1925 record 10–0 (7–0 SoCon) | ||
Head coach Wallace Wade (3rd year) | ||
The 1925 Alabama Crimson Tide football team (variously "Alabama", "UA" or "Bama") represented the University of Alabama in the 1925 Southern Conference football season. It was the Crimson Tide's 32nd overall and 4th season as a member of the Southern Conference (SoCon). The team was led by head coach Wallace Wade, in his third year, and played their home games at Denny Field in Tuscaloosa, at Rickwood Field in Birmingham and at the Cramton Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama. They finished the season with their first ever perfect record (10–0 overall, 7–0 in the SoCon), as Southern Conference champions and as national champions after they defeated Washington in the Rose Bowl.
Contents
The Crimson Tide entered the season as the defending Southern Conference champions after finishing the 1924 season with an 8–1 record. Alabama would then go on and shutout all but one of their regular season opponents en route to a second consecutive Southern Conference championship. The Crimson Tide then accepted an invitation to participate as the first Southern team in the annual Rose Bowl Game, where they defeated Washington 20–19. This victory has subsequently been recognized as one of the most important in Southern football history as well as has been deemed "the game that changed the South."
Before the season
Alabama was last year upset by Centre. Former center and alumnus Shorty Propst was hired to the coaching staff.
1925 saw the south's widespread use of the forward pass.
Schedule
Washington
The season was extended when Alabama received a surprise invitation to head west and play in the Rose Bowl. It was Alabama's first bowl game ever and the first time a southern team had ever been invited to play in what then was college football's only bowl game. Its opponent was the Washington Huskies, who had gone 10–0–1, been just as dominant as the Tide, and were regarded as heavy favorites by the press.
Through one half, that prediction looked accurate. Washington's star halfback George Wilson intercepted a pass in the first quarter and then led his team 63 yards for a touchdown and a 6–0 lead. In the second quarter Wilson ran for 36 yards and then threw a 22-yard touchdown pass, and Washington went up 12–0. Both extra point tries failed. At the half, Wade changed his game plan, telling Pooley Hubert to run more often. Possibly more importantly, George Wilson sat out the entire third quarter due to sore ribs. It was in that third quarter that Alabama struck. A short punt set up Alabama on the Washington 42 and the Tide quickly capitalized, Hubert scoring on a 1-yard run to make the score 12–7. The Huskies couldn't move the ball without Wilson and punted. Shortly thereafter Hubert hit Brown on a 59-yard touchdown pass and suddenly Alabama led 14–12. Not long after that Washington fumbled the ball and Alabama recovered at the Husky 30. Hubert found Brown for another touchdown pass on the very next play. The extra point failed, but Alabama still led 20–12. Bama scored three touchdowns in seven minutes of clock time. Wilson returned in the fourth quarter and threw a late touchdown pass, but the two missed extra points in the first half proved decisive, and Alabama won 20–19.
The starting lineup was Winslett (left end), Perry (left tackle), Buckler (left guard), Holmes (center), Jones (right guard), Camp (right tackle), T. Brown (right end), Gillis (quarterback), M. Brown (left halfback), Barnes (right halfback), Hubert (fullback).
Awards and honors
It was Alabama's first real perfect season in school history. (Bama was undefeated in 1897 when the Tide played and won one game.) The NCAA retroactively deemed Alabama to be the consensus "national champion" for 1925 due to its selection by a majority of authorities. Johnny Mack Brown and Pooley Hubert were later inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Brown capitalized on his Rose Bowl exposure in southern California by signing a motion picture contract with MGM and beginning a 40-year career in the movies.
Depth chart
The following chart provides a visual depiction of Alabama's lineup during the 1925 season with games started at the position reflected in parenthesis. The chart mimics a single wing on offense.