We all know Bobby Bowden has roots in Alabama. He was born and grew up in Birmingham, played football for the Tide for a year before transferring to and graduating from Howard in Birmingham, coached there for awhile and even considered coaching the Tide as well while at FSU.
Bobby idolized Bear Bryant and even as a head coach at FSU, he always kept a scrapbook of Alabama football from the 1940's in his office.
Mickey Andrews also had ties to Alabama after being coached by Bear Bryant as a two-sport star for the Tide in the 60's.
On this day in 2007, he squared off with the team he grew up cheering for in the River City Showdown in Jacksonville, FL in front of the largest crowd (85,412) ever to witness a game in the city, exceeding the attendance of any annual Georgia-Florida rivalry games and even the 2004 Super Bowl.
I don't recall many giving us much of a chance against a ranked Alabama team. We had already dropped a game to Clemson and were not in the top 75 in basically every offensive category. However, FSU's own Lee Corso picked the Noles to win during the GameDay broadcast.
"Today it's not Roll Tide! It's Roll Tribe!" - Lee Corso
It was the 75th anniversary of the SEC. Bobby Bowden had played 7 different SEC teams before, but never Alabama. An SEC officiating crew was used on the field, but an ACC crew was in the booth.
It was Nick Saban's first year with the Tide and Jimbo Fisher's first year with the Seminoles as the offensive coordinator and head coach in waiting. Fisher and Saban coached together and won a national championship at LSU.
It was the only time in Bobby's career at FSU he faced Alabama and came out victorious in the end 21-14, thanks in large part to a great defensive effort and quarterback Xavier Lee coming off the bench in the 2nd quarter for his first action of the season and connecting with De'Cody Fagg twice for touchdowns. Fagg and Greg Carr combined for 9 catches and 202 yards in the game.
Saban on Lee: "He gave them a spark. His ability to run made us play different."
Bowden said of Lee: "He gave us some mobility at quarterback and offensively he won the game. He did what we've always wanted him to do. Xavier has always been a young man with great potential and I thought tonight he began to use that potential."
Fisher & Lee celebrating after the victory over Alabama
The defense held the Tide scoreless well into the 4th quarter, maintaining a 14-0 lead until a leaping grab in the back of the endzone put Bama on the board with only about 5 minutes left in the game.
The defense was anchored by Everette Brown who had 2 sacks in game and a forced fumble. Geno Hayes tallied 7 tackles including 2 for loss and also forced a fumble. Derek Nicholson had a team-high 9 tackles in the game and accounted for a .5 sack along with Andre Fluellen. Antone Smith added the only TD of the day on the ground a play after Letroy Guion recovered a fumble caused by Everette Brown's sack.
Saban said the FSU defense was one of the best he's seen over the years, stating: "I've been part of some great defensive teams as a coach and I've played against quite a few and they're up there with the best of them."
It was Florida State's first victory in four tries against Alabama in the first meeting between the schools since 1974 when Alabama won 8-7 by scoring a safety and field goal in the final 1:27. Ahmet Askin also missed three FG's in that game and had another blocked.
Enjoy the game:
Bobby idolized Bear Bryant and even as a head coach at FSU, he always kept a scrapbook of Alabama football from the 1940's in his office.
Mickey Andrews also had ties to Alabama after being coached by Bear Bryant as a two-sport star for the Tide in the 60's.
On this day in 2007, he squared off with the team he grew up cheering for in the River City Showdown in Jacksonville, FL in front of the largest crowd (85,412) ever to witness a game in the city, exceeding the attendance of any annual Georgia-Florida rivalry games and even the 2004 Super Bowl.
I don't recall many giving us much of a chance against a ranked Alabama team. We had already dropped a game to Clemson and were not in the top 75 in basically every offensive category. However, FSU's own Lee Corso picked the Noles to win during the GameDay broadcast.
"Today it's not Roll Tide! It's Roll Tribe!" - Lee Corso
It was the 75th anniversary of the SEC. Bobby Bowden had played 7 different SEC teams before, but never Alabama. An SEC officiating crew was used on the field, but an ACC crew was in the booth.
It was Nick Saban's first year with the Tide and Jimbo Fisher's first year with the Seminoles as the offensive coordinator and head coach in waiting. Fisher and Saban coached together and won a national championship at LSU.
It was the only time in Bobby's career at FSU he faced Alabama and came out victorious in the end 21-14, thanks in large part to a great defensive effort and quarterback Xavier Lee coming off the bench in the 2nd quarter for his first action of the season and connecting with De'Cody Fagg twice for touchdowns. Fagg and Greg Carr combined for 9 catches and 202 yards in the game.
Saban on Lee: "He gave them a spark. His ability to run made us play different."
Bowden said of Lee: "He gave us some mobility at quarterback and offensively he won the game. He did what we've always wanted him to do. Xavier has always been a young man with great potential and I thought tonight he began to use that potential."
Fisher & Lee celebrating after the victory over Alabama
The defense held the Tide scoreless well into the 4th quarter, maintaining a 14-0 lead until a leaping grab in the back of the endzone put Bama on the board with only about 5 minutes left in the game.
The defense was anchored by Everette Brown who had 2 sacks in game and a forced fumble. Geno Hayes tallied 7 tackles including 2 for loss and also forced a fumble. Derek Nicholson had a team-high 9 tackles in the game and accounted for a .5 sack along with Andre Fluellen. Antone Smith added the only TD of the day on the ground a play after Letroy Guion recovered a fumble caused by Everette Brown's sack.
Saban said the FSU defense was one of the best he's seen over the years, stating: "I've been part of some great defensive teams as a coach and I've played against quite a few and they're up there with the best of them."
It was Florida State's first victory in four tries against Alabama in the first meeting between the schools since 1974 when Alabama won 8-7 by scoring a safety and field goal in the final 1:27. Ahmet Askin also missed three FG's in that game and had another blocked.
Enjoy the game:
