College Football Old School Game of the Week: Alexander's 4-TD Performance Leads Bama to Upset Win over Florida

 

Alabama running Shaun Alexander accounted for 200 yards of total offense(106 rushing, 94 receiving) and four touchdowns(3 rushing, 1 receiving).

It's hard to imagine now, but there was a time when the Alabama football program was not contending for SEC and national championships every season

But that was the case in the late 1990s as the Tide were struggling after Gene Stallings' resignation following the 1996 season as his replacement, defensive line coach Mike Dubose went 11-12 over the 1997 + 98 seasons, then after jumping out to a 2-0 start in the 1999 season, lost to Louisiana Tech 29-28 on the final play of the game.

This led many Crimson Tide fans to call on the Alabama athletic department to fire Dubose and it seemed that these fans were going to get their wish as rumors persisted that Dubose would be fired during the bye week following the October 2nd game with the Florida Gators in "The Swamp".

Many felt Alabama had no chance to beat the Gators in "The Swamp" as Florida entered the game ranked #3 in the country and were 17-point favorites to beat the Tide.

The Gators were led by head coach Steve Spurrier, who was in his tenth season in Gainesville having led the Gators to five SEC championships and the 1996 national championship thanks to his innovative "Fun & Gun" offense that relied on the pass instead of the run.

But after two years without a SEC title, Gator fans were getting a little impatient and wanted another championship.

With senior quarterback Doug Johnson leading the "Fun & Gun" offense, the Gators had seemingly vanquished their biggest threat for the SEC title in defending national champion Tennessee, whom the Gators defeated 23-21 two weeks earlier.

A win over Alabama seemed like a formality but the Tide had things going on offense which had averaged 32 points per game over the Tide's first four games(Alabama beat Arkansas one week after their loss to Louisiana Tech).

Led by quarterback Andrew Zow and running back Shaun Alexander, the Tide thought maybe they had a chance against the Gators.

But the Tide had their work cut out for them as the Gators were riding a 30-game home winning streak and had lost at home in almost five years(For information on that game, click on the highlighted link here: https://oldschoolsportsblog.blogspot.com/2019/10/college-football-old-school-game-of.html).

After both teams punted on their opening possessions of the game, the Gators had the ball at their 34-yard-line when Johnson connected with running back  Robert Gillespie for a 11-yard reception, only to have Alabama strong safety Marcus Spencer knock the ball loose and pick up the football as he returned the fumble to the Florida 38-yard-line.

From there, the Tide picked up 19 yards in six plays to set up Chris Kemp's 37-yard field goal to give Bama a 3-0 lead midway through the first quarter.

It would only take the Gators one play to respond to the field goal as Johnson fired a 73-yard touchdown pass to Darrell Jackson to put Florida on top 7-3 just 22 seconds after the Bama field goal.

Florida wide receiver Darrell Jackson caught six passes for 127 yards with three of those for touchdowns.

Following an Alabama punt, the Gators got the ball back at their 14-yard-line as they drove to the Crimson Tide 40-yard-line until Johnson fumbled a snap from center, which was recovered by Alabama linebacker Saleem Rashard at the Tide 41-yard-line.

On the very next play, Alexander made his presence felt as he busted loose for a 39-yard-run to the Florida 20-yard-line that was followed by a 14-yard pass from Zow to Freddie Milons on the first play of the second quarter to set up 1st & goal at the one-yard-line.

However, three straight running plays picked up zero yards setting up 4th & goal from the one-yard-line as Dubose decided to go for the touchdown.

The gamble paid off as Alexander punched it in for the one-yard touchdown to give the Tide a 10-7 lead with 12:53 left in the second quarter.

Florida would get the ball back at their 20-yard-line but would soon be in Crimson Tide territory as Bo Carroll busted through the middle for a 38-yard run to give Florida a 1st down at the Alabama 32-yard-line.

The Gators drove to the Bama 16-yard-line until an intentional grounding penalty pushed Florida back nine yards where they had to settle for a 42-yard field goal attempt by Jeff Chandler.

But Chandler's kick sailed wide right and no good keeping Alabama in the lead at 10-7 and giving the Tide the ball at their 25-yard-line with 9:15 left in the second quarter.

From there, the Tide would put together a 18-play, 70-yard drive that would take up nearly the remaining time in the first half as Alexander carried the ball six times for 19 yards while Zow completed five of seven passes for 44 yards, all leading to a 22-yard field goal by Kemp that increased the Tide's lead to 13-7 with just 17 seconds left in the first half.

Florida would get the ball back but would run only one play as they went into the halftime break down 13-7.

After both teams punted on their first possessions of the second half, the Tide had the ball at their 40-yard-line when Zow was intercepted by Florida cornerback Bennie Alexander, who returned it 42 yards for a pick-six that with Chandler's extra point gave the Gators a 14-13 lead with 8:46 left in the third quarter.

Bama would get the ball back at their 30-yard-line where Alexander got the call on the opening play of the drive and ran for 11 yards and a 1st down.

A sack by Florida defensive end Thad Bullard, the future Titus O' Neil of the WWE, set up a 3rd & 19 where Zow hit Antonio Carter for 21 yards and a 1st down at the Florida 47-yard-line.

On the very next play, Zow went deep and fired a pass for Alexander, who made the 47-yard touchdown catch to give the lead back to Alabama.

Bama attempted a two-point conversion but Zow's pass fell incomplete keeping the score 19-14 in favor of the Tide with 6:07 remaining in the third quarter.

The Gators would begin their ensuing possession at their 20-yard-line where Johnson would lead Florida on an eight-play, 80-yard drive where the senior quarterback completed all five of his passes on the drive for 58 yards, including a 28-yard pass to Alex Willis on 1st & 27 which was immediately followed by an eight-yard touchdown pass to Jackson.

Johnson would then hit Kirk Wells for the two-point conversion to give the Gators a 22-19 lead with 3:03 to go in the third quarter.

The Tide would answer with another long touchdown drive, this one taking 12 plays to cover 84 yards in 5:33 as Zow would find Antonio Carter on a crossing route for a 14-yard touchdown to give Bama a 26-22 lead, two minutes and thirty seconds into the fourth quarter.

Alabama quarterback Andrew Zow completed 28 of 40 passes for 336 yards and threw two touchdowns

Florida would get the ball at their 28-yard-line where Johnson continued his hot streak as he connected with Jackson for 12 yards to start the drive, then found Willis for 15 yards to put the Gators at the Alabama 45-yard-line.

Then after two straight incomplete passes, Johnson hit Willis for 22 yards to give Florida a 1st down at the Tide 23-yard-line.

However, the Bama defense would only allow two more yards on the next two yards, forcing the Gators to settle for a 37-yard field goal by Chandler to cut the Bama lead to 26-25 with 9:42 remaining in the fourth quarter.

The Tide would begin its next possession at their 20-yard-line and it got off to a good start as Zow found Milons for 22 yards and a 1st down at the Tide 42-yard-line.

The next two plays would pick up four yards setting up 3rd & 6 when the Tide pulled a trick play as Alexander threw a five-yard pass to Terry Jones, only to have it called back because of a holding penalty, pushing the Tide back 11 yards for 3rd & 17 when Zow got called for intentional grounding, costing the Tide eight more yards and a loss of down as they were prepared to punt the ball away on 4th & 25.

But the Tide couldn't even do that as long snapper Bradley Ledbetter's bad snap lead to a fumble recovery by the Gators at the Alabama 26-yard-line.

Three plays later, Johnson would connect with Jackson for their third touchdown of the game, a 14-yarder that along with Carroll's successful two-point conversion run gave the Gators a 33-26 lead with 5:15 left in regulation.

After Milons returned the ensuing kickoff 27 yards to the Bama 31-yard-line, he caught a 22-yard pass from Zow to give the Tide a 1st down at the Florida 47-yard-line.

But Zow would only complete one of his next three passes for minus one yard, forcing the Tide to punt when Jackson muffed the punt, leading to a fumble recovery by Alabama's Marvin Brown at the Gators 21-yard-line with 3:17 left in regulation.

Alexander ran for four yards on 1st down, which was followed by a two-yard pass from Zow to Milons, then a two-yard run by Alexander to set up 4th & 2 from the Gators' 13-yard-line with 90 seconds left in regulation.

Bama went for the 1st down and got more than that as Alexander busted through the Florida defense for a 13-yard touchdown that with Kemp's extra point tied the game at 33 with 1:25 left in regulation.

That was still enough time for Florida to drive down the field and at least get in range for a field goal attempt by Chandler as the Gators got the ball at their 21-yard-line but with no timeouts in their pocket.

The drive began with a six-yard pass from Johnson to Gillespie, followed by an incomplete pass, and then a 10-yard run by Gillespie to give Florida a 1st down at their 37-yard-line.

An 18-yard pass to Reche Caldwell put the Gators in Bama territory at the Tide 45-yard-line when the drive fell apart as Johnson threw an incomplete pass which was followed by a substitution infraction on the Gators costing them five yards and then a quarterback sack by Alabama linebacker Chris Horne on the final play of regulation to send the game into overtime with the game tied at 33.

Alabama won the coin toss but elected to go on defense so to know what their offense needed to do when they got the ball for their possession in overtime.

The first two plays for the Gators picked up only five yards setting up 3rd & 5 when Johnson connected with Jackson for 8 yards and a 1st down at the Bama 12-yard-line.

Two runs by Gillespie gained six yards, setting up 3rd & 4 when Johnson found Caldwell in the end zone for the six-yard touchdown to give Florida a 39-33 lead.

But disaster would strike on the extra point as Chandler's kick sailed wide right, keeping the score 39-33 which meant that if the Tide scored a touchdown and made the extra point they would win the game.

That is when the Tide handed the ball off to Alexander on a counter play off the left side as Alexander would run in untouched for a shocking 25-yard touchdown to tie the game at 39.

It seemed like the Tide were going to win the game as Kemp came on to attempt the extra point, only for his kick to sail wide right and no good, seemingly sending the game into a second overtime.

But Kemp would get a reprieve as Florida's Bennie Alexander and Marquand Manuel were called for offsides, giving Kemp a second chance at making the game-winning extra point, which he did to give the Tide a 40-39 overtime win over the Gators, handing Florida its first loss at home in five years.

Alabama players celebrate after Chris Kemp made the game-winning extra point in overtime.

Nine weeks later, the two teams would meet again in the SEC Championship Game at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta where many experts believed the Gators would avenge their loss to the Tide.

However, the Tide romped over the Gators 34-7 to win their first SEC title since 1992.

Both teams ended up losing their bowl games as the Gators lost 37-34 to the Michigan State Spartans in the Citrus Bowl to finish the season with a 9-4 record, while Alabama lost to the Michigan Wolverines 35-34 in overtime in the Orange Bowl, ironically when Kemp missed an extra point that would have sent the game into a second overtime.

As for Dubose, his time in Tuscaloosa would come to an end one year later when the Tide went 3-8 which resulted in his firing after a four-year tenure in which Bama went 24-23, 14-20 if you take out the 1999 season.

It wouldn't be until the arrival of Nick Saban in 2007 that the Tide would return to national dominance.