History of the SEC: Alabama Crimson Tide

In many ways, the SEC owes a lot of its success to the University of Alabama football program, and not because it’s won the most national championships, SEC titles, or made the most postseason appearances.

Rather it’s because Alabama had a series of landmark victories that helped first put Southern football on the map, taking the initial steps for the region eventually challenge, if not surpass, the rest of the country.

It's also the the program that's had the most impressive dynasty in college football history, and had the only coach to successfully enjoy two distinct dynasties (minimum three national titles over a sis year period), but we're getting ahead of ourselves.

The first major milestone win came 30 years after William G. Little brought football to the school in 1892, under the direction of surly coach Xen Scott, a former horse-racing writer from Cleveland who won his first five games in 1919 by a combined score of 225-0, and the following year led Alabama to its first 10-win season. With two losses and a tie already to show for the 1922 season, the Crimson Tide rolled into Philadelphia to play Penn on November 4 as a heavy underdog.

But it didn’t play like one. With approximately 25,000 fans on hand, a field goal by Bull Wesley and the recovery of teammate’s Pooley Hubert’s fumble in the end zone by center Shorty Propst resulted in a 9-7 upset. According to numerous accounts, Scott and his players paraded through the streets of the city, and when they eventually got home were greeted by thousands of fans at the Tuscaloosa Train Depot.

It would also serve at Scott’s signature win. Unbeknownst to the players, he had already turned in his letter of resignation and would soon die of throat cancer. With a final 59-0 victory against Mississippi State, Scott’s career ended with a 29-9-3 record.

The second landmark victory was more by design. When Dr. George Hutcheson Denny was hired as president of the university in 1912, he was ahead of his time in that he saw football as a tool to building enrollment and gaining notoriety. To give an example to how correct he was, when Denny arrived the campus had just 652 students and nine principal buildings. When he retired in 1936, there more than 5,000 students and 23 major buildings, which still form the central core of the modern campus.

Hoping to build a potential football dynasty, he replaced Scott with Vanderbilt assistant coach Wallace Wade, a former calvary captain in World War I. His first season produced a 7-2-1 record with Alabama getting pounded at Syracuse, 23-0, a game Wade claimed taught him more about football than any other.

Alabama (8-1) won its first championship in 1924 by defeating Georgia 33-0 to claim the Southern Conference title. The team outscored its opponents 290-24 and recorded seven shutouts, but that was nothing to what the Crimson Tide would accomplish in 1925.

Through its first eight games, Alabama gave up just one touchdown, with Johnny Mack Brown and Pooley Hubert the best backfield combination in college football. A gut-wrenching 7-0 victory against Georgia Tech set up a rematch with Georgia for the Southern Conference title, and, similar to the year before, it was all Crimson Tide, 27-0.

Only the season wasn’t over yet. On hand for the victory were representatives of the Rose Bowl Committee, who essentially decided which teams would play for the national championship. When Colgate, Dartmouth and Yale all turned down invitations due to pressure from the American Association of University Professors, who had issued an unfavorable report on the sport, the first offer to a Southern school was extended. Alabama would play the heavily favored Washington Huskies, and many considered the pairing a colossal mistake.

Led by fullback George “Wildcat” Wilson, Washington jumped out to a 12-0 lead, prompting Wade to walk into the locker room, growl “They told me boys from the South would fight,” and walk out. After Wilson unnecessarily twisted Brown’s leg while finishing a tackle, the players subsequently responded by knocking Wilson out of the game for the third quarter. Hubert punched in one touchdown and Brown scored on both a 59-yard reception from Grant Gillis and a 30-yard catch from Hubert to take the lead. Washington closed the gap and threatened another touchdown in the waning moment when Brown made an open-field tackle of Wilson to end the threat. Alabama won 20-19 to change the game and region forever.  

“If Alabama had lost badly in 1926, by 40 points or more, would football then have become the sort of important, defining experience that it became over the next five decades? My answer is no, it would not have,” Southern historian Wayne Flint concluded. “Because the South would have just been proved yet again to be inferior in some other dimension in life, and what would have happened, I think, is the South would have found some other way to excel. It would have invested this kind of emotional energy and physical commitment to anything else.”

Alabama continued its winning ways in 1926 and with a 33-6 Thanksgiving victory against Georgia won a third-straight Southern Conference championship. The only close game was a 2-0 victory against Sewanee decided by a blocked punt that went out of the end zone. Led by All-Americans Fred Pickhard and Hoyt “Wu” Winslett, along with All-Southern Conference backs Herschel Caldwell and Emile Barnes and center Gordon “Sherlock” Holmes, the Crimson Tide outscored its opponents 242-20.

It was back to Pasadena, though this time Alabama didn’t have to wait for an invitation to play Stanford, which was coached by the legendary Pop Warner. Because voting was often conducted at the conclusion of the regular season, both teams along with Lafayette and Navy had already been declared national champions by at least one outlet. Alabama was outplayed, but Stanford could never put the game away, resulting in a 7-7 tie.

Wade turned in his resignation at the end of the 1929 season, but agreed to stay on for the final year of his contract before heading to Duke. An 18-6 win against Tennessee and a 12-7 victory against Vanderbilt had the Crimson Tide 5-0, and it had already yielded the only points Alabama would give up all season.

A 13-0 victory against Georgia meant both a perfect regular season and Southern Conference championship, resulting in another invitation to the Rose Bowl to play Washington State. Even though the national championship was at stake, Wade started his second unit. Washington State held its own against the backups, but not against the starters and Alabama easily won 24-0. After what Clyde Bolton of the Birmingham News called the “greatest swan song in the history of football,” Wade concluded his Alabama career with a 61-13-3 record and third national championship.

For a replacement, Wade suggested Georgia assistant Frank Thomas, who had been the roommate of George Gipp at Notre Dame, and Denny concurred. Among his first moves was to adopt Knute Rockne’s “Box Formation” offense, which relied on speed and deception, but also helped open up the passing game.

Led by back Johnny “Hurry” Cain, Alabama destroyed most of its opponents in 1931, including Clemson (74-7), Ole Miss (55-6) and Mississippi State (53-0), but lost to Tennessee (25-0). The 9-1 record remains the best debut season for a coach in school history, and the 36 points average was an Alabama record.

Even after its first conference game was a scoreless tie with Ole Miss, Alabama still captured the first SEC championship in 1933, thanks to a key 12-6 victory at Tennessee. The only loss was a 2-0 controversial game against Fordham in front of 60,000 fans at the Polo Grounds in New York. Guard Tom Huke was named All-American, but the Crimson Tide also had an amazing collection of younger players, including fullback Joe Demyanovich, halfback Dixie Howell, end Don Hutson, tackle Bill Lee, quarterback Riley Smith and a rugged end named Paul W. “Bear” Bryant.

They came back in 1934 to form one of the greatest teams in college football history. After beating Howard 24-0, Alabama practically breezed through its SEC schedule, with the only close game against Tennessee, 13-6. Although many sportswriters thought Minnesota was a more deserving choice, Alabama returned to the Rose Bowl to again face Stanford. The game was a sellout with 84,484, and like usual the Tide was considered the underdog. Duly inspired, and aided by scouting reports from former standout Brown, Alabama dominated 29-13. Howell scored two touchdowns, one on a 67-yard run, and passed 59 yards to Hutson for another. He threw for 160 yards, ran for 111 and averaged 43.8 yards a punt to be named game MVP.

“Stanford made a mistake in scoring first. It just made those Alabama boys mad."Will Rogers

Alabama had won its fourth national championship, averaging 31.4 points per game while yielding just 4.5. Howell was named SEC Player of the Year and Hutson went on to revolutionize the National Football League with the Green Bay Packers.

Alabama finished atop the SEC again in 1935, but the 6-2-1 record was a bit disappointing. Instead the season was best remembered for Bryant’s gutsy play against Tennessee, in which he caught a touchdown pass and lateraled to All-American Smith for another score despite playing with a broken fibula sustained against Mississippi State.

“It was just one little bone,” Bryant was credited as saying.

In 1936, Bryant joined Thomas’ staff as an assistant coach and in the first season-ending Associated Press poll Alabama (8-0-1) finished No. 4. Inspired by a bowl snubbing, Alabama came back in 1937 to record a perfect regular season, thanks to three narrow victories: 14-7 at Tennessee, 9-6 at Tulane, and 9-7 at Vanderbilt. Otherwise, the Tide dominated, outscoring opponents 225-33 in clinching the SEC championship to secure yet another invitation to the Rose Bowl. But during a practice on the way to California, a lineman pulled the wrong way and collided with Leroy Monsky, with the All-American guard needing 25 stitches above his left eye. Monsky played, but the team never recovered, losing to California 13-0. It wa the only loss Alabama ever suffered in the Rose Bowl until 2024. Again, the Tide was ranked fourth.

Unsettling finishes to the two previous seasons didn’t sit well with Thomas, who decided Alabama needed to go back to the West Coast and get a victory. So for the 1938 season opener he scheduled a trip to Los Angeles to play Southern California. Alabama came home 19-7 winners, but it proved to be the season’s biggest highlight. Meanwhile, the Trojans went on to play in the Rose Bowl and upset Duke, which was coached by Wade and hadn’t been scored on all season, 7-3.

Alabama notched another tangible victory for the region in 1939, when it defeated national power Fordham, which was led by its incredibly tough “Seven Blocks of Granite” line including Vince Lombardi, 7-6. Years later, after winning the 1966 Super Bowl with the Packers, Lombardi was asked what it felt like to be the greatest football team in the world. “I don’t know,” he said, “We haven’t played Alabama yet.”

With back Jimmy Nelson and end Holt Rast, who would be a unanimous All-American selection in 1941, Alabama overcame an early 14-0 loss to Mississippi State to receive an invitation to play Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl. In scouting the Aggies, assistant coach Harold “Red” Drew said they had “the greatest passing team I have ever seen,” but the game was played in poor weather, apparently to the Crimson Tide's advantage. In its first postseason appearance other than the Rose Bowl, Alabama created 12 turnovers, including seven interceptions, in a 29-21 victory that was nowhere near as close as the score indicated. Although the majority of polls had Minnesota No. 1 at season’s end, Alabama and Texas, neither of which won its conference title, were able to claim a share of the national championship thanks to the Houlgate System (1927-58), a mathematical rating system syndicated in newspapers and two other services.

With the outbreak of World War II, Alabama scheduled numerous teams comprised of former college all-stars stationed at military bases, including the Georgia Naval Pre-Flight Skycrackers, who were coached by Crimson Tide assistant Hank Crisp. Led by All-American linemen Joe Domnanovich and Don Whitmire — who at season’s end entered the Naval Academy and eventually rose to the rank of admiral — the Crimson Tide made its first appearance in the Orange Bowl and defeated Boston College, 37-21.

After a one-year break, Thomas had enough players — 20, down from the then-normal 50 — in 1944 to put together a team made up of 17-year olds who were too young to be drafted, students medically disqualified from military service, and returning veterans. It was his favorite of all the teams he coached.

Leading the Crimson Tide was a small all-around player from Woodlawn High School in Birmingham named Harry Gilmer, known for his trademark leaping passes (in part because he otherwise couldn’t see over his own linemen). With a 5-1-2 record, the “War Baby Tiders” secured the school’s first invitation to the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, where Gilmer put on a dazzling performance in front of 72,000 fans. Though a much-older Duke squad pulled out a 29-26 victory in the final moments, Gilmer was named the game’s MVP. Legendary sportswriter Grantland Rice wrote he was “the greatest college passer I’ve ever seen.”

With a full roster again in 1945, Alabama outscored opponents 430-80 to win the SEC championship. The perfect season resulted in the sixth invitation to the Rose Bowl, and once again the Crismon Tide, with many of the grown up “War Babies,” was considered an underdog to Southern California, which had won eight straight games in Pasadena dating back to 1923. At halftime, the Trojans had minus-24 yards of offense on 21 plays while UA led 20-0. USC didn’t get a first down until the third quarter, when it trailed 27-0. Thomas held back in the second half for a 34-14 victory. It prompted Southern California coach Jeff Cravath to say: “There goes a great man. I’ll never forget what he did today. If he wanted, he could have named the score.”

However, even with the perfect 10-0 record Alabama didn’t add up to a national title (except from the National Championship Foundation). Instead, Army was the consensus choice.

Due to failing health, Thomas resigned following the 1946 season, and eventually died in 1954. With a career record of 115-24-7, he was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in the same class with Hutson. Alabama didn’t return to the postseason until the 1952 season, when led by a young quarterback named Bart Starr it destroyed Syracuse 61-6 in the Orange Bowl, setting 15 bowl records in the process.

The 1953 season, which featured the first televised home game, saw Alabama claim its first SEC championship in eight years after a late fourth-quarter field goal gave it a 10-8 victory against Auburn. However, the campaign culminated in an unusual fashion at the Cotton Bowl.

With Alabama down 7-6, Rice halfback Dickie Moegle broke through the line at the Owls’ 5 and by the time he was racing past the Crismon Tide sideline a touchdown appeared imminent. That is until Alabama fullback Tommy Lewis stepped on to the field and drilled the startled Moegle. As if coming out of a daze, Lewis returned to the bench and covered his head with a towel as fans booed. Rice was awarded a touchdown and at halftime Lewis went to Rice’s locker room to apologize. Lewis’ fabled explanation was simply, “I’m just too full of Bama.”

Moegle finished with 265 rushing yards on just 11 carries. Rice won 28-6.

After the program endured a 4-28-4 stretch that corresponded with rival Auburn’s national championship in 1957, Alabama turned to Bryant, who after serving as a naval officer in World War II had coached at Maryland, Kentucky and had Texas A&M on the brink of winning a national championship. He met with Alabama officials in secret and agreed to a 10-yard contract with an annual salary of $17,000 and a house.

“I left Texas A&M because my school called me,” Bryant said. “Mama called, and when Mama calls, then you just have to come running.”

Like he did at Texas A&M with the famous “Junction Boys,” Bryant’s first training camp as Alabama's head coach was brutal, causing many veterans to quit. But the change was immediate and noticeable during the first game of the 1958 season. LSU, which was led by Heisman Trophy winner Billy Cannon and would go on to win the national championship, was down 3-0 at halftime and struggled to a 13-3 victory.

After a bit of a slow start with a 17-3 loss at Georgia, things came together midway through the 1959 season and while riding a four-game winning streak Alabama handed Auburn a 10-0 loss to end a five-year drought against the Tigers. Its first bowl invitation in six years paired the Crimson Tide against Penn State in the inaugural Liberty Bowl. Played in frigid conditions in Philadelphia, a fake field goal was the difference as NIttany Lions won 7-0, but it was the beginning of 25 straight postseason appearances.

Led by quarterback Pat Trammell, linebacker/center Lee Roy Jordan and lineman Billy Neighbors, Alabama simply destroyed the competition in 1961, beginning with a 32-7 victory at Georgia. Opponents scored 25 points all season, with North Carolina State, led by quarterback Roman Gabriel, managing the most, seven, compared to 297 for the Tide.

After Tennessee tallied a field goal in a 34-3 loss, the Crimson Tide finished the regular season with shutouts against Houston, Mississippi State, Richmond, Georgia Tech and Auburn. The No. 1 ranking following Georgia Teach held true through a 10-3 victory against Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl for the national championship.

“They play like it is a sin to give up a point,” Bryant commented.

Although Alabama didn’t repeat in 1962, it helped lead the SEC to one if its strongest years ever, with the conference sweeping the four major bowls. Looking for payback for a vicious late by hit linebacker Darwin Holt, which broke quarterback Emile Granning’s jaw the previous year, Georgia Tech pulled out a hard-hitting 7-6 victory when Alabama came inches short of completing a 2-point conversion.

Keyed by Jordan, a unanimous All-American who finished fourth in Heisman Trophy balloting, Alabama came back to crush Auburn 38-0, and Oklahoma 17-0 in the Orange Bowl. Also leading the team was one of Bryant’s notorious renegade quarterbacks, Joe Namath.

“If you aren’t going all the way, why go at all?” Namath said.

(Note: Like Namath, Kenny Stabler would also be suspended by Bryant and was once quoted for saying, “There’s nothing wrong with reading the game plan by the light of the jukebox.”)

No. 5 Alabama finished 10-1. Fifteen seniors concluded their careers 29-2-2 over their last three seasons. Without them, 1963 was supposed to be a rebuilding year, but only a 10-6 loss to Florida and a 10-8 defeat by Auburn kept Alabama from running the table. Against SEC champion Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl, the defense made six fumble recoveries and three interceptions, contributing to a 12-7 win.

A knee injury sustained against North Carolina State limited Namath in 1964, but against Auburn he came off the bench to throw a touchdown pass to end Ray Perkins and help lead a 21-14 victory. At 10-0, No. 1 Alabama played Texas in the first night Orange Bowl, a game remembered for its controversial officiating as much as anything else.

Again, Namath came off the bench and completed 18 of 37 passes for 255 yards and two touchdowns. In the closing seconds, Alabama had the ball inches away from the goal line and was down 21-17. The call was a quarterback sneak behind center Gaylon McCollough, who with the snap plowed into the end zone. One official signaled touchdown, but another overruled. Namath said: “I’ll go to my grave knowing I scored.”

Even with the loss to Texas, Alabama was considered the national champion, but in 1965 the Associated Press delayed the final poll until after the bowl games instead of the conclusion of the regular season. Strangely enough, it again worked in Alabama’s favor, but only after a controversial start to in which Georgia scored a game-winning touchdown, on a play the receiver should have been ruled down, for an 18-17 victory.

After beating LSU 31-7 and Auburn 30-3, Alabama was ranked fourth and turned down an opportunity to play in the Cotton Bowl to meet No. 3 Nebraska in the Orange Bowl and keep its dim national championship hopes alive. Thanks to No. 1 Michigan State losing to UCLA in the Rose Bowl and No. 2 Arkansas getting pounded by LSU in the Sugar Bowl, the Crimson Tide had a chance to defend its title.

Despite being outsized, Alabama out-gained Nebraska 518 to 377 yards. Bryant utilized both the tackle-eligible play and more than one on-sides kick in completing a masterful 39-28 victory for another national championship.

Alabama looked to make it three straight and rolled nearly every team it faced, allowing just 37 points all season with five shutouts. It went to the Sugar Bowl for a rematch with Nebraska, and on the first snap Stabler threw a 45-yard pass to Perkins to set up the Tide’s first touchdown and the 34-7 rout was on.

However, the 11-0 finish didn’t lead to the coveted three-peat. Going into the bowls, Alabama was ranked third behind Michigan State and Notre Dame, which played to a 10-10 tie with the Fighting Irish running out the clock. For years, Crimson Tide fans consider the “13th” national championship, or the one that got away.

Maintaining that level of excellence was nearly impossible and in 1967 Tennessee snapped the 25-game unbeaten streak, 24-13. Stabler’s 47-yard “run in the mud” against Auburn resulted in a 7-3 victory, 8-1-1 record and Cotton Bowl bid to face Texas A&M, coached by Bryant’s former assistant Gene Stallings. Five turnovers did the Crismon Tide in, including two interceptions by Tuscaloosa-area native Curley Hallman for the Aggies. When the 20-16 game ended, Bryant fittingly gave Stallings a bear hug at midfield.

While defense carried the 8-3 team in 1968, the season was overshadowed by Trammell losing his life to cancer. Bryant said of him as a player, “He can’t run, he can’t pass and he can’t kick. All he can do is beat you,” but upon hearing the news called it “the saddest day of my life.”

Alabama came back in 1969 to set offensive records, but like the following year barely won enough to play in a bowl. In one of the rare true shootouts in the program’s history, Scott Hunter completed 22 of 29 passes for 300 yards against Ole Miss quarterback Archie Manning, who was 33 of 52 for 436 yards and also ran for 104 more. Even though Bryant told his assistants that they were fired numerous times while storming up and down the sideline, Alabama won 33-32 on George Ranager’s game-winning touchdown reception.

Unsatisfied, having not won the SEC championship since 1966, Bryant slipped off during the summer of 1971 to visit Darrell Royal at Texas and study the wishbone offense. Alabama players and coaches were sworn to absolute secrecy about the new scheme, going so far as to run the old offense whenever reporters were at practice. When the Crimson Tide rolled into Los Angeles to play No. 5 Southern California, the heavily-favored Trojans were caught completely surprised and lost 17-10.

For the first time, both No. 3 Alabama and No. 5 Auburn entered the Iron Bowl undefeated, and the Tigers were led by quarterback Pat Sullivan, who would go on to win the Heisman Trophy. But Alabama had Johnny Musso, a unanimous All-American whom Sullivan would share SEC Player of the Year honors. On national television, Alabama manhandled Auburn, 31-7. The only letdown of the season was a 38-6 loss to No. 1 Nebraska in the national championship Sugar Bowl.

When Alabama opened the 1973 season with a 66-0 victory against a California team that featured quarterback Steve Bartkowski and running back Chuck Muncie, it was obvious that Bryant was ready to make a run for his fourth national championship. Aided by halfback Randy Billingsley’s blocks, the Crimson Tide had four players each reach 100 rushing yards during a 77-6 victory against Virginia Tech. On Thanksgiving, it handled another unbeaten rival, No. 7 LSU, 21-7, before pounding Auburn 35-0. Alabama would score a school-record 477 points and averaged 480.7 yards per game.

The season culminated at the Sugar Bowl with Alabama’s first meeting against Notre Dame, in one of the most hyped games in college football history. Bryant vs. Ara Parseghian lived up to the hoopla, however when Alabama couldn’t put the game away in the third quarter, the Irish pulled out a 24-23 victory. Because UPI held its final rankings before the loss, the final time any poll was done so, Alabama was credited with the split, and unsettling, national championship.

“I don’t really consider it a loss,” Bryant said. “We just ran out of time.”

Despite injuries, the 1974 season was almost an exact repeat, including a rematch with Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl. Parseghian’s last game resulted in the same outcome, 13-11.

The 1975 season appeared to be as promising as the four before it, in which Alabama was an incredible 43-5, but after a surprising 20-7 opening loss to Missouri there was hardly any title talk in Tuscaloosa. From there, the Crimson Tide went on a tirade, allowing just 52 total points with no regular-season opponent finishing a game within 10 points. With the SEC reaching an agreement for its champion to annually play in the Sugar Bowl, Alabama, which stunningly was winless in eight straight postseason games, was matched up against Penn State and coach Joe Paterno.

Sophomore Ozzie Newsome’s 55-yard slant set up the only touchdown of the game, an 11-yard sweep by halfback Mike Stock, and Alabama won 13-6. With the 11-1 record, Alabama finished third in the polls while Oklahoma (11-1) was credited with defending its national title. Nevertheless, the program was clearly on another major upswing.

A 1977 early-season 31-24 loss at Nebraska was cause for concern after the defense gave up the most points since playing the Cornhuskers in the 1972 Sugar Bowl, but less than a month later Alabama pulled off a 21-20 upset at No. 1 Southern California. It eventually drew No. 9 Ohio State for the Sugar Bowl, featuring the game’s two winningest active coaches, Bryant and Woody Hayes. When the Crimson Tide won a 35-6 rout, Bryant was quoted as saying: “Woody is a great coach …. and I ain’t bad.” However, title hopes were again dashed by Notre Dame (11-1), which upset No. 1 Texas in the Cotton Bowl and leapfrogged over UA from No. 5.

The No. 2 finish motivated the 1978 squad, which would face a murder’s row of Nebraska, Missouri, Southern Cal, Washington, Florida, Tennessee, LSU and Auburn, followed by the presumably difficult bowl opponent.

It only stumbled against No. 7 Southern California, 24-14, and after defeating Auburn, 34-16, No. 2 Alabama was headed back to the Sugar Bowl to play No. 1 Penn State. The game came down to a goal-line stand, with Penn State facing third down at the 1. Defensive back Don McNeal made the first stop roughly a foot away from the end zone, and when Nittany Lions quarterback Chuck Fusina checked to see how far the ball was from the goal line, defensive lineman Marty Lyons warned him: “You’d better pass.”

Instead, Paterno called Mike Guman’s name for a run up the middle, where he was met by linebacker Barry Krauss, with the impact popping the rivets off his helmet, short of the end zone.

“Here’s a moment you dream about happening, and here it was staring at us in the face,” linebacker Rich Wingo said. “Gut-check time. Coach always preached it, jaw to jaw, check to check. They weren’t going anywhere.”

Alabama (11-1) thought the national championship was sewn up, but UPI voters had other ideas and promoted USC (12-1), which defeated No. 5 Michigan in the Rose Bowl 17-10, up from No. 3, resulting in a split title.

There was only one thing to do, go undefeated in 1979 to cap the most dominating decade in college football. With numerous starters returning, the Tide was the preseason No. 1 selection and it lived up to expectations by outscoring the first five opponents 219-9. It survived scares against No. 18 Tennessee, LSU and No. 14 Auburn (with Bryant proclaiming that he would have to go back to his home state of Arkansas and plow if the Tide lost, prompting Auburn fans to yell “Plow, Bear, Plow!”)

Once again the national championship would be settled at the Sugar Bowl, this time against Arkansas. After turning an early fumble into a field goal, the Razorbacks didn’t know what hit them until it was 17-3 in the third quarter. Game MVP Major Ogilvie scored two touchdowns and had a 50-yard punt return to lead a 24-9 victory. At 12-0, Alabama, which had outscored its opponents 383-67 with five shutouts, was the unanimous No. 1.

For the 1970s, Alabama compiled an incredible 103-16-1 record with eight SEC titles and three national championships. Having reinvented his program, Bryant became the first coach in college football history to have second dynasty.

The 1980s wouldn’t be as kind, and when Ole Miss scored 35 points in the second game of the decade (a 59-35 victory), it appeared only a matter of time before the winning streak would end. It did at 28, a 6-3 loss at Mississippi State on Nov. 1. Two weeks later, Notre Dame won 7-0 in Birmingham, opening the door for Georgia to snare the SEC and national titles.

In 1981, Bryant found himself chasing a different kind of history. At season’s start, he was just eight victories away from Amos Alonzo Stagg’s record of 314 wins over a 57-year career. Despite Bryant’s failing health, the record was a matter of when, not if. When the defense again made a goal-stand against No. 5 Penn State, to spark a 31-16 victory, Bryant tipped his hat to the players.

Fittingly, Bryant would go for the record against Auburn, and it may have been the toughest ticket to get in state history. When Alabama won 28-17, two presidents, Ronald Reagan, who had been a sports reporter at the 1935 Rose Bowl, and Jimmy Carter, called to offer congratulations.

Bryant announced his retirement on Dec. 15, 1982, making a Liberty Bowl matchup against Illinois his final sendoff. Led by cornerback Jeremiah Castille’s three interceptions and a forced fumble, the Crimson Tide won 21-15 and then carried the Bear off on their shoulders one last time. Just 28 days later, the coach’s heart gave out on Jan. 26, 1983. He was 69. After the funeral in Tuscaloosa, with eight players serving as pallbearers, hundreds of thousands watched the procession to a cemetery in Birmingham.

Statistically, Bryant’s legacy was a 323-85-17 record, 29 bowl appearances, 15 conference championships and six national championships. In the 1960s and 1970s, no school won more games than Alabama (193-32-5).

Perkins, who resigned his position as head coach of the NFL’s New York Giants, had the impossible task of trying to follow Bryant. Alabama went 8-4 the first season, including a 28-7 upset up No. 5 Southern Methodist in the Sun Bowl. Although the bowl streak ended at 25 in 1984, the Crimson Tide defeated Auburn 17-15 thanks to a botched toss sweep at the Alabama 1 with safety Rory Turner making the tackle short of the end zone.

In 1985, quarterback Mike Shula led a season-opening 20-16 upset of Georgia, which was only topped by the season-ending Iron Bowl. With Auburn leading 23-22 and less than a minute to play, Shula moved the Tide just enough to set up “The Kick,” Van Tiffin’s dramatic 52-yard field goal with 6 seconds remaining. For an encore, Alabama went to the Aloha Bowl and beat Southern California, 24-3.

Linebacker Cornelius Bennett came back in 1986 to make “The Sack” when he crushed Notre Dame quarterback Steve Beuerlein, who said after Alabama’s first-ever win against the Irish, 28-10, “He knocked me woozy. I have never been hit like that before and hopefully I’ll never be hit like that again.” Bennett was named an All-American for the third time, SEC Athlete of the Year, and Alabama’s first winner of the Lombardi Trophy, signifying him as the nation’s best lineman.

At the end of the season, Perkins (32-15-1) left for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Bill Curry of Georgia Teach was hired. In addition to following Bryant, he also had the double-whammy of being an outsider and the first head coach without an Alabama tie since Thomas in 1937. That he also couldn’t beat Auburn proved too much to overcome.

The Tide managed to win the SEC championship in 1989, but when it lost the first meeting on the Auburn campus, 30-20, Curry had had enough. After Alabama fell 33-25 to Miami in the Sugar Bowl, clinching the national championship for the Hurricanes, he resigned and accepted the head coaching job at Kentucky.

Alabama didn’t dare bring in another total outsider, and instead hired Stallings, who had also been one of Bryant’s “Junction Boys” at Texas A&M.

“What’s wrong with people expecting excellence?” Stallings said, immediately enamoring himself to fans.

After a slow start in 1990, Stallings returned Alabama to power football. At No. 3 Tennessee, defensive back Stacy Harrison blocked a field goal to set up a last-second 47-yard attempt by All-American kicker Phillip Doyle for a 9-6 victory. It went on to win four of its next five games, including a 16-7 victory in the Iron Bowl. Despite a 34-7 loss to No. 18 Louisville in the Fiesta Bowl, in which the Cardinals scored four touchdowns in the first quarter, hope had returned to Tuscaloosa.

Alabama fell short of the SEC championship in 1991, but when quarterback Danny Woodson was suspended for violating team rules, freshman Jay Barker stepped in and led a 20-17 victory at LSU, followed by a nail-biting 13-6 win in the Iron Bowl. At 10-1, Alabama drew defending national champion Colorado in the Blockbuster Bowl, where a future Heisman contender David Palmer helped inspire a 30-25 victory.

Victories piled up during the centennial season of Crismon Tide football, though many were not pretty. When No. 1 Washington lost to No. 12 Arizona, 16-3, unbeaten Alabama’s fate was in its own hands. Against Auburn, cornerback Antonio Langham stepped in front of a pass and returned it 61 yards for a touchdown. With the defense yielding just 20 rushing yards and getting five sacks, Alabama won going away 17-0. For the regular season, Alabama outscored opponents 366-122.

In the first SEC Championship Game, Langham again returned an interception for a touchdown to help lead a 28-21 victory. That left a Sugar Bowl showdown with No. 1 Miami, which had Heisman Trophy quarterback Gino Torretta and was riding a 28-game winning streak. One pregame comment that especially attracted attention was Hurricanes wide receiver Lamar Thomas: “Alabama’s cornerbacks don’t impress me one bit. They’re overrated. Real men don’t play zone defense and we’ll show them a thing or two come January 1st.”

Alabama made Miami eat those words.

The game was highlighted by possibly the greatest play that didn’t count. In the third quarter, Torretta hit Thomas in a full sprint for what appeared would be a long touchdown, only cornerback George Teague chased him down before reaching the end zone, ripped the ball away in mid-stride and started running the other way. Even though nullified by a penalty, it was dubbed the “Play of the Century” at Alabama, which won 34-13.

But even with its 12th national championship, not all was well with the Crimson Tide. After a night of celebrating, Langham signed a cocktail napkin for a sports agent, which he claimed constituted a contract, and a family member accepted a loan. Langham went to Stallings, who tried to have the deal nullified, but when the agent produced the signature near the end of the 1993 season, Alabama wound up forfeiting all of its regular-season games after reaching the SEC Championship (and losing to Florida 28-13), making a victory in the Gator Bowl its only win. Langham still won the Jim Thorpe Trophy, given to the best defensive back in the nation, and if not for the forfeits Barker would have finished 45-4-1, setting a school record for victories over a four-year period. He won the 1994 Johnny Unitas Award as the nation’s best quarterback.

Near the end of the 1996 season, Stallings notified school officials of his intent to retire, and went public after Alabama pulled out a dramatic 24-23 victory against Auburn to reach the SEC Championship Game. Florida, which went on to win the national title, won a 45-30 shootout in Atlanta, but the Crimson Tide sent Stallings off with a 17-14 win in the Outback Bowl against Michigan, which went on to win the national championship the following season.

“It was real emotional,” Stallings said after the coaching staff presented him with the game ball. “I can’t think of a more fitting game.”

The years following Stallings were nothing short of chaos for Tide fans. His successor, Mike DuBose, went 4-7 in 1997, marking the first time since 1955 that Alabama failed to win a game in Tuscaloosa, and barely saved his job by beating both LSU and Auburn in 1998. Prior to the start of the 1999 season the coach admitted to having an affair with this secretary, and paid $360,000 to settle the corresponding sexual harassment lawsuit. An overtime victory at Florida saved his job, albeit temporarily, and led by running back Shaun Alexander the Crimson Tide reached the SEC Championship Game, where it pounded Florida 34-7.

But when Alabama finished 3-8 in 2000, DuBose was finally let go, and Dennis Franchione left Texas Christian without warning to be his replacement. But before he could even hold a practice an NCAA investigation turned into a full-blown recruiting scandal that would land the Crimson Tide on probation. Franchione scraped together a 7-5 season in 2001, followed by a 10-3 record in 2002, but after the final game at Hawaii disappeared from Tuscaloosa only to show up in College Station as the new coach of Texas A&M.

Initially, athletic director Mal Moore turned to Washington State coach Mike Price, but after an illicit night in Pensacola, Fla., he was fired before coaching a game. Determined to hire someone with Alabama ties who could help weather the ongoing NCAA probation storm, Moore tapped Shula, who at age 37 became the second-youngest head coach in Division I football.

“I had some unfinished business,” said Shula, who never won an SEC title as a player, but hoped to do so as a head coach despite infractions penalties that included scholarship reductions. He came close in 2005 when Alabama won its first nine games to peak at No. 3 and then shut down the nation’s top-rated offensive, Texas Tech, 13-10 at the Cotton Bowl.

With quarterback Brodie Croyle on the cover of Sports Illustrated after a 31-3 trashing of No. 5 Florida, the magazine proclaimed, “Bama is Back.”

Meanwhile, Moore led a major fundraising drive to improve the facilities not only for football and give Bryant-Denny Stadium an significant upgrade, but across the board at Alabama. It set the stage for for his next coaching hire, allowing him to make the kind of splash that would send more than ripples throughout college athletics. It happened in 2006, when Shula lost at home to the person he beat out for the Alabama job, former Alabama All-American Sylvester Croom at Mississippi State.

Moore eventually turned to the NFL, specifically the team that nearly tool Bryant away from Alabama, the Miami Dolphins (who instead landed Don Shula), and made a desperate attempt to bring back to college football the person who had turned LSU into a national power in just four years. When he was successful, critics claimed Nick Saban wouldn't stay, and was being paid too much. Instead, the Crimson Tide reached a level never seen before.

After being announced as Alabama’s 27th head football coach, Saban didn’t wait to send a clear and distinctive message to the program’s players, fans and boosters.“Be a champion in everything that we do,” he proclaimed. “Every choice, every decision, everything that we do every day, we want to be a champion.”

The list of accomplishments was staggering, and included the following:

• Six national championships, which combined with the one he had already won gave Saban a coaching-record seven.

• Nine SEC titles, giving him 11 for his career.

• Not only did the Crimson Tide set poll records, like being No. 1 in the AP Top 25 at some point of every season between 2008 and 2022, but Saban also finished with nine career wins against opponents ranked No. 1. When he stepped down at the end of the 2023 season, no other coach in history had more than four.

• Alabama's first four Heisman Trophy winners, beginning with running back Mark Ingram II in 2009, followed by Derrick Henry, DeVonta Smith and Bryce Young., The Crimson Tide went from having just a handful of winners of major national honors, to winning so many that it's easier to list the ones Alabama hadn't won by 2023, the John Mackey (tight end), Lou Groza (kicker) and Ray Guy (punter) awards.

• Saban set records for having the most consensus All-Americans and first-round draft picks by a coach in college football history, and he easily outdistanced everyoen in just 17 seasons. During his tenure, the Crimson Tide went from being called RBU (running back university) and LBU, to QBU, WRU, DLU and DBU.

“We want to be a big, physical, aggressive football team that is relentless in the competitive spirit that we go out and play with week-in and week-out,” Saban said. “What I would like is for every football team that we play to sit there and say, ‘I hate playing against these guys. I hate playing them, their effort, their toughness, their relentless resiliency on every play, focus on the next play and competing for 60 minutes. I can’t handle it.’

“That’s the kind of football team we want. It takes a lot of conditioning, it takes a lot of preparation and it takes the mindset that you’re going to play hard for 60 minutes regardless of what the scoreboard says.”

To say he set new standards across the board would be an understatement. While most coaches excelled at either the Xs and Os, recruiting and/or player development, he was equally proficient at all three and simply relentless. He outworked the competition during the offseason, didn't shy away from meeting the toughest opponents head on, and always strived to improve.

Appropriately, the personality of championship team seemed to be different from the others. From grinding away against Texas (2009 season), shutting out LSU (2011), steamrolling Notre Dame (2012), the shootout against Clemson (2015), and a bunch of freshmen leading the comeback against Georgia (2017), dramatically decided in overtime on second-and 26.

Perhaps that was the most impressive thing about Saban, his ability to adapt. When college football adopted rules in part to try and counter his success, promoting offensive concepts like no-huddle and spread attacks embraced by a new wave of coaches, he took a page from Bryant's career to change direction and beat them at their own game. Part of that included bringing the controversial Lane Kiffin, who seemed to have the exact opposite personality of Saban, to Tuscaloosa as offensive coordinator. Despite not having an established quarterback, he helped rewrite the Crimson Tide’s record book during his first season, and most of the rushing records during his second. Steve Sarkisian helped take it to another level in 2020, the covid year when Alabama went undefeated at 13-0, scored a whopping 630 points and crushed Ohio State in the title game 52-24.

“He's driven to be the best, and I think that's what makes him different,” said Georgia head coach Kirby Smart, Saban’s defensive coordinator at Alabama (2008-15). “Everybody is driven for their different purpose and everybody has their ‘Why,’ and for Coach Saban, I think he wants to be the best.”

This is the 11th part of an extended series about the history of SEC football. Some of the material was used in the book "Where Football is King," by Christopher Walsh. For more, check out Alabama Crimson Tide On SI.

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