1925 Alabama Crimson Tide football team The 1925 Alabama Crimson Tide football team ( variously " Alabama " , " UA " or " Bama " ) represented the University of Alabama in the 1925 college 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 . Game notes . The 1925 Tide was overwhelmingly dominant in finishing the regular season 9 - 0 . Only one team scored : Birmingham - Southern managed a touchdown after recovering a fumble at the Alabama 25 and benefiting from two Alabama offside penalties . Two games were close calls . Alabama beat Georgia Tech 7 – 0 on a Johnny Mack Brown punt return for a TD . Tech turned the ball over on downs at the Alabama 28 and again at the Alabama 21 . The Tide then beat Mississippi State 6 – 0 , scoring after a short punt set Bama up on the MSU 26 and later intercepting a Mississippi State pass after the " Maroons " ( now the Bulldogs ) drove to the Tide 16 . 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 . 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 . References . General Specific