Tuesday tube: Bowl memories, part 2

This week in my continuation of Alabama bowl memories (non-championship), I'm sharing the lesser known of Alabama's two Sugar Bowl dates with Penn State. I was sharing this story with someone yesterday, and it's worth repeating. At the time, Penn State was essentially stuck in the same place Boise State is now: they were recognized as being pretty good, only they were independents (no conference games) and couldn't get high-profile dates to raise themselves nationally.
So, because he was a friend, and because everyone realized they could make boatloads of cash, coach Bryant talked the Sugar Bowl into inviting Penn State in 1975 to play 11-1 Alabama (actually Penn State's second trip to the Sugar Bowl, and the second time they'd played Alabama in their history).

Alabama won the game, but Penn State had so much fun they came back in '79 (for the famous Goal Line Stand game) and '82 (when they beat Herschel Walker's Georgia). Plus they got a yearly series out of it with Alabama, something everyone is still pining for in 2010. So it worked out pretty well for everybody, really.

Back later with more. Roll Tide.