Creg Stephenson is counting down significant numbers in Alabama football history, both in the lead-up to the 2025 football season and in commemoration of the Crimson Tide’s first national championship 100 years ago. The number could be attached to a year, a uniform number or even a football-specific statistic. We hope you enjoy.
The best performance of Jeremiah Castille’s Alabama football career came in arguably the most “must-win” game in Crimson Tide history.
On Dec. 29, 1982, Castille helped send Paul “Bear” Bryant out on top in his final game as Alabama head coach. The senior All-America cornerback intercepted three passes, forced a fumble and knocked down a two-point conversion attempt as the Crimson Tide beat Illinois 21-15 in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis.
“It was very important to win this game,” Castille told reporters afterward. “Coach Bryant has done so much for football and so much for the university. For us, going out and winning this game is saying ‘this is what we can do for you.’
“There’s no way we can repay him for what he’s done. He’s been a champion all his life, and it was our job to make sure he went out a champion.”
The Liberty Bowl victory ended what had been a trying final season for Bryant, whose team lost four of its final six regular-season games after a 5-0 start. Alabama had won nine of the previous 11 SEC championships, and looked well on its way to another following a 42-21 throttling of Penn State (the eventual national champions, as it turned out) on Oct. 9 in Birmingham that moved the Crimson Tide to No. 2 in the polls.
