Fansided

Ranking Alabama’s National Championships in football

By John Buhler

Dec 31, 2015; Arlington, TX, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide players celebrate after defeating the Michigan State Spartans in the 2015 CFP semifinal at the Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 31, 2015; Arlington, TX, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide players celebrate after defeating the Michigan State Spartans in the 2015 CFP semifinal at the Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports /
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Sep 26, 2015; Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide mascot Big Al waves the flag after a score at Bryant-Denny Stadium against the UL Monroe Warhawks. The Tide defeated the Warhawks 34-0. Mandatory Credit: Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 26, 2015; Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide mascot Big Al waves the flag after a score at Bryant-Denny Stadium against the UL Monroe Warhawks. The Tide defeated the Warhawks 34-0. Mandatory Credit: Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports /

1925

The 1925 National Championship for the Alabama Crimson was both the first in school history, but perhaps one of its most important: it changed the perception of southern football.

Alabama was the first team from the southeastern part of the United States to earn an invitation to the Rose Bowl. There was this stigma surrounding the quality of play in the southern part of the country. Many in college football at the time believed that the best players and best teams play in the northeast, the midwest, or in the Pacific Time Zone.

Wallace Wade’s team went on to play the Washington Huskies in the 1926 Rose and though the Tide were down to the Huskies at halftime, the Tide rallied to knock off Washington, 20-19, giving the University of Alabama its first of 15 National Championships.

Football historians view this game as “the football game that changed the south.” It brought to light that great football programs in the southeastern part of the United States could hang with the Ivy League schools and the programs that are now key players in the Big 10, Big 12 and the Pac-12.

10-0 and a one-point victory over a traditional and supposedly superior West Coast team gave Alabama great credibility during the rest of the Wade era in Tuscaloosa. Alabama would win three national championships in eight years with Wade as its head coach. This is the best National Championship of the Wade era, as it best helped establish Alabama as a blue-blood in college football. Winning multiple National Titles before World War II certainly helps in that regard.

Next: 3. 1979

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