1987 Alabama Crimson Tide football team

The 1987 Alabama Crimson Tide football team (variously "Alabama", "UA", "Bama" or "The Tide") represented the University of Alabama in the 1987 NCAA Division I-A football season. It was the Crimson Tide's 95th overall and 54th season as a member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The team was led by head coach Bill Curry, in his first year, and played their home games at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama. They finished the season with a record of seven wins and five losses (7–5 overall, 4–3 in the SEC) and with a loss in the Hall of Fame Bowl to Michigan.

1987 Alabama Crimson Tide football
Hall of Fame Bowl, L 24–28 vs. Michigan
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Record	7–5 (4–2 SEC)
Head coach	Bill Curry (1st season)
Offensive coordinator	Rip Scherer (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Don Lindsey (1st season)
Captains	Randy Rockwell Kerry Goode
Home stadium	Legion Field (Capacity: 75,808)
Seasons ← 1986 1988 →

1987 Southeastern Conference football standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 7 Auburn $	5	–	0	–	1			9	–	1	–	2
No. 5 LSU	5	–	1	–	0			10	–	1	–	1
No. 14 Tennessee	4	–	1	–	1			10	–	2	–	1
No. 13 Georgia	4	–	2	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
Alabama	4	–	2	–	0			7	–	5	–	0
Florida	3	–	3	–	0			6	–	6	–	0
Kentucky	1	–	5	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Mississippi State	1	–	5	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Vanderbilt	1	–	5	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Ole Miss	1	–	5	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

Due to a major renovation project that resulted in the completion of the western upper deck, Alabama played all of their home games at Legion Field instead of splitting them with Bryant–Denny Stadium for the 1987 season.^[1]

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 5	1:30 p.m.	Southern Miss*		Legion Field Birmingham, AL (rivalry)		W 38–6	75,808	[2]
September 12	7:00 p.m.	at No. 11 Penn State*	No. 19	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA (rivalry)	CBS	W 24–13	85,619	[3]
September 19	11:30 a.m.	Florida	No. 11	Legion Field Birmingham, AL (rivalry)	WTBS	L 14–23	75,808	[4]
September 26	7:00 p.m.	at Vanderbilt	No. 17	Vanderbilt Stadium Nashville, TN		W 30–23	41,824	[5]
October 3	3:00 p.m.	Southwestern Louisiana*	No. 17	Legion Field Birmingham, AL		W 38–10	72,233	[6]
October 10	3:00 p.m.	at Memphis State*	No. 15	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Memphis, TN		L 10–13	40,622	[7]
October 17	6:00 p.m.	No. 8 Tennessee		Legion Field Birmingham, AL (Third Saturday in October)	ESPN	W 41–22	75,808	[8]
October 31	7:30 p.m.	Mississippi State	No. 16	Legion Field Birmingham, AL (rivalry)		W 21–18	73,877	[9]
November 7	6:30 p.m.	at No. 5 LSU	No. 13	Tiger Stadium Baton Rouge, LA (rivalry)	ESPN	W 22–10	79,379	[10]
November 14	1:30 p.m.	at No. 7 Notre Dame*	No. 11	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN	CBS	L 6–37	59,075	[11]
November 27	1:30 p.m.	vs. No. 7 Auburn	No. 18	Legion Field Birmingham, AL (Iron Bowl)	CBS	L 0–10	75,808	[12]
January 2, 1988	12:00 p.m.	vs. Michigan*		Tampa Stadium Tampa, FL (Hall of Fame Bowl)	NBC	L 24–28	60,156	[13]
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

^[14]

Roster

1987 Alabama Crimson Tide football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class TE 85 Howard Cross Jr RB 26 Bobby Humphrey Jr	Defense Pos. # Name Class CB 29 John Mangum So LB 55 Derrick Thomas Jr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class P 3 Chris Mohr Jr	Head coach Bill Curry Coordinators/assistant coaches John Thompson (LB) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Game summaries

At LSU

1 2 3 4 Total • Alabama 6 0 7 9 22 LSU 0 10 0 0 10 Date: November 7 Location: Tiger Stadium Game attendance: 79,379 Television network: ESPN

Scoring summary Q1 8:28 ALA Doyle 45 yard field goal ALA 3–0 Q1 4:27 ALA Doyle 29 yard field goal ALA 6–0 Q2 14:44 LSU Browndyke 37 yard field goal ALA 6–3 Q2 6:14 LSU V. Jones 9 yard run (Browndyke kick) LSU 10–6 Q3 5:04 ALA Wright 1 yard run (Doyle kick) ALA 13–10 Q4 7:08 ALA Doyle 32 yard field goal ALA 16–10 Q4 4:48 ALA Humphrey 10 yard run (kick failed) ALA 22–10

See also: 1987 LSU Tigers football team

References

General

• "1987 Game Recaps". 1988 Alabama Football Media Guide (PDF). Tuscaloosa, Alabama: UA Athletics Media Relations Office. 1988. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved February 21, 2012.

Specific

1. Carroll, Andrew (January 25, 1987). "Renovation at Bryant–Denny welcome news". The Tuscaloosa News. Google News. p. 2F. Retrieved February 21, 2012.
2. "Alabama swamps Golden Eagles". Hattiesburg American. September 6, 1987. Retrieved February 20, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
3. "Alabama rolls over Penn State". The Philadelphia Inquirer. September 13, 1987. Retrieved February 20, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
4. "Smith, Gators give Alabama the runaround". The Tampa Tribune. September 20, 1987. Retrieved February 20, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
5. "Humphrey, Tide outlast gritty VU". The Tennessean. September 27, 1987. Retrieved February 20, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
6. "USL haunted by reality of Division 1-A". The Daily Advertiser. October 4, 1987. Retrieved February 20, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
7. "Tigers 13, Bama 10 - Memphis St. stund Tide". The Montgomery Advertiser. October 11, 1987. Retrieved February 20, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
8. "Alabama swamps Tennessee 41–22". The Tennessean. October 18, 1987. Retrieved February 20, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
9. "Alabama barely beats MSU, 21–18". Enterprise-Journal. November 1, 1987. Retrieved February 20, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
10. "'Bama: Nothing fancy about it". The Shreveport Times. November 8, 1987. Retrieved February 20, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
11. "Irish leave 'Bama bloodied, battered". The South Bend Tribune. November 15, 1987. Retrieved February 20, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
12. "AU defense mauls Tide". The Montgomery Advertiser. November 28, 1987. Retrieved February 20, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
13. "This one's for Bo, 28–24". Detroit Free Press. January 3, 1988. Retrieved February 20, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
14. "1987 Alabama football archives". RollTide.com. University of Alabama Department of Intercollegiate Athletics. Retrieved February 20, 2021.