What are some games that Alabama was lucky or very fortunate to win?

We_are_Bama

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In that 91 MSU game, we would have died. Remember - we had ONE TD, and it was a pick six by Stacey Harrison (who showboated towards the end zone and nearly didn't make it). And our field goal kicking in 1991 was next-level atrocious. We had Danny Woodson as QB, and he had all of 46 yards passing. Hamp Greene, the kicker, lost his job to Matt Wethington that day, and neither was Phillip Doyle, Van Tiffin or even the guy who started next year, Michael Proctor.

It has always been rumored that the State OL who jumped was a freshman who did so because one of the Tide players called "hut." It was never proven, but State insisted the moment it happened that we did.
And then we barely escaped at Memphis State a week or two later. The final was 10-7. It was a stinker of a game where neither team scored again after the 1st quarter. I had a sick feeling listening to that game because we had lost at Memphis State 4 years earlier and that was bad enough. The thought of losing to them again was unfathomable. I still wonder how we managed to go 10-1 that year
 

We_are_Bama

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Dare I say the 1994 Iron Bowl? It should have been a rout. We raced out to a 21-0 1st half lead, and Auburn whittled away at it and it was a 21-14 game in the 4th with Auburn driving and facing a 4th and 1. Pretty sure they converted, but the refs ruled it short. It was close either way. I'm not sure it would have been conclusive on replay. And there is no guarantee they score even if they do convert the 4th and 1. But the game was over after that.
Yes...what should have been 35-7 or at worst 35-14 ended up being an unnecessary nail biter. We left points on the field in the second half. That game was basically the 2010 Iron Bowl minus one more score on auburn's end.
 

Tidetwin

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We were sitting almost perpendicular to the goal post on the press box side in the end where the field goal was made. FSU ran the ball all day through holes in the defensive line that a truck could be driven through. As I recall they took a safety in the series preceding the field goal. Looking back they were probably gassed at this point and Bama managed a drive in the last possible moment. No one left feeling very good about the day not realizing at the time the number of injuries Bama had going into the game.
and yet we travel to Knoxville the following week and really hand it to the Vols (and an injured Condredge Holloway) 28-6.
 
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STONECOLDSABAN

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It was the correct call.
I just remember at the time thinking the kick was good. I Haven’t rewatched the game since it happened so my perspective is probably skewed. . Alabama struggling with Iowa state especially a pre-Matt cambell Iowa state shows you how low the program was 20 years ago.
 

DzynKingRTR

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I just remember at the time thinking the kick was good. I Haven’t rewatched the game since it happened so my perspective is probably skewed. . Alabama struggling with Iowa state especially a pre-Matt cambell Iowa state shows you how low the program was 20 years ago.
A Matt Campbell Iowa State would have wiped the floor with us 20 years ago.
 

TideEngineer08

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I just remember at the time thinking the kick was good. I Haven’t rewatched the game since it happened so my perspective is probably skewed. . Alabama struggling with Iowa state especially a pre-Matt cambell Iowa state shows you how low the program was 20 years ago.
They've had flashes before Campbell, including during that time frame. They were as good as we were that year, as the results on the field proved. I'm not saying they had our talent... just that year 1 under a new coach following the debacle of 2000, we were not in a great place.
 

crimsonaudio

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They've had flashes before Campbell, including during that time frame. They were as good as we were that year, as the results on the field proved. I'm not saying they had our talent... just that year 1 under a new coach following the debacle of 2000, we were not in a great place.
Seneca Wallace was a legit athlete.
 

selmaborntidefan

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On the Iowa State thing - it's been shown here to clearly be good. However, I will admit if you just saw what they showed on TV or heard Eli Gold (as did I that night), it's understandable.

Here's something to remember: my good friend Tom Ritter, the former official, told me that TV shows you things incorrectly. I made up the part about Tom, but that's true.

Some of y'all might remember the infamous Fog Bowl game in the playoffs between Philly and Chicago on the last day of 1988, when a fog rolled in off Lake Michigan and the TV viewers absolutely could not see the game at all. If you're watching it on TV IT LOOKS LIKE the players cannot see each other at all - but this is an illusion. The rule the officials opted to observe was that they could clearly see - down on the field - from end zone to end zone at all times and as long as they could, the players could do so the game continued.

In theory, that does away with the PASS, right, because you can't throw any deep balls. But Randall Cunningham threw for over 400 yards in that game - an insanely high total in a playoff game in 1988. I repeat - Randall Cunningham, the RPO quarterback who was basically a better Mike Vick and whose threat at that time before blowing out his knee was with his legs.

My point is that I'm willing to say that TV camera angles on things like field goals can sometimes look a little misleading. I, too, honestly thought we got away with one, but someone posted a different angle here at one time, and it settled the case for me with a straight-on shot. An announcer watching a monitor or a fan watching TV, it's understandable why it was like 'whoa, we got away with it." But we didn't.
 
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imauafan

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In that 91 MSU game, we would have died. Remember - we had ONE TD, and it was a pick six by Stacey Harrison (who showboated towards the end zone and nearly didn't make it). And our field goal kicking in 1991 was next-level atrocious. We had Danny Woodson as QB, and he had all of 46 yards passing. Hamp Greene, the kicker, lost his job to Matt Wethington that day, and neither was Phillip Doyle, Van Tiffin or even the guy who started next year, Michael Proctor.

It has always been rumored that the State OL who jumped was a freshman who did so because one of the Tide players called "hut." It was never proven, but State insisted the moment it happened that we did.
As I recall George Teague hustled his butt off to get down field to throw a block which allowed Harrison to score. Had he not hustled the way he did then Harrison probably would not have scored and we very well could have lost the game. I believe it was Stallings (probably other coaches as well) that said in almost every game the difference between winning and losing comes down to 2-3 plays.
 

colbysullivan

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I’ll throw in the 2017 MSU game. On paper we should have destroyed them but Mullen came in with a strong gameplan. Fitzgerald milked the clock on every play, taking up several minutes on each possession. Seems like we only had the ball like 5 times, and we scored quickly which put our depleted defense back on the field. I swear Keith Holcomb missed 100+ tackles that night. This was the pinnacle of “Jalen vs Tua”, and Jalen’s ineffectiveness really showed. We win by at least 3 TDs if Tua plays. Same for the Iron Bowl for that matter. Still mad about that regular season, but I’ll take the title any day.
 

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