Alabama football is akin to religion in the southern state and Nick Saban is their deity. The Crimson Tide have a long proud history in the SEC and the fans come to Bryant-Denny Stadium every season with Alabama tickets expecting to win another national title. This obsession dates back to the school's first season in 1892 and probably lived on since there is no professional football team in the state. People in this state love their football and without a professional team to root for, they are happy to consume everything about Crimson Tide football.
The tradition is not something that has emerged from a revisionist history. The school has been active on the field for over a hundred years and has the seventh most wins in Division 1 with 801. The Alabama Crimson Tide have managed to claim 12 NCAA championship titles over that time and has produced 96 All-Americans. The only thing this incredible history is missing is a Heisman Trophy winner.
The first game the Crimson Tide played was back on November 11, 1892. Alabama beat a team comprised of local high school athletes from the Birmingham area 56-0. The next day they played the Birmingham Athletic Club and were brought back down to Earth, losing 5-4.
The school owes its football history to a University of Alabama law student named William G. Little. Little had learned to play the game of American football back in Andover, MA while attending prep school. He brought the game back with him and began to teach fellow students how to play. Those early years found Alabama football in its infancy. The team played only a couple of games a year and they had not even adopted their moniker, the Crimson Tide yet.
The school began to take the sport as serious as the students after World War I. By the early 1920s the Crimson Tide were playing a proper college football schedule and Wallace Wade had become the new head coach. Wade took the team to the Rose Bowl in his first season in 1922. The bowl victory introduced the team to the nation. Suddenly players from the Northeast, where most of the talent in the country resided, began to enroll at the University of Alabama. The Crimson Tide would take two more national titles before Wade would leave in 1931.
Coach Frank Thomas took over for Wade and brought home two more national titles. The Alabama Crimson Tide were a nationally feared and respected team. One of Thomas' players, Paul Bryant, would come back to the school and take the team to a new pinnacle.
Paul "Bear" Bryant took over the football program in 1958 after J.B. Whitworth's disastrous three years as head coach. Bryant had previously been coaching at Texas A&M. Bryant quickly turned around the ailing program going 34-6-3 from 1958 to 1961. The Crimson Tide had two undefeated seasons, an SEC title, and a National Championship in that short time.
Bryant remained the coach until 1982. Four weeks after leaving the program that was so good to him, he passed away. Over that time spent with Alabama football the team had an incredible 232-46-9 record, won six national championships, and 13 SEC titles.
After Bryant, Alabama the program had its up and downs, cycling through coaches every few years. Only Gene Stalings was able to bring another national championship to the school. After Stalings left in 1996, the school began another carousel of coaches. The school hopes it has found its new Bear Bryant in Nick Saban.
The Alabama Crimson Tide their 12-0 regular season record into the SEC Championship game and lost to eventual national champions Florida 31-20. Then they played the Utah Utes in the Sugar Bowl and dropped their second straight game 31-17. The Crimson Tide are still considered a national top five team coming into the 2009 college football season.
