Note: Every day this week, we’ve given you video of an exciting moment in Iron Bowl history. Sorry, Auburn fans, this is The Daily Bama Blog, so they’re all from Crimson Tide wins.
OK, there’s nothing especially important historically about Alabama’s 34-16 win over Auburn in 1978, except for Tide quarterback Jeff Rutledge‘s three touchdown passes.
During 1971-82 when Alabama ran the run-based wishbone offense, no other quarterback threw for three touchdowns in a game. Nine other Tide passers did it before the wishbone, including Bart Starr, Joe Namath and Ken Stabler.
In addition, Rutledge’s three touchdown throws in his final regular-season game gave him 13 for the season, which tied the school record held by Namath and Harry Gilmer. Back then, bowl totals didn’t count toward the team and individual statistics. Rutledge, a senior, also improved to 30 touchdown passes for his career, which broke Namath’s school record of 28.
One of his scoring throws against Auburn went to tight end Rick Neal, while two went to split end Bruce Bolton.
The video highlights of the game:
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