Alabama Football: Ranking 5 worst losses in program history
By James Bowers
4. Mississippi State 24, Alabama 16 (2006)
Mike Shula’s tenure at Alabama was not what you would call esteemed. In his four seasons from 2003-06, the former Tide quarterback achieved only one winning mark, and lost plenty of games in which the Tide was a favorite.
When Shula came back to the school where he had starred two decades earlier, the program was a tumultuous state. The school was just emerging from harsh NCAA penalties handed down under the stormy Dennis Franchione era. His successor Mike Price was let go by UAT before he ever coached a single game due to some, shall we say, unbecoming personal conduct (we’ll let you research that one on your own).
Shula inherited a mess, but the hope was that he could use some of the wisdom imparted by his legendary father Don to, ahem, turn the tide. It would take some time. An abysmal 4-9 2003 campaign gave way to a 6-6 run in 2004. Shula’s seat was cooled by a 10-win 2005 season, which culminated in a Cotton Bowl win over Texas Tech. Alabama brass was pleased enough to hand Shula a very generous contract extension. It looked like the Tide was rolling again.
Well, 2006 would not see those good fortunes continue. Alabama was beaten up by injuries and even though quarterback John Parker Wilson had some good showings, one man cannot win games alone. The Tide skirted past Vanderbilt and needed overtime to beat an Ole Miss team that finished 4-8 that year. They would wind up losing to Arkansas, LSU and for a second a second straight year, Auburn. It was one loss in particular, however, that sticks out like a sore thumb among the painful defeats.
The Mississippi State Bulldogs were a team on life support heading into Tuscaloosa on November 4, 2006. Sylvester Croom’s club had won a staggering two games and people expected Alabama to beat out its many frustrations on the the hapless MSU team. The result was quite the opposite. Alabama played poorly, with Parker Wilson throwing a pick-six and the defense allowing the Bulldogs to take a 24-10 halftime lead. Although State was unable to score in the second half, ‘Bama could only muster a pair of field goals.
The result was a 24-16 Bulldog win. It was Mississippi State’s first SEC win all year. It was a watershed win from Croom; who once played for the Tide under Bear Bryant.
The victory was only the ninth in Croom’s disappointing turn at the helm of the MSU football program, which would come to an end the following year. For Shula, the game was a huge nail in the coffin for his head coaching career, and he cleaned up his office at the end of 2006. The man who succeeded him, Nick Saban, finally got the Tide back to his rightful place among college football’s elite.
We’ll discuss later than even he was not immune to the hair-pulling defeat.