Even after all this time, when former University of Alabama coach Ray Perkins hears "Penn State" two words immediately come to mind.

"Preston Gothard."

Yeah, it still bothers him.

It was 1983, his first year guiding the Crimson Tide, which was off to a 4-0 start and had moved all the way up to No. 3 in the polls when Alabama visited Beaver Stadium on October 8. The unranked Nittany Lions had gotten off to the worst start in 44 years by a reigning national champion at 0-3, which despite wins over Temple and Rutgers had fans clamoring for a big victory and led to a then-record crowd of 85,614.

[For most of three quarters the game wasn't close, with Alabama making key mistakes to fall behind 34-7. Penn State freshman tailback D.J. Dozier notched his fourth straight 100-yard rushing game with 163 and quarterback Doug Strang had three touchdowns. But Walter Lewis, who finished 25-of-35 for 336 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions, keyed a furious rally by completing 15 of his 18 final pass attempts.

Unfortunately for the Crimson Tide, one of the those incompletions was a controversial throw to Gothard, who despite being wide open in the end zone was ruled out-of-bounds, nullifying what could have the game-winning score. Instead, on the subsequent snap tailback Kerry Goode ran a sweep from the 2 as time expired only to be stopped short. Final score: Penn State 34, Alabama 28.

"That was unfortunate, but that's how it goes sometime," Perkins said. "I'm glad they're on the schedule."

While that doesn't come close to being the most high-profile meeting between the schools, it was pretty typical of how most have been decided. Overall, the Nittany Lions and Crimson Tide have played 13 times, the first three of which were in bowls and the last 10 during a compelling series from 1981-90.

Alabama leads the series, 8-5. Penn State won the last meeting 20 years ago but the Tide pulled out the one that counted most, with the national championship on the line at the 1979 Sugar Bowl.

That time, the goal-line situation came a little earlier in the fourth quarter, when Penn State took advantage of a misdirected pitchout and soon had third-and-goal at the Alabama 1.

"It was gut-check time," Tide linebacker Barry Krauss later said. "We looked at each other. We knew this could be it. When they broke the huddle, everything got silent. Boy, talk about gut-checks."

Defensive back Don McNeal made the first stop roughly a foot away from the end zone and when Nittany Lions quarterback Chuck Fusina walked up to see how far the ball was from the goal line defensive tackle Marty Lyons supposedly warned him: "You'd better pass."

Instead, Joe Paterno called Mike Guman's name for a run up the middle, where injured David Hannah, Byron Braggs and Lyons held him up to set up Krauss' bone-jarring collision that's still being talked about in Tuscaloosa. Alabama held on for the 14-7 victory.

Here's a quick look at the other games.

December 19, 1959, Penn State 7, Alabama 0: The Liberty Bowl was the start of Paul W. "Bear" Bryant's epic bowl streak, but Coach Rip Engle's fake field goal resulted in a touchdown as time expired in the first half for the only points. "We weren't a real strong team, but that team would hit you," Bryant later said. "We had the makings of something good a couple of years later and it was important for them to get started in the bowl business." Two years later, Bryant won his first national title.

December 31, 1975, Alabama 13, Penn State 6: The first meeting between Paterno and Bryant occurred in the Sugar Bowl, where quarterback Richard Todd completed 10 of 12 passes for 210 yards to be named the game's most valuable player despite slicing open his middle finger on Christmas Day. "I don't throw a spiral when I have a good hand," Todd said afterward. "It didn't hurt any."

November 14, 1981, Alabama 31, Penn State 16: Another goal-line stand highlighted Alabama's first trip to Happy Valley, where the No. 5 Nittany Lions had their national title hopes dashed. Bryant enjoyed career victory No. 314, which tied him with Amos Alonzo Stagg atop the all-time Division I-A coaching list, and he set the new mark two weeks later against Auburn.

October 9, 1982, Alabama 42, Penn State 21: Jeremiah Castille's interception of a Todd Blackledge pass sparked the Tide to 18 fourth-quarter points. "I never thought we'd go unbeaten with the schedule we have," Paterno was quoted as saying. "I figured some place down the line, someone would beat us - if not here, it might have been later … but this team still has a lot of time to prove itself." He was right as the Nittany Lions didn't lose again and beat Georgia in the Sugar Bowl to capture their first national championship.

October 13, 1984, Alabama 6, Penn State 0: The unranked Crimson Tide started 13 sophomores and freshmen, but in contrast to Perkins' inaugural game in the series this one came down to the kickers with Vann Tiffin making a school-record 53-yard field goal (he topped a year later against Texas A&M, 57). Penn State's Nick Gancitano missed from 51 and 42 yards in the first half and the Nittany Lions never got past the Alabama 45 again.

October 12, 1985, Penn State 19, Alabama 17: After four field goals by Massimo Manca, No. 8 Penn State finally reached the end zone after a 29-yard reveres by Michael Timpson set up Matt Knizner's 11-yard pass to tight end Brian Siverling. Quarterback Mike Shula countered with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Thornton Chandler with 14 seconds left, but No. 10 Alabama couldn't recover the on-sides kick. "It was the kind of game you go somewhere like Penn State or Alabama to play," said Paterno, who celebrated his 20th year coaching but lost the national title game to Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl.

October 25, 1986, Penn State 23, Alabama 3: The victory over the No. 2 Crimson Tide launched Penn State to its second national championship. Alabama was limited to 44 rushing yards after averaging 266, Shula was sacked five times and the Nittany Lions took advantage of two interceptions and three fumble recoveries.

September 12, 1987, Alabama 24, Penn State 13: It was the first big win for Bill Curry, on the road against the reigning national champions. Aided by a 73-yard touchdown run Bobby Humphrey tallied 220 rushing yards and also threw his first pass for a 57-yard gain.

October 22, 1988, Alabama 8, Penn State 3: Remembered as one of the greatest games played at Legion Field, linebacker Derrick Thomas was credited with eight tackles, three sacks and a safety and forced Tony Sacca to throw his final attempt early, which Lee Ozmint intercepted. Announcer Brent Musburger said of Thomas, it "was the most dominating performance I have ever seen by a college player."

October 28, 1989, Alabama 17, Penn State 16: A high snap gave defensive lineman Thomas Rayam a chance to block Ray Tarasi's last-second 17-yard field-goal attempt to preserve Alabama's victory. Despite having four passes intercepted, the Tide's winning touchdown was on a 12-yard run by Siran Stacy.

October 27, 1990, Penn State 9, Alabama 0: The Crimson Tide had averaged 204.3 rushing yards per game but finished with just six against the Nittany Lions. Penn State had five interceptions and one fumble recovery as the 10-year series was discontinued. Gene Stallings lost only one more game that season, to Louisville in the Fiesta Bowl, and one game the two subsequent seasons combined en route to the 1992 national title.

September 11, 2010, arguably the best series in Alabama history will be renewed.

"It's a great opportunity for the university," Lewis said. "They're a class organization. It was just a great series for us. You think about the past and 1983 in terms of was he in or out, but what I remember most is that there were great people, they were class. They treated us well when we went there. It's a great rivalry and it'll be great for the guys."