1980 Sugar Bowl Highlights (Alabama vs. Arkansas)

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So who here misses scenarios like these?

At the start of the 1979 college football season, the USC Trojans were ranked #1 in both major polls with Alabama right behind at #2. It would remain this way until Stanford played USC to a 21-21 tie on October 13. Alabama pulled into the #1 spot while USC dropped to #4. The Tide would remain #1 until the final weekend of the season when Auburn played Alabama close, losing by a surprisingly competitive score of 25-18. At that point it was Ohio State, who, like Alabama, finished the season 11-0, that pulled into the #1 spot of the AP Poll. Alabama, despite being 11-0 and defending national champions, dropped to #2.

While the Buckeyes laid claim to #1 in AP, the Tide remained #1 in UPI.

So it was on January 1, 1980, that the Tide defeated Arkansas by a score of 24-9 in the Sugar Bowl. Despite the victory and despite finishing the season 12-0, Alabama had to wait for the result of the Rose Bowl to find out what its fate might be.

The 1980 Rose Bowl featured the #1 Ohio State Buckeyes and the #3 USC Trojans. In a game for the ages, the Trojans emerged victorious by the score of 17-16. This left Alabama as the only undefeated and untied team in the land. When the final AP and UPI polls were released, the Crimson Tide were found to be #1 in each.