Coaches No. 3 1966 record 11–0 (6–0 SEC) Captain Ray Perkins | AP No. 3 Head coach Bear Bryant (9th year) | |
Conference Southeastern Conference | ||
The 1966 Alabama Crimson Tide football team (variously "Alabama", "UA" or "Bama") represented the University of Alabama in the 1966 college football season. It was the Crimson Tide's 72nd overall and 33rd season as a member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The team was led by head coach Bear Bryant, in his ninth year, and played their home games at Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Legion Field in Birmingham and Ladd Stadium in Mobile, Alabama. They finished season undefeated with eleven wins (11–0 overall, 6–0 in the SEC), as SEC co-champions and with a victory over Nebraska in the Sugar Bowl.
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Alabama opened the season with a victory over Louisiana Tech in Birmingham and followed that with a victory at Ole Miss for their first conference win of the season. The Crimson Tide then returned home and defeated Clemson in the first Tuscaloosa game of the season before they traveled to Knoxville for their annual rival game against Tennessee. In the game, Alabama trailed the Volunteers 10–0 in the fourth quarter before they rallied for an 11–10 victory that saw Tennessee miss a game-winning field goal in the final minute of play.
Alabama then alternated home games between Birmingham and Tuscaloosa over the next four weeks and defeated Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, LSU and South Carolina in each game. After they defeated Southern Miss in their annual Mobile game, the Crimson Tide defeated Auburn in the Iron Bowl and captured a share of the SEC championship. In the January that followed, Alabama then defeated Nebraska in the Sugar Bowl and finished the season undefeated. Although they were the only undefeated and untied college team at the conclusion of the year, Alabama was not selected as national champions for the season. On the 1966 squad, Green Bay Packers head coach Vince Lombardi stated: "I don't know, we haven't played Alabama yet" when asked how it felt to have the world's greatest football team for the season after his Packers won Super Bowl I.
Before the season
Alabama was recognized as national champions from the Associated Press for the 1965 season after they defeated Nebraska in the Orange Bowl and finished with an overall record of 9–1–1. In February 1966, SEC commissioner Bernie Moore penalized Alabama for scholarship violations with its freshman squad. Moore found that Alabama awarded 42 freshman scholarships instead of the 40 allowed by the league. As such, the Crimson Tide were penalized with a scholarship reduction of two to 38 for the 1966 recruiting class.
Schedule
National championship claim
The NCAA recognizes consensus national champions as the teams that have captured a championship by way of one of the major polls since the 1950 college football season. Although Alabama was the only team with a perfect record at the end of the season as Notre Dame and Michigan State tied in their meeting, they were not recognized as national champions. Keith Dunnavant suggests in his book about the 1966 season, that the continued segregation of the Alabama football team (the Crimson Tide did not integrate until Wilbur Jackson and John Mitchell made the 1971 team), as well as violent resistance by white Alabamians to the Civil Rights Movement, cost the Crimson Tide support with voters in 1966 and led to the third-place finish. The 1966 squad was retroactively recognized as national champions by Berryman and Sagarin (ELO-Chess) but Alabama does not claim either in their official national championship total.
NFL Draft
Several players that were varsity lettermen from the 1966 squad were drafted into the National Football League (NFL) between the 1967 and 1969 drafts. These players included the following:
Freshman squad
Prior to the 1972 college football season, NCAA rules prohibited freshmen from participating on the varsity team, and as such many schools fielded freshmen teams. The Alabama freshmen squad was led by coach Clem Gryska for the 1966 season and finished with a record of four wins and zero losses (4–0). The Baby Tide opened their season with a 27–14 victory over Mississippi State at Denny Stadium. After a scoreless first quarter, Alabama took a 7–0 lead in the second when Scott Hunter thew a five-yard touchdown pass to Tommy Wade. They then extended their lead to 17–0 at halftime when Mike Dean connected on a 46-yard field goal and Hunter scored on a short quarterback sneak. After Dean connected on a 31-yard field goal late in the third, the Bulldogs scored their first points late in the fourth on a 43-yard Dickie Carpenter touchdown run that made the score 20–7. Alabama responded with a 13-yard Wade touchdown run and State with a 13-yard Carpenter touchdown pass to George Davis that made the final score 27–14.
In their second game of the season, the Alabama freshmen defeated Ole Miss 31–14 at Oxford. Alabama took a 14–7 halftime lead with a pair of Tommy Wade touchdown runs from one and three-yards; Ole Miss scored their touchdown on a four-yard John Bowen run. After Mike Dean connected on a 25-yard field goal in the third, fourth-quarter touchdowns were scored for Alabama by Wade on a one-yard run and on a 20-yard Scott Hunter pass to Dean. The Rebels scored their final touchdown on a 40-yard Vernon Studdard pass to Louis Farber that made the final score 31–14. In their next game on November 7 against Tennessee, the Baby Tide won again by a score of 21–9. The Vols led 9–7 at halftime after Vic Dingus tackled Eddie Bentley in the endzone for a safety and on a 35-yard Mike Jones touchdown pass to Gary Kreis. Alabama's first half touchdown came on a 15-yard Tommy Wade run. The Baby Tide closed the game with touchdowns on a 13-yard Scott Hunter pass to Perry Willis in the third and on a two-yard Wade run in the fourth that made the final score 21–9.
In their final game of the season, Alabama defeated Auburn 6–3 at Denny Stadium and finished the season undefeated. After Joe Riley scored Auburn's only points with his 35-yard field goal in the first, Mike Dean scored all of the Tide's points with field goals of 20 and 31-yards.