Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Tuesday tube on Thursday: Happiness Valley

Some of Alabama's most memorable moments from the 1980s happened in State College, Pa., for better or worse.
For a comprehensive retrospective of the rivalry between Bama and Penn State, read this awesome post at Black Shoe Diaries (h/t to the guys at RBR who pitched in to make it awesome ... I think I ticked them off earlier with a comment I made, but the piece is terrific). For now, let's focus on Bama's trips to Penn State in the 1980s.
First, there was the monumental victory in 1981, in which coach Bryant tied Amos Alonzo Stagg with his 314th win, highlighted by another goal line stand.
A mere two years later, coach Bryant was gone, and Ray Perkins had his first trip to Happy Valley basically stolen from him.
 
Perkins never beat Penn State, and left after 1986. His successor, Bill Curry, did much better vs. the Nittanies, starting with Bobby Humphrey's breakout performance in 1987.
 
And, then, of course, there was the Desperation Block.
 
So we're off to Happy Valley again this Saturday, ready to see coach Paterno and make another memory or two.

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