Conference Southern Conference Offensive scheme Single-wing | 1926 record 9–0–1 (8–0 SoCon) Captain Bruce Jones | |
Head coach Wallace Wade (4th year) Home stadium Denny Field
Rickwood Field
Cramton Bowl | ||
The 1926 Alabama Crimson Tide football team (variously "Alabama", "UA" or "Bama") represented the University of Alabama in the 1926 college football season. It was the Crimson Tide's 33rd overall and 5th season as a member of the Southern Conference (SoCon). The team was led by head coach Wallace Wade, in his fourth 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 a record of nine wins, zero losses and one tie (9–0–1 overall, 8–0 in the SoCon), as Southern Conference champions. They tied undefeated Stanford in the Rose Bowl. The 1926 Alabama team was retroactively named as the 1926 national champion by Berryman QPRS, Billingsley Report, College Football Researchers Association, and Poling System, and as a co-national champion by the Helms Athletic Foundation and National Championship Foundation.
Contents
Before the season
As they entered the season, only ten lettermen returned from the 1925 squad that won the Rose Bowl. Key players such as Pooley Hubert, Johnny Mack Brown, Bill Buckler and other stars from the 1925 team were not part of the 1926 squad.
Schedule
Stanford
Again the season was extended as Alabama received another invitation to play in the Rose Bowl. The 1927 Rose Bowl was the first sporting event to ever be nationally broadcast on radio. Alabama's opponent was the Stanford Cardinal, also 9–0 and coached by football legend Pop Warner.
Stanford mounted a 63-yard drive in the first quarter to take a 7–0 lead. Stanford dominated play for much of the rest of the game, outgaining Alabama 305 yards to 98, but could not score again. Late in the fourth Bama got the big play it needed: Clark Pearce blocked a punt by Frankie Wilton of Stanford, setting up the Tide at the Cardinal 14. Five plays later, with only seconds remaining, Alabama punched it in from the 1 to make the score 7–6. The two-point conversion would not become a rule in college football for another 32 years, so Alabama lined up for the game-tying extra point. As the teams came to the line, Red Barnes of Alabama shouted "Signals off!". Stanford took that to mean that Alabama was resetting and relaxed. Instead, Alabama promptly snapped and kicked the extra point to tie the game. Stanford ran only two plays before time expired and the game ended a 7–7 tie.
The starting lineup was Ennis (left end), Perry (left tackle), Hagler (left guard), Pearce (center), Bowdon (right guard), Pickard (right tackle), Winslett (right end), Barnes (quarterback), Brown (left halfback), Taylor (right halfback), Caldwell (fullback).
Awards and honors
The NCAA retroactively named Alabama and Stanford co-national champions for 1926 due to each being chosen by several of the ranking authorities. It was a second consecutive national championship for Wallace Wade and the Crimson Tide. The tie with Stanford snapped a 20-game winning streak that remains the second-longest in school history, behind two 28-game winning streaks from 1978 to 1980 and another from 1991 to 1993.
Depth chart
The following chart provides a visual depiction of Alabama's lineup during the 1926 season with games started at the position reflected in parenthesis. The chart mimics a single wing on offense.