It was the NBC curse. Anytime that network carried our bowl game, we choked. The Hall of Fame Bowl vs Michigan a few years before that was another one
ALABAMA BOWLS ON NBC
1954 Cotton Bowl - the Tommy Lewis game (L)
1959 Liberty Bowl - first game against integrated team (L)
1962 Sugar Bowl - Tide already clinched first national championship (W)
1963 Orange - Lee Roy has 741 tackles (W)
1964 Sugar - it snowed.....in the South (W)
1965 Orange -
Han shot first, er, I mean Namath scored (L)
1966 Orange - national championship win over Huskers (W)
1972 Orange - blown out by Huskers, 38-6 (L)
1975 Orange - Ara wins the last one (L)
1988 Hall of Fame - first time vs Michigan (L)
1991 Fiesta - Browning Naegle (L)
Record? 4-7 but with some of the most painful moments we can recall (71 Nebraska, Lewis jumping off the bench, the controversy over the 64 title, etc, etc, etc)