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Louisville Cardinals |
Alabama Crimson Tide © |
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Played October 22, 1977 at Bryant-Denny Stadium Tuscaloosa, Alabama |
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Teams' Belt Records
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Team |
Belt Reigns |
Overall Record |
Home Record |
Away Record |
Neutral Record |
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W |
L |
T |
PCT |
W |
L |
T |
PCT |
W |
L |
T |
PCT |
W |
L |
T |
PCT |
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| Louisville | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
| Alabama © | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | .667 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 |
Previous Belt Meetings: None
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1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
Final |
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Louisville |
0 |
0 |
6 |
0 |
6 |
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Alabama |
14 |
13 |
14 |
14 |
55 |
The 3-2-1 Louisville Cardinals of coach Vince Gibson traveled to Tuscaloosa to battle the 3rd ranked 5-1 Alabama Crimson Tide of coach Bear Bryant. Alabama's All-American TE Ozzie Newsome caught 2 touchdown passes to complement the Crimson Tide's 413 rushing yards in a 55-6 rout of the Cardinals to retain The Belt. Newsome opened the scoring just 1:41 into the game when he caught a 67-yard touchdown pass from QB Jeff Rutledge. On the last play of the 1st quarter, Alabama's RB Don Faust scored on a 2-yard touchdown run giving the Crimson Tide a 14-0 lead. Late in the 2nd quarter, RB Tony Nathan broke loose on a 71-yard touchdown run as Alabama pushed the lead to 21-0. Following a fumble by Louisville, Crimson Tide's RB Steven Whitman finished the 1st half scoring carrying in from 10 yards but the missed extra-point attempt still gave Alabama a 27-0 halftime lead. The Crimson Tide opened the 3rd quarter the same way they started the game with Newsome catching a 32-yard touchdown pass from Rutledge. Another Cardinals' fumble set-up a 32-yard touchdown pass from back-up QB Kevin Jones to WR Keith Pugh making the score Alabama 41 Louisville 0 with 12:04 left in the 3rd quarter. The Cardinals cracked the scoreboard when QB Randy Butler scored on a 1-yard touchdown run but even that went wrong as the extra-point attempt was no good. Two more touchdowns came in the final quarter to finish the rout. Crimson Tides' back-up QB Steadman Shealy hit TE Tim Travis on a 5-yard touchdown pass & RB John Turpin added a 5-yard touchdown run. Rutledge threw for 124 yards completing all 3 of his pass attempts for 2 touchdowns with Newsome catching all his passes. Butler threw for just 48 yards while RB Calvin Prince rushed for 100 yards in the loss. Alabama finished the season 11-1; SEC Champions & ranked 2nd nationally while the Cardinals finished 7-4-1. Louisville would play for The Belt again in 2000.
