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
ConferenceSoutheastern Conference
Record7–5 (4–2 SEC)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorRip Scherer (1st season)
Defensive coordinatorDon Lindsey (1st season)
Captains
  • Randy Rockwell
  • Kerry Goode
Home stadiumLegion Field
(Capacity: 75,808)
Seasons
← 1986
1988 →
1987 Southeastern Conference football standings
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

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DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendanceSource
September 51:30 p.m.Southern Miss*W 38–675,808[2]
September 127:00 p.m.at No. 11 Penn State*No. 19CBSW 24–1385,619[3]
September 1911:30 a.m.FloridaNo. 11
  • Legion Field
  • Birmingham, AL (rivalry)
WTBSL 14–2375,808[4]
September 267:00 p.m.at VanderbiltNo. 17W 30–2341,824[5]
October 33:00 p.m.Southwestern Louisiana* No. 17
  • Legion Field
  • Birmingham, AL
W 38–1072,233[6]
October 103:00 p.m.at Memphis State*No. 15L 10–1340,622[7]
October 176:00 p.m.No. 8 Tennessee
ESPNW 41–2275,808[8]
October 317:30 p.m.Mississippi StateNo. 16
  • Legion Field
  • Birmingham, AL (rivalry)
W 21–1873,877[9]
November 76:30 p.m.at No. 5 LSUNo. 13ESPNW 22–1079,379[10]
November 141:30 p.m.at No. 7 Notre Dame*No. 11CBSL 6–3759,075[11]
November 271:30 p.m.vs. No. 7 AuburnNo. 18
CBSL 0–1075,808[12]
January 2, 198812:00 p.m.vs. Michigan*NBCL 24–2860,156[13]
  • *Non-conference game
  •  Homecoming
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Central time

[14]

Roster

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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
Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  •   Injured
  •   Redshirt

Game summaries

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At LSU

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1 234Total
• Alabama 6 079 22
LSU 0 1000 10
  • Date: November 7
  • Location: Tiger Stadium
  • Game attendance: 79,379
  • Television network: ESPN

References

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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.