to a quick 15-0 lead in the second quarter courtesy of three Doyle field goals and a David Casteal rush. Although the attempt for two failed, Alabama was playing their best all around game of the season early in this contest. With five minutes left in the second quarter, LSU backup QB Mickey Guidry came on to spell Tommy Hodson and immediately took the Tigers right down the field for a touchdown that cut the lead in half and sent the teams in with a 15-7 Tide lead. Injuries to Murry Hill and Howard Cross added to the Tide's season long offensive woes, and Browndyke's 37-yarder with 6:56 left in the third cut the Bama lead to 15-10. And then came the turning point.
Smith hit Lamonde Russell with a well-thrown pass on play action good for a first down. Russell turned upfield and then sliced back between two LSU tacklers in a noble effort at gaining more yards. But as one defender stopped the still standing Russell's progress, a hard hit from the blind side by DB James Bice and fumbled. Bouncing as is typical of a football, it caromed away from the Tide defender and was recovered by LSU's Jimmy Hill. After two running plays put LSU in a third and four, Hodson hit Tony Moss on a short slant route. Moss evaded the tackles and raced the rest of the way into the end one for a 48-yard touchdown that gave LSU their first lead of the day, 16-15 when the Tigers failed at the two-point conversion. Doyle's field goal gave the Tide and 18-15 lead and then Hodson took LSU close, beating Kendrick for what would have been the game-winning touchdown only to see running back Vincent Fuller drop the ball in the back of the end zone. Browndyke eventually kicked a field goal with 28 seconds left, and it appeared for all the world that the game was won for LSU. The Tide got the kickoff and the ball around the 30-yard line with no timeouts and 23 seconds left. Smith hit Marco Battle at midfield and then drew a break when an LSU injury back downfield gave the Tide time to plan the next play (note: quarterbacks were not able to stop the clock with the spike play until 1990). Smith then hit Russell with a pass that he carried out of bounds with four seconds left to give the Tide a longshot chance on the leg of Doyle from 54 yards (his career long was 53). The snap and hold were good, but the kick wasn't enough and Alabama was effectively eliminated from the SEC race with their second loss of the year. The Tide cruised through a windy win the following week against SW Louisiana and prepared for Auburn to come to Legion Field for the last Iron Bowl before it's relocation to a home and home series.
Auburn came into the game with the SEC's leading defense. The first quarter was a 5-3 baseball score after the teams traded field goals and then Ron Stallworth sacked David Smith for a safety that gave Auburn the lead they never relinquished. Smith got hammered repeatedly during the game and while the final score of 15-10 did not look so embarrassing, the fact was Alabama scored to close a 15-3 gap with about 3 1/2 minutes left and then failed to recover the onside kick. Thomas again had a phenomenal game with 13 tackles. The carnage likely would have been worse had Auburn not been flagged 11 times for over 100 yards in penalties. It was the Tigers' third straight Iron Bowl win over Alabama, and it clinched Pat Dye's first SEC title since 1983. Auburn headed to the Sugar Bowl against Deion Sanders's Florida State contingent, but the Tide had some unfinished business in College Station less than a week later.
By the time Alabama lined up to face Texas A/M, the entire focus of game coverage shifted from where it had been back in September when Curry controversially cancelled the trip due to Hurricane Gilbert. Curry was on a hot seat with rumors abounding that a group of influential "Alabama money men" were prepared to buy out the final three years of his contract. Alabama interim President Roger Sayers was compelled to call a press conference and deny the rumors. But Curry's problems paled in comparison to those of Sherrill, who had suddenly been accused by a former player of providing him with illegal benefits. In the wake of 1987's NCAA demolition of the SMU program, this accusation took on immense significance heading into the so-called "Hurricane Bowl." To make matters worse, the Aggies channeled their inner child by having a "Hurricane Bowl" queen (like a homecoming queen) along with her court "The Seven Tropical Depressions." Apparently, it was motivation for QB David Smith in his final game. The Tide took the opening kickoff and went right down the field in 14 plays that covered 75 yards and ended with a 10-yard TD pass to Robert Stewart. A/M responded with a field goal and then watched Doyle kick two of his own to surpass Van Tiffin's record season points total set in 1984 as the Tide led, 13-3. A/M added to the Tide's year long third quarter woes with an 80-yard touchdown drive that cut the lead to 13-10, but Alabama unloaded 17 points on Sherrill and the Aggies in the fourth quarter for a gratifying 30-10 win that shut Sherrill's carping and ended his Aggie career with a loss. Derrick Thomas, who added five sacks to his season total, offered the pithy quote, "The only hurricane that blew in tonight was Alabama." A year of hope, frustration, tragedy and challenge netted the Tide an 8-3 record, won Thomas the Butkus Award, and sent the Tide back to El Paso for the third time since Coach Bryant's passing for a Sun Bowl date with Army. The game would be played on Christmas Eve, and Derrick Thomas, for one, was not in a giving mood but a taking one.
Army roared right down the field quickly, scoring less than 3 minutes into a contest that saw them enter as 14-point underdogs. The Academy used the wishbone option to score again and take a 14-3 lead in the second quarter before Doyle's field goal narrowed the margin to eight. Just before the end of the half came the play of the game and, naturally, it was Derrick Thomas. After Army QB Calvin Cass missed a wide open receiver with a poorly thrown pass, Army lined up for a 24-yard field goal. Thomas blocked the attempt, and Smith responded with a drive that resulted in an Alabama touchdown that narrowed the Army lead to 14-13. Just five plays later - still before halftime - Thomas blocked a second Army field goal attempt. It was the sixth blocked kick of Thomas's Alabama career.
Despite the struggles, Army punched in two touchdowns in response to Smith's early third quarter score, and the Academy entered the fourth quarter with an eight-point lead. Smith went to work, first getting a Doyle field goal to make it 28-23 and then a drive that ended with a Casteal plunge for the game winner with four minutes left. The two-point conversion failed, but the Tide held on to escape with a 29-28 win and retain an unbeaten record in the Sun Bowl.
EPILOGUE
Alabama ended 1988 with a 9-3 record and a #20 overall rating. Derrick Thomas finished tenth in the Heisman Trophy voting with 3 first place votes. The winner, Oklahoma State RB Barry Sanders, would be drafted directly ahead of Thomas in the April NFL draft. It was one of the most phenomenal drafts in history, with four of the top five picks - Troy Aikman, Sanders, Thomas, and Deion Sanders - eventually being enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The odd man out in the top five picks, Green Bay's Tony Mandarich, became a poster child for spoiled athletes and steroid use, particularly after he declared that if the Packers did not meet his rookie salary demands he would opt instead to meet world boxing champion Mike Tyson in a match.
Bobby Humphrey's Alabama career also ended as the talented back was drafted by the Denver Broncos in the supplemental draft. The Bears took Greg Gilbert in round five while the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, headed by former Tide coach Ray Perkins, drafted punter Chris Mohr in the sixth round. Tight end Howard Cross was chosen by the Giants, and he would play for them in both Super Bowls XXV and XXXV, winning a championship ring in the former. The last Tide player taken in the draft was Los Angeles Rams selection George Bethune.
It was back to the drawing board for Alabama. Curry's leash was already short. The President who hired him was gone and his friend the athletic director had only eight months left on the job. Curry's anemic offense was a disappointment considering Homer Smith's reputation as a guru. The Tide returned a lot of talent but not the quarterback as they prepared for their seventh campaign without Coach Bryant still looking for their first SEC and national title.
JANUARY
Two days into the new year and already Alabama had another loss. After a roller coaster year in 1987 that saw them hire Bill Curry as head coach, beat defending national champion Penn St, defending SEC champion LSU, and thump rival Tennessee - while somehow still losing to Memphis and being routed by Notre Dame in South Bend - the Tide ended the 1987 campaign with a loss to Michigan in the Hall of Fame Bowl, the first-ever meeting between the two legendary schools. That very occurrence may serve as an apt metaphor for Alabama's performance during the Curry years: it rarely made any sense at all. And if Tide fans thought 1987 was a roller coaster, they needed to wait less than a week for the new trials to begin. In fact, Pat Dye and Auburn President James Martin had already begun stoking the fires with demands that the Iron Bowl, played annually in Legion Field since 1947, be played on the Auburn campus at Jordan Hare Stadium starting in 1989. There was a dispute over the soon ending contract, with the Auburn version showing the Legion Field contract ending in 1988 while Alabama's version had Coach Paul Bryant's written agreement in the margin claiming 1991. On January 8, 1988, the city of Birmingham filed suit in an attempt to prevent the game, which provided nearly $20 million annually to the city's economy, from leaving. As this suit played out over the next three months, other issues came to the fore. But two days later, Bill Curry made what was to be the most important decision of his brief Alabama career when he hired former UCLA offensive coordinator Homer Smith to run the notoriously conservative Alabama offense and also hired Tommy Bowden, the son of Florida State Coach Bobby Bowden, as quarterbacks coach. Smith's offenses were among the most complicated and intricate in college football, and one could argue that the hire of Smith was the move of a both a positive coach as well as a desperate one. Smith's schemes would take time for the young offense to learn and after a five-loss season in 1987, rumor was that Curry may not have much time anyway.
Curry had played center for the legendary Vince Lombardi in Super Bowl I. When Curry's old teammate and fellow offensive lineman Forrest Gregg resigned the head coaching position of the Green Bay Packers to revive his alma mater, SMU, in the wake of the NCAA's first ever death penalty, Curry's name received prominent mention as the Packers' next head coach. Curry squelched the rumor quickly, observing that his name came up because he had been both a player and an assistant coach with the Packers but that he had plenty of work left to do at Alabama. Despite it being still January, the Tide had been in the news non-stop.
Recruiting landed a bountiful harvest although much of it would require some cultivating. Eric Curry, who would later win the SEC's Defensive Player of the Year award, signed with Alabama but was immediately ineligible to play due to being a Proposition 48 casualty. Though Curry would become one of many all-time Alabama greats and a first-round NFL draft pick, his time at Alabama would have to wait. Charley Dare was also among the recruits, and Dare would figure prominently in the elevating of the bad blood between Alabama and Auburn over what may have been the longest and hottest summer most Tide fans had seen at that point.
CAN ANYBODY AROUND HERE THROW THE DAMN BALL?
Spring ball didn't make things any better. Curry needed to settle on a quarterback between Jeff Dunn, David Smith, and Vince Sutton. Bobby Humphrey went down with a stress fracture of his left foot. For the moment the problems seemed to be on the field. But on April 15, the Birmingham lawsuit was settled and the venues for the next six Iron Bowls were set. The 1989 and 1993 games would be played on the Auburn campus while the other four would be at Legion Field in Birmingham. The ticket split for 1988 was reorganized as an Alabama home game as opposed to the 50/50 split in previous years. The 1991 game would be in Legion Field yet it would be an Auburn home game. Tide fans seethed at both Coach Curry and Athletic Director Steve Sloan for "allowing" Auburn to hijack the Iron Bowl as if there was really anything else they could have done. Alabama President Joab Thomas had attempted to head off the pending move by changing the Iron Bowl from an annual affair to an SEC rotational setup. He found no takers in the SEC given that both Alabama and Auburn were among the top programs in the country in the late 1980s.
The returning team had a lot of potential on both sides of the ball. The Tide had a bona fide Heisman candidate on each side of the ball, running back Bobby Humphrey and linebacker Derrick Thomas. Jeff Dunn, who had become the starter as 1987 progressed, was back as was fullback Murry Hill and two competent tight ends, Howard Cross and Lamonde Russell. The offensive line was anchored by Roger Schultz and Larry Rose. The defense returned Willie Wyatt on the line and another linebacker gem in addition to Thomas, Keith McCants. On top of this, the Tide - as always it seemed during the 1980s - had one of the best field goal kickers in the nation in Phillip Doyle. In the meantime, Curry's hold on his job got even looser on June 27, the same day that Mike Tyson flattened Michael Spinks in all of 91 seconds and began his own path into disaster. That was the day when Alabama President Joab Thomas announced he was leaving at the end of August. Thomas was generally considered Curry's benefactor as he had overseen the hire and the coach, who had already spent his brief Tide tenure in the cross hairs of fan discontent, saw his job security become that much less certain. And then came July, a month filled with tragedy for the Crimson Nation.
THE HITS JUST KEEP ON COMING
The month began with the discovery of former Alabama quarterback Bart Starr's 24-year old son Bret found dead and partially decomposed on July 7. His death was eventually ruled an accidental acute cocaine overdose. The Crimson family rallied to Starr's support in his time of need, but this was just the beginning. Five days later, the largest player on the Alabama team, a 6'7" 315-lb offensive lineman named Joe King, loaded up some liquid courage and ventured into "the Brickyard," a known drug haven in Birmingham. King claimed to be looking for some fast food and wound up the victim of cocaine drug sort of hit. Two assailants robbed him of his $7 and shot him in the back, leaving him to run for four blocks before locating a convenience store and hospital transport. King survived the shooting, but he didn't survive the wrath of Curry, who threw him off the team. Three nights later, Heisman candidate Humphrey and linebacker Vantreise Davis were attacked in the parking lot of the Citizen Club, a Tuscaloosa disco. Davis suffered cuts and bruises and a knife wound while Humphrey lost three teeth to a crowbar and saw his status as a starter downgraded to questionable for the September 10 opener against Temple. Police later claimed that Humphrey and Davis were unfortunate victims of mistaken identity, a fact that brought little comfort to a program in disarray. The following week backup DB Steve Wilson entered alcohol rehab at the urging of the team's new director of player development, Kevin Croom. The final tragedy in August was the death of Coach Bryant's daughter, Mae Martin Tyson, who passed away after a bout with cancer at the age of 52. It seemed as though tragedy had taken up permanent residence in Tuscaloosa. And in all times tragic, Tide fans turn for normalcy to a winning football team. The question was whether Curry would learn from the mistakes of 1987 or regress further. Although the popular tune across the country was Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy," the Tide faithful could look at the first seven months of 1988 and say, "Worry, Don't Be Happy." The blockbuster summer movie, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," may well have described the Alabama offense - they weren't bad, they were just drawn that way. The hope was a team that could contend for the SEC title with talent on both sides of the ball. But in typical "Curry at Alabama" fashion, it wouldn't take long for controversy to open yet another door.
THE SEASON BEGINS
Alabama ventured to Philadelphia to open the 1988 campaign ranked #14 against Temple University. The Owls and Alabama had negotiated a "2 for 1" setup that saw Temple travel to Alabama twice in exchange for one Tide trip to the City of Brotherly Love. Curry started David Smith at quarterback, and Humphrey started, broken jaw and all. The opening drive saw Homer Smith's (no relation) new offense roar right down the field in 12 plays for a 75-yard drive that ended with a Humphrey touchdown. That was all the Tide would need, and they played like it. The lead was only 10-0 at the half, thanks to a 53-yard boot by Doyle. Humphrey sat out most of the second half and the Tide went to work on the opening kickoff of the second half when Gene Jelks raced 96 yards for a touchdown. Kevin Turner scored twice in the second half in lieu of Humphrey, and the Tide enjoyed a comfortable 37-0 pasting of Temple. Despite Humphrey's problems there were some bright spots. Smith was 15 of 23 and of his eight incompletions, SIX were straight up drops. Derrick Thomas had a sack, Vantreise Davis had two, and Lee Ozmint intercepted a pass. After eight months of controversy, the Tide was back to normal playing football.
On September 13, the disaster known as the Michael Dukakis campaign had its seminal moment when Dukakis donned a helmet and hopped aboard an Abrams M1 tank in Michigan and crippled his team beyond redemption. On the same day on a football field 800 miles away, the disaster known as the Alabama offense watched quarterback David Smith don a helmet, suffer a knee injury during a non-contact drill, and cripple the Tide offense beyond redemption. Smith was rumored out for the year, a prognosis that was later amended. The unanswered question concerns what role Smith's injury played in the disaster that befell the Tide next.
Alabama's next game was on the road at College Station against the Texas A&M Aggies, coached by former Alabama receiver Jackie Sherrill. This was the away half (for Alabama) of the home and home that saw the Ags come to Alabama in 1985 and leave a 23-10 loser. Given the rich history of both programs with each other (even then), Texas was filled with excitement at the notion of Alabama coming to College Station. Sherrill would later brag (or perhaps complain) that it was a million dollar day for the university. But all eyes were on the weather as Hurricane Gilbert, the first Category 5 hurricane to enter the Atlantic Basin since David in 1979, was bearing down on the Brownsville, Texas area. Gilbert eventually made Texas landfall as a Category 3 hurricane,
but the larger issue for Curry and Sloan was with Delta Airlines' refusal to guarantee safe passage for Alabama returning from Houston after the game. In a move still debated thirty years later, Curry and Sloan opted to forego the Texas trip. Early Friday afternoon, the University suddenly announced they were not going to Texas. Jackie Sherrill held an impromptu press conference and was (by his standards) rather professional. Confusion reigned throughout college football. ESPN, who would air the game, would now double their production costs while Sherrill voiced frustration that there was no way 50,000 people would show up to the game on December 1, the date it had been rescheduled. Fans hardly took predictable positions as some Aggies fans sympathized with Alabama's plight while some Tide fans wanted to go play. When Gilbert never really even came close to College Station, the temperature escalated and tempers flared. Instead of winds measuring 150 mph hitting the stadium, the weather was crisp and humid 90 degrees. Oh and empty. The anger bubbled to the surface as restaurants in College Station began serving a dinner called Chicken Curry while Sherrill, never known for his ability to think before speaking, unloaded on Curry with the charge that the real reason Curry cancelled the game was due to Smith's injury. Sherrill then played the ultimate Alabama trump card against his alma mater by declaring, "Coach Bryant would have been here." Curry retaliated with the observation that the decision was easy for Sherrill, whom Curry labeled "an expert on hurricanes," but he conceded that regardless of what decision he made that he was going to get criticized. Curry got the worst of all worlds even from the Alabama fan base. Those who drove to Texas prior to the Friday announcement were upset the decision was made so late while others felt he had jumped the gun and should have gone ahead to Texas and awaited the weather. Whatever the truth regarding Curry's decision, Alabama had an unplanned week off. But if Curry thought he'd (pardon the pun) weathered the storm with Sherrill, he was about to find further clouds ahead for his football team.
On September 24, ninety degree temperatures greeted longtime Crimson punching bag Vanderbilt at the newly upgraded Bryant-Denny Stadium. The expected happened as Alabama drilled the Commodores, 44-10, and Bobby Humphrey scored two touchdowns to pass Johnny Musso's career record of 38. But fate seemed to be exacting a heavy toll on Alabama as first Gene Jelks and then Humphrey both left the game with season-ending injuries. Jelks got the Bama scoring barrage going with a 37-yard punt return for a touchdown but on the next play from scrimmage, Jelks went down with a knee injury while playing cornerback. Although nobody could have known it at the time, Jelks's knee would exact a heavy toll on Alabama's football program for the next two decades. Humphrey broke his foot in the third quarter, and his Alabama career was over. In 1985, the future had seemed so bright with both in the backfield sharing duties. Curry had moved Jelks to the defense in 1987 but allowed him to continue returning punts. Much of the Tide offense - with Homer Smith's complicated scheme - was now on the bench, and it would only get worse as the calendar turned to October.
OCTOBER SURPRISE(S)
The Tide was up to #12 in the country as they ventured to Commonwealth Stadium to face Coach Bryant's former Kentucky team led by Bryant's former assistant Jerry Claiborne. A muggy but rainy day greeted the Tide along with a quick 17-0 deficit that had fans enraged from Sheffield to Dothan. In fact, had Kentucky just been able to hold onto the football, they would have beaten Alabama for the first time since the Roaring Twenties. The turning point in the game came on a Wildcat fumble at their own 14 that George Bethune recovered. The Cats held the Tide to a fourth down field goal attempt, but the notoriously conservative Curry lit a spark on his team when holder Chris Mohr tossed a 12-yard touchdown pass to kicker Phillip Doyle that cut the deficit to 17-7. Murry Hill's 76-yard touchdown dash with 11:18 remaining got the Tide close, but the two-point conversion attempt failed. Kentucky took less than two minutes to get seven points back and with only six minutes remaining, the Cats still led, 27-16. With Smith hurt and Jeff Dunn ineffective, Curry went for his third-string quarterback, the formerly highly touted fifth-year senior Vince Sutton. Sutton drove the Tide for a touchdown coupled with a Murry Hill two-point conversion run that got the Tide within three points with 5:38 left. With the ball on their own 14-yard line, Sutton led a gem of a drive that included a 16-yard run on fourth down to keep the Tide heart beating. A 45-yard toss to Todd Richardson put Alabama in striking distance and with ten seconds left, Sutton hit Gene Newberry (another fifth-year senior) with a three-yard TD toss on fourth down that upended the Wildcats and sent a wave of relief through the Crimson Nation. The narrow win took the luster off a phenomenal performance by Derrick Thomas, who recorded 14 tackles that included four sacks and national defensive player honors.They'd made it through Kentucky with a 3-0 record and Ole Miss was next. If only it had been that easy.
It was Homecoming weekend at Tuscaloosa as Billy Brewer's Ole Miss Rebels, still suffering from crippling sanctions, returned to television after a one-year NCAA imposed TV ban. It would also be the grand opening of the Paul Bryant Museum. The performance and end result of the game would have made the legendary coach go into high rotation in Elmwood Cemetery. The Tide offense did look like a few of Bryant's offenses - from the 1940s. They couldn't pass, ending the game with only 172 yards of total offense, zero completions and eight first downs. The running game, however, looked nothing at all like Bryant's old teams. With the game tied with goose egss at halftime, Pierre Goode took the second half kickoff for an Alabama touchdown that gave the Tide a 7-0 lead. A quick tack on safety by Tommy Cole boosted the lead to 9-0, and a later Doyle field goal gave Alabama 12 points in ten minutes and a 12-0 lead. But the Rebels converted a third and five at their own 47 for a 53-yard touchdown that cut the lead to 12-7. Starting at his own one - and not completing a single pass - Jeff Dunn drove Alabama 82 yards down the field to the Rebel 17 only to watch Doyle shank what was (for him) a chip shot. Late in the fourth quarter, Ole Miss went on a drive that netted them a touchdown and a successful two-point conversion that gave them a 15-12 lead in the final minute. Needing to put together a passing drive, Dunn fumbled and Ole Miss recovered and then delivered the coup de grace with a quick touchdown that netted a final score of 22-12, Ole Miss. The year finally got too much for one particular coach to take. The coach wasn't Curry but assistant Don Lindsey, who got so angry at heckling from fans that he took out after one of them and had to be forcibly restrained by several members of the football team. As if that weren't enough, sometime after the Saturday game but before Curry's Monday arrival in his office, a rock - or a brick - or perhaps nothing - was thrown through the window of Curry's second floor office. It should be noted as one Tide assistant said at the time that there was no way the rock could have been thrown by any of the Tide quarterbacks since none was that accurate. But if Bill Curry thought his 10-6 record had him on a hot seat, he could certainly sympathize with Vols Coach Johnny Majors, whose own seat was a raging inferno. The Third Saturday in October was back but with a twist: no national television coverage thanks to the Vols' horrific 0-5 start. ESPN considered the game but ultimately backed out. Without the coverage or intensity of previous Crimson-Orange clashes, the game was still excellent.
Alabama held the power in its own hands to clinch a losing season for the Vols and give them the first 0-6 record in school history. After a punt apiece, Alabama began a drive from their own one-yard line. In luck typical of the 1988 Vols, they held the Tide without a first down only to commit a personal foul and move the Tide out of the shadow of their own goalposts. Bama responded with a 99-yard drive capped by a touchdown by running back Wayne Shaw. Moments later, John Mangum picked off a Jeff Francis pass and raced 60 yards for a pick six that gave the Tide a quick 14-0 lead as the first quarter ended. The Vols owned the second quarter, with a touchdown and a blocked Mohr punt for a safety that had the score a close 14-9 at the intermission. A Tennessee field goal made the came a precariously close contest at 14-12 entering the fourth quarter. But a drive capped by a 7-yard run by David Casteal and another epic dash by Murry Hill put the game out of reach, and the Tide escaped Knoxville with a 28-20 victory. The victory masked continuing problems with the team. It was the third game in a row where the Tide offense was substantially outgained. Indeed, had it not been for turnovers and horrible penalties - 10 for 94 yards against Tennessee - the Tide would have lost this game as well. The special teams, generally a strength of 1980s Alabama teams, made mistake after mistake, with two blocked kicks and an inexplicable fair catch at the one-yard line, a circumstance so frightening that Curry held a Sunday practice to review special teams. The loss also obscured a phenomenal game by Vols linebacker Keith DeLong, who had 19 tackles and an interception. With a 4-1 record, the Tide went up the road to Birmingham for the eighth installment of the Penn State series.
The ten-year series negotiated by Coach Bryant and Sandusky Enabler Joe Paterno had been a friendly rivalry with unforgettable performances. Bryant tying Amos Alonzo Stagg. Alabama being the only team to beat PSU's 1982 national champions. The infamous Preston Gothard non-touchdown call. Penn State blasting #2 Alabama en route to a surprising second national title. The apex of Curry's career at this point was his stunning upset of the defending champions early in 1987. With a CBS national television audience watching, an epic defensive struggle unfolded.
Derrick Thomas was born on January 1, 1967, in Miami, Florida to Robert and Edith Thomas, the eldest of seven children. Robert Thomas was a bomber pilot in the United States Air Force. Two weeks before Derrick turned six, his father's B-52 was shot down during a bombing run over North Vietnam. Robert Thomas, co-pilot of the aircraft, was the last to bail out and while others survived the attack, Robert Thomas was missing in action for eight years until his remains were returned in 1980. Raised by his mother and grandparents in a lower class neighborhood near Miami. By eighth grade, Thomas was a phenomenal running back and a terrible student both academically and attendance-wise. Thomas was involved in at least minor gang rumblings in his early teens. He grew up cynical of a government he felt lied and profited from the war and oversaw such young thrills as breaking house windows and stealing cars for joy rides. A high school teacher named Miriam Williams took Thomas under her wing (amusing as she was nine inches shorter than the six foot tall Thomas in junior high). After suspending him from school for three days for cursing her, Williams tried to work with Thomas, particularly after learning his home situation. Derrick later spent 31 days in juvie for burglary and upon his release was sent to a state-run school for troubled youth. He missed a year of high school football thanks to this episode but returned to wreak havoc on the football field, now as a linebacker. He signed with Alabama out of South Miami High School and spent his sophomore year playing behind a Crimson legend at linebacker, Cornelius Bennett. Thomas heard repeatedly about how Bennett was the greatest linebacker in Tide history and he'd never be as good as the adored "Biscuit." Bennett has set a single season Alabama record with ten sacks in 1986. Thomas nearly doubled that with 18 in 1987 and then nearly tripled Bennett's total with 27 in 1988. The Penn State game was Derrick Thomas's coming out party, and he would be prominent on the tongues and minds of all football fans across the nation from this day until his tragic death as a consequence of an auto accident in February 2000.
It was a perfect day for college football as 76,000 fans packed the Old Grey Lady under 68 degree weather and a slight breeze. On the second play from scrimmage, PSU quarterback Tony Sacca rolled out to the right under heavy pursuit from linebacker Derrick Thomas. While Sacca completed this pass play to David Jacobs for a first down, it was to become a familiar scene: Sacca trying valiantly and futilely to escape the oncoming rush of Thomas. The game also showcased the return of competent signal caller David Smith behind center for Alabama. His return netted zero touchdowns, but he did restore some leadership to an offense lacking same.
The first quarter was an old fashioned grudge match that ended with no points. Doyle shanked yet another 32-yard field goal early. Andre Collins of Penn State may not have matched Thomas's game, but he held his own in making the Tide offense miserable. Early in the second quarter, Sacca uncorked his best throw of the day. On this rare occasion when Thomas was not making him miserable, Sacca had time and let fly with pass that Tipson hauled in for a 69-yard lightning strike touchdown to give Penn State the lead. It turned out to be the biggest play of the game after it was called back on a holding flag. A field goal for each team sent the rivals in tied at three for halftime. Doyle added a field goal for a 6-3 entering the fourth quarter. But it was Derrick Thomas who made Tony Sacca's life miserable. Eight tackles, including three sacks, batted away a pass, and forced Sacca to rush his throws eight times. Thomas, of course, clinched the win for Alabama by planting Sacca in the end zone for a safety that gave Alabama an 8-3 win in what CBS announcer Brent Musberger said was, "the most dominating performance I have ever seen by a college football player." After falling out of the rankings thanks to the Ole Miss debacle, Alabama was back in the top 20 - barely - at 19. And Thomas won the national defensive player of the week honors from 12 different publications and was named as a finalist for both the Lombardi and Butkus awards. And Georgia's loss to Kentucky put Alabama in an enviable position: win out and go to the Sugar Bowl. The month of November would feature an SEC elimination derby as Alabama faced both LSU and Auburn while Auburn would meet Georgia. Though Auburn was the pre-season favorite, the league was still very much up for grabs. There was just the little nuisance of a trip to tiny Scott Field in Starkville, and David Smith made up for lost time by winning SEC player of the week honors in a passing deluge that racked up over 500 yards of total offense. Lost in the 53-34 demolition was the fact Alabama had blown a 33-9 halftime lead that saw MSU close the gap to a 40-34 margin before the Tide reasserted itself and pulled away. Keith McCants put together a performance rivaling Thomas a week earlier with 14 tackles, and the Tide actually scored their fourth safety in five games. Thomas himself had two sacks, and the Tide entered November with a chance to redeem what had been a trying year all the way around. And yet if any one game encapsulated the 1988 Alabama season, it was the heartbreaking loss to LSU.
JUST GET IT OVER WITH
Although LSU had two losses to Alabama's one, the Tigers entered the game five spots above the Tide at number 13. It was a winner take all game in the sense that the winner was still alive in the SEC title race while the loser was finished. After struggling on offense the bulk of the year, Alabama roared out to a quick 15-0 lead in the second quarter courtesy of three Doyle field goals and a David Casteal rush. Although the attempt for two failed, Alabama was playing their best all around game of the season early in this contest. With five minutes left in the second quarter, LSU backup QB Mickey Guidry came on to spell Tommy Hodson and immediately took the Tigers right down the field for a touchdown that cut the lead in half and sent the teams in with a 15-7 Tide lead. Injuries to Murry Hill and Howard Cross added to the Tide's season long offensive woes, and Browndyke's 37-yarder with 6:56 left in the third cut the Bama lead to 15-10. And then came the turning point.
Smith hit Lamonde Russell with a well-thrown pass on play action good for a first down. Russell turned upfield and then sliced back between two LSU tacklers in a noble effort at gaining more yards. But as one defender stopped the still standing Russell's progress, a hard hit from the blind side by DB James Bice and fumbled. Bouncing as is typical of a football, it caromed away from the Tide defender and was recovered by LSU's Jimmy Hill. After two running plays put LSU in a third and four, Hodson hit Tony Moss on a short slant route. Moss evaded the tackles and raced the rest of the way into the end one for a 48-yard touchdown that gave LSU their first lead of the day, 16-15 when the Tigers failed at the two-point conversion. Doyle's field goal gave the Tide and 18-15 lead and then Hodson took LSU close, beating Kendrick for what would have been the game-winning touchdown only to see running back Vincent Fuller drop the ball in the back of the end zone. Browndyke eventually kicked a field goal with 28 seconds left, and it appeared for all the world that the game was won for LSU. The Tide got the kickoff and the ball around the 30-yard line with no timeouts and 23 seconds left. Smith hit Marco Battle at midfield and then drew a break when an LSU injury back downfield gave the Tide time to plan the next play (note: quarterbacks were not able to stop the clock with the spike play until 1990). Smith then hit Russell with a pass that he carried out of bounds with four seconds left to give the Tide a longshot chance on the leg of Doyle from 54 yards (his career long was 53). The snap and hold were good, but the kick wasn't enough and Alabama was effectively eliminated from the SEC race with their second loss of the year. The Tide cruised through a windy win the following week against SW Louisiana and prepared for Auburn to come to Legion Field for the last Iron Bowl before it's relocation to a home and home series.
Auburn came into the game with the SEC's leading defense. The first quarter was a 5-3 baseball score after the teams traded field goals and then Ron Stallworth sacked David Smith for a safety that gave Auburn the lead they never relinquished. Smith got hammered repeatedly during the game and while the final score of 15-10 did not look so embarrassing, the fact was Alabama scored to close a 15-3 gap with about 3 1/2 minutes left and then failed to recover the onside kick. Thomas again had a phenomenal game with 13 tackles. The carnage likely would have been worse had Auburn not been flagged 11 times for over 100 yards in penalties. It was the Tigers' third straight Iron Bowl win over Alabama, and it clinched Pat Dye's first SEC title since 1983. Auburn headed to the Sugar Bowl against Deion Sanders's Florida State contingent, but the Tide had some unfinished business in College Station less than a week later.
By the time Alabama lined up to face Texas A/M, the entire focus of game coverage shifted from where it had been back in September when Curry controversially cancelled the trip due to Hurricane Gilbert. Curry was on a hot seat with rumors abounding that a group of influential "Alabama money men" were prepared to buy out the final three years of his contract. Alabama interim President Roger Sayers was compelled to call a press conference and deny the rumors. But Curry's problems paled in comparison to those of Sherrill, who had suddenly been accused by a former player of providing him with illegal benefits. In the wake of 1987's NCAA demolition of the SMU program, this accusation took on immense significance heading into the so-called "Hurricane Bowl." To make matters worse, the Aggies channeled their inner child by having a "Hurricane Bowl" queen (like a homecoming queen) along with her court "The Seven Tropical Depressions." Apparently, it was motivation for QB David Smith in his final game. The Tide took the opening kickoff and went right down the field in 14 plays that covered 75 yards and ended with a 10-yard TD pass to Robert Stewart. A/M responded with a field goal and then watched Doyle kick two of his own to surpass Van Tiffin's record season points total set in 1984 as the Tide led, 13-3. A/M added to the Tide's year long third quarter woes with an 80-yard touchdown drive that cut the lead to 13-10, but Alabama unloaded 17 points on Sherrill and the Aggies in the fourth quarter for a gratifying 30-10 win that shut Sherrill's carping and ended his Aggie career with a loss. Derrick Thomas, who added five sacks to his season total, offered the pithy quote, "The only hurricane that blew in tonight was Alabama." A year of hope, frustration, tragedy and challenge netted the Tide an 8-3 record, won Thomas the Butkus Award, and sent the Tide back to El Paso for the third time since Coach Bryant's passing for a Sun Bowl date with Army. The game would be played on Christmas Eve, and Derrick Thomas, for one, was not in a giving mood but a taking one.
Army roared right down the field quickly, scoring less than 3 minutes into a contest that saw them enter as 14-point underdogs. The Academy used the wishbone option to score again and take a 14-3 lead in the second quarter before Doyle's field goal narrowed the margin to eight. Just before the end of the half came the play of the game and, naturally, it was Derrick Thomas. After Army QB Calvin Cass missed a wide open receiver with a poorly thrown pass, Army lined up for a 24-yard field goal. Thomas blocked the attempt, and Smith responded with a drive that resulted in an Alabama touchdown that narrowed the Army lead to 14-13. Just five plays later - still before halftime - Thomas blocked a second Army field goal attempt. It was the sixth blocked kick of Thomas's Alabama career.
Despite the struggles, Army punched in two touchdowns in response to Smith's early third quarter score, and the Academy entered the fourth quarter with an eight-point lead. Smith went to work, first getting a Doyle field goal to make it 28-23 and then a drive that ended with a Casteal plunge for the game winner with four minutes left. The two-point conversion failed, but the Tide held on to escape with a 29-28 win and retain an unbeaten record in the Sun Bowl.
EPILOGUE
Alabama ended 1988 with a 9-3 record and a #20 overall rating. Derrick Thomas finished tenth in the Heisman Trophy voting with 3 first place votes. The winner, Oklahoma State RB Barry Sanders, would be drafted directly ahead of Thomas in the April NFL draft. It was one of the most phenomenal drafts in history, with four of the top five picks - Troy Aikman, Sanders, Thomas, and Deion Sanders - eventually being enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The odd man out in the top five picks, Green Bay's Tony Mandarich, became a poster child for spoiled athletes and steroid use, particularly after he declared that if the Packers did not meet his rookie salary demands he would opt instead to meet world boxing champion Mike Tyson in a match.
Bobby Humphrey's Alabama career also ended as the talented back was drafted by the Denver Broncos in the supplemental draft. The Bears took Greg Gilbert in round five while the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, headed by former Tide coach Ray Perkins, drafted punter Chris Mohr in the sixth round. Tight end Howard Cross was chosen by the Giants, and he would play for them in both Super Bowls XXV and XXXV, winning a championship ring in the former. The last Tide player taken in the draft was Los Angeles Rams selection George Bethune.
It was back to the drawing board for Alabama. Curry's leash was already short. The President who hired him was gone and his friend the athletic director had only eight months left on the job. Curry's anemic offense was a disappointment considering Homer Smith's reputation as a guru. The Tide returned a lot of talent but not the quarterback as they prepared for their seventh campaign without Coach Bryant still looking for their first SEC and national title.
