1979 Sugar Bowl - Pre-Game Information

Pre-Game Information

The game kicked off at 1:00 p.m. January 1, 1979, and was broadcast by ABC. The play-by-play was done by Keith Jackson, with the color commentary provided by Frank Broyles, the former Arkansas coach turned ABC color analyst.

Penn State came into the game as a narrow favorite.

Alabama was the home team, and thus wore its crimson jerseys. The uniforms were crimson helmets, crimson jerseys, all over the white pants with the two crimson stripes, with white numerals.

Penn State was the visiting team, and thus wore its white jerseys. Their uniforms were white helmets with the blue stripe down the center, the white jerseys and white pants with blue numerals.

Much of the pre-game hype surrounded the Penn State defense v. the Alabama offense. Penn State had, arguably, its best defense ever under Paterno, and was an immovable object against the run. Alabama, on the other hand, was known for its hard-nosed rushing attack out of the wishbone. However, the x-factor in the game was that Alabama was to be the first team that Penn State would face all season that ran the wishbone, a difficult-to-stop formation that forces defenses to cover the entire field against both the run and the pass. Most pre-game predictions hinged on this, and whether or not Joe Paterno would call a conservative game on offense.