Year-by-Year: 1953

OB Televised for First Time

Alabama    61
Syracuse    6

Heavily-favored Alabama surprised no one as it dominated Syracuse in the most lopsided Orange Bowl Classic in history. The Crimson Tide held a 21-6 halftime advantage and tacked on 20 points in each of the final quarters to embarrass the Orangemen, 61-6.

The teams traded touchdowns in the opening quarter and Syracuse trailed by one, 7-6, when it missed the conversion attempt. That was just a sign of what would follow.

Seven Orange Bowl records fell and four others were equaled as the Tide rolled up 586 yards of total offense out of its split T and Notre Dame attack. Big plays marked its advances; those included a 50-yard pass to Corky Tharp from Clell Hobson in the second period and an 80-yard Cecil Ingram punt return and Buster Hill's 60-yard interception return in the fourth.

'Bama scat back Bobby Luna scored a pair of touchdowns-the first on a 28-yard toss from Hobson and the second on a 38-yard run while teammate Tommy Lewis ran in two rushing scores (4, 30). Luna also added seven PATs.

Even backup quarterback Bart Starr got in on the action; Starr's 22-yard pass to Joe Cummings gave the Crimson Tide the OBC record for most points in the Classic. In addition, the yards of total offense was just as lopsided as the score. The Crimson Tide offense rattled off 596 yards of total offense, while Syracuse had only 231 yards.

A national television audience saw the Orange Bowl for the first time in history -CBS provided the coverage.

GAME STATISTICS 

                           Alabama           Syracuse

First Downs               25                   15

Rushing Plays            44                    30

Rushing Yards           296                   105

Passes Attempted      33                    35

Passes Completed      22                     17

Had Intercepted         2                      5

Passing Yards           300                   126

Total Offense           596                   231

Punting/Avg.            3/29                  8/36

Fumbles/Lost            3/2                   0/0

Penalties/Yards         5/45                 5/42    

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Alabama           7          14        20        20        61

Syracuse          6          0          0            0        6

SCORING SUMMARY

AL: Luna 28 pass from Hobson (Luna kick); SU: Szonbathy 15 pass from Stark (kick failed); AL: Marlow 2 run (Luna kick); AL: Tharp 50 pass from Hobson (Luna kick); AL: Luna 38 run (Luna kick); AL: T. Lewis 4 run (Luna kick); AL: T. Lewis 30 run (kick failed); AL: Cummings 22 pass from Starr (kick failed); AL: Ingram 80 punt return (Luna kick); AL: Hill 60 interception return (Luna kick)

Alabama Head Coach Harold "Red" Drew

Syracuse Head Coach Ben Schwartzwalder