Paterno never beat Bear Bryant, but the ’79 Sugar Bowl loss stung the most

Paterno never beat Bear Bryant, but the 1979 Sugar Bowl loss stung the most

Paterno wrote that in his 1989 autobiography. Paterno went 0-4 against Bryant. The italics, which are his, refer to the 1979 Sugar Bowl. First, a little background.

Paterno, as a Penn State assistant, first coached against Bryant in 1959, when the Nittany Lions played Bryant’s second Tide team in the inaugural Liberty Bowl in Philadelphia (the bowl moved to its current home in Memphis in 1965).

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9/10/10