Crimson Red Sports

The Crimson Tide will cross the Mason Dixon Line for the first time in 22 years to play at Penn State at 3:30 p.m. in Happy Valley. Fittingly, the last time it played in the North was at Penn State in 1989.

Alabama famously won 17-16 in Beaver Stadium when Thomas Rayam blocked a chip-shot Ray Tarasi 17-yard field goal in the closing seconds.

Since then, meetings with Big Ten teams were rare. Only a few bowl matchups and last year’s visit from the Nittany Lions were the only meetings Alabama had with the now 12-team conference centered in the Midwest.

Beaver Stadium has been expanded twice since Bill Curry’s Tide played there last. Most current players weren’t even born then, so there’s a certain curiosity among several team members about playing in the foreign environment.

“It’s definitely ... something special to me,” Tide offensive lineman Barrett Jones said. “Happy Valley is a place that there’s a lot of football history, a lot of rich tradition. I think it’s going to be a great opportunity to go up there and play and especially experience a whiteout and all that kind of thing. It’s a really big opportunity.”

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2011/09/06/1723134/alabama-notes-tide-makes-rare.html

I can remember that 1989 game like it was yesterday. Alabama's defense could not stop the Penn State running back Blair. Penn State drove down close to endzone. Jo Pa elected to kick and it was blocked. He should have run the ball.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZJMaFw4V2U
He tried running against Alabama in 1979.