1983 Sun Bowl, #6 SMU vs Alabama (Highlights)

The 10-1, #6 SMU Mustangs faced the 7-4 Alabama Crimson Tide in the 1983 Sun Bowl from El Paso, TX.

[@BAYAREA-kd1ig]

Thanks for posting this, it is a hard game to find online.

[@coreyoden6367]

Walter Lewis was one of the best QBs the Tide ever had...undefeated in bowl starts...held the Tide record for total offense until Andrew Zow broke it.

[@briangreen256]

Mac Jones said hold my beer lol

[@windridr66]

This was an exciting time. Bama had a good year with Perkins. Look at the Bama D swarm. They need to let the team watch this. 😊

[@rbill9181]

Bowl Bama Bowl ! I know we have alot of haters but we win. Loved the 80s . One of our up n down decades . But we always got back on top.

[@90srule96]

Classic bowl case of one team not wanting to be there, and the other team wanting it way more. Happens every year. But the SEC was loaded in 1983 from top to bottom. Auburn, Georgia, and Florida were all in the top 10. Tennessee, LSU, and Bama were tough. Auburn had a great argument to be #1. The Tigers played a brutal schedule.

[@spinalthepirate7207]

Very cold that year around Christmas...but the duck hunting was great

[@josephhebert3073]

Rickey Moore steam rolled the "Pony Express II".

[@82ghall]

that was a extra cold Christmas day in the south that day , got down to 8 in Mobile

[@scottjackson163]

I remember the temperature going to 6 degrees in Birmingham. 🥶

[@gregorypatton4706]

thank you for posting these games that never before available I love it thank God I can watch Alabama Old Alabama wins in the different bowls thanks man my rewind that's bama rewind

[@jamessimms415]

Love the old school uni’s w/no names on the back

[@kerrynixon3968]

I watched Kerry Goode play against my high school team in the 1A championship, they won ,he didn't play the second half, he had probably already rushed for around 300, was a man amongst boys

[@traceywoodward1354]

I watched all the goodes in high school...every 1 of them could've named.their.own rushing totals for the games they played.in

[@windridr66]

All were great for the tide. #35 was my favorite.

[@briangreen256]

I was just 11 when this game was played. Pretty sure I didn't see it. My grandfather had just passed.

[@jeffgorham8819]

IIRC, this was the year that SMU, from the head coach on down, whined about, saying that they should have been in a "better bowl." Makes one wo der how they would have done if they had focused on the game they were in instead.

[@BamaRewind]

You're correct. SMU felt continuously shafted in the early 80s, In 81, they finished 10-1, SWC champions, but were ineligible for any bowl due to probation. In 82, they finished as the only undefeated team in the country, SWC and Cotton Bowl champions, but they weren't awarded any share of the national championship. So when they finished 83 at 10-1, having gone 30-2-1 since 1981, but still had to go to the Sun Bowl to face a mediocre 7-4 Alabama team, they felt they had been ripped off again. SMU came in apathetic to face a Bama squad that was fired up after a disappointing season with four losses by an average margin of only 5 points.

[@tmarsh0307]

@@BamaRewind Just eyeballing Penn State's schedule, they played a much tougher schedule than SMU. I didn't realize SMU went undefeated in 1982, but knew of their disappointment with the 1983 Sun Bowl Bid. I wonder if probation had anything to do with that. Usually, both AP and Coaches' Poll voters and bowl selection committees could be a little more vindictive against programs that had a reputation for being dirty.

[@jamessimms415]

Baylor had the same attitude when we played them in the Cotton Bowl

[@MascarasMil]

SMU should have gone to a better bowl. Then they wouldn't have faced Bama. Imagine what Bama might have done had Bear Bryant convinced Craig James to play there.

[@briangreen256]

SMU got the death penalty for cheating worst than any team in college football history lol

[@Photograph1974]

Bama might have had four losses coming into this game but they were more talented than SMU. It showed in the final score.

[@timothygreen9170]

SMU had 9 NFL players on the team are you crazy??

[@12106445]

The Tide outplayed SMU on this day.

[@Photograph1974]

Timothy Green Alabama had more than nine on this roster led by Cornelius Bennett.

[@dewaba1]

Ricky Moore was abusing them.

[@damienkirksey7026]

@@timothygreen9170 No you're crazy

[@gregggarland6009]

Ricky Moore the bama bull

[@sportshistorybuff319]

I remember how SMU felt this game was beneath them, and it showed on the field. Imagine being 10-1 and losing to a 7-4 team. And it's not like Central Florida went 13-0 and got spanked by a mediocre SEC team. This was like some bratty kid waking up on Christmas morning and whining that their new Smart Phone wasn't the color they wanted, and the parents instead giving it to one of your siblings as a life lesson.

[@michaelnewton1332]

If this was 2021, SMU would have been playing in the Cotton or Fiesta Bowl.

[@tonycrabtree3416]

“Quick as a hiccup”

[@randyblythe6163]

Thank you

[@timothygreen9170]

Too much partying in Juarez