Alabama Crimson Tide football , 1950 – 59 The 1950s were the worst decade in the history of Alabama football . The Tide football program , a frequent contender in the Southeastern Conference and regular bowl participant , had five losing seasons in the decade after not having had a losing season since 1903 . Alabama bottomed out with an 0 – 10 season in 1955 , the worst in the history of the program . However , the decade ended with the hiring of Paul " Bear " Bryant , who would rebuild Alabama football and guide it to its greatest successes . 1950 . The decade got off to a promising start . Alabama went 9 – 2 and capped their season with a 34 – 0 victory over Auburn . However , a 14 – 9 loss to Tennessee and a loss to Vanderbilt cost Alabama the SEC title , and they finished in third place . 1951 . Alabama ' s 89 – 0 victory over Delta State in the 1951 opener set a Tide record for most points scored in a game after the formation of the Southeastern Conference in 1933 . ( The 1922 team beat Marion Institute 110 – 0 . ) But the Tide followed that victory up with a four - game losing streak that included a loss to second - ranked Tennessee . After evening its record at 4 – 4 Bama lost games in November to Georgia Tech and Florida . A 25 – 7 victory over Auburn provided some consolation for a 5 – 6 season , Alabama ' s first losing season since 1903 . It was a preview of things to come . Bobby Marlow ' s 233 rushing yards against Auburn set a school record that lasted for 25 years and remains the third - most rushing yards ever in a game for an Alabama player . Alabama ' s loss to Tennessee on Oct . 20 was the first ever Tide game to be broadcast on television . The game against Delta State at Cramton Bowl in Montgomery marked the first year of a four - year period in which Alabama , which was already regularly playing games in Mobile and Birmingham as well as Tuscaloosa , began playing " home " games in four different cities . 1952 . Alabama bounced back in 1952 to have its best season of the decade , finishing 10 – 2 . However , losses to Tennessee ( Bama ' s fifth year in a row without a victory over the Volunteers ) and Georgia Tech cost the Tide an SEC title . The Crimson Tide went to its first bowl game in five years , against Syracuse in the Orange Bowl , and destroyed the Orangemen 61 – 6 . The blowout set a school record for most points scored in a bowl game and an Orange Bowl record for points scored . The 55 - point margin of victory stood as the all - time record for a bowl game through the 2008 GMAC Bowl where Tulsa defeated Bowling Green 63 – 7 for a 56 point margin of victory . Freshman quarterback Bart Starr , playing with the varsity , appeared in seven games as the backup to Butch Hobson . Starr would go on to a legendary Hall of Fame career as quarterback of the Green Bay Packers . 1953 . 1953 was one of the more unusual seasons in Tide history . Alabama won only six games all year , and only four of seven conference games . However , the other three conference games were ties , and a 4 – 0 – 3 record was good enough to win Alabama the SEC title . It was Bama ' s first conference championship since 1945 and last until 1961 . Against Tennessee , Bama had a chance to win for the first time since 1947 but had to settle for a scoreless tie after fumbling the ball away on the Tennessee five and missing a 43 - yard field goal . The Tide ' s 10 – 7 win over Auburn was its fourth in a row in the Iron Bowl . The Cotton Bowl Classic against Rice featured one of the strangest plays in the history of college football . In the second quarter , Rice had the ball on its own five - yard line , leading 7 – 6 , after recovering an Alabama fumble . Rice running back Dick Moegle swept around the right side , broke free , and appeared to be on his way to a 95 - yard touchdown run — until Tommy Lewis of Alabama , who was on the sideline , ran into the field of play and tackled Moegle at the Alabama 40 . Officials awarded Moegle a 95 - yard touchdown run , and Rice won the game 28 – 6 . 1954 . Harold Drew had a winning record at Alabama , going 45 – 28 – 7 in seven years , but the program slipped from its glory days under Wallace Wade and Frank Thomas . Drew ' s teams won only one conference title and gone to three bowl games in eight years . In 1954 , the program went into serious decline . It did not seem that way after the first five games . Following a second consecutive season - opening loss to Southern Mississippi , Alabama reeled off a four - game winning streak that included a 27 – 0 victory over Tennessee . The win over the Volunteers was the only one for the Crimson Tide in a span of 13 seasons , 1948 – 1960 . But Alabama followed that win by scoring only 14 points over the last six games of the 1954 season . Right after beating Tennessee , Alabama lost 12 – 7 to Mississippi State , beginning a streak of 16 consecutive scoreless quarters that tied the all - time school record . Consecutive scoreless ties against Georgia and Tulane followed , despite quarterback Bart Starr ' s comeback from an early - season injury . ( Starr , limited by a bad back , threw only 41 passes all year . ) The season ended with losses to Georgia Tech , Miami and Auburn by a combined score of 71 – 7 , dropping Alabama to 4 – 5 – 2 on the year . It was only Alabama ' s second losing season in 50 years , but much worse was to come . 1955 . 1955 brought a new coach , J . B . Whitworth . Whitworth , a former Alabama player , brought a new system that was more oriented towards the running game . Consequently , senior quarterback Bart Starr and the other Tide seniors saw little playing time . Whitworth , for his part , was only allowed to hire two assistants and required to retain the rest of Coach Drew ' s staff . The result was a disaster . Alabama football hit rock bottom in 1955 , going 0 – 10 . It was only the third winless season in the history of the Crimson Tide , the others being 1893 and 1895 when the program was just starting , and the only one when Alabama played more than four games . The scope of the failure was epic . Alabama averaged 4 . 8 points per game ; the opposition averaged 25 . 6 . The Tide was shut out four times ; the opposition never scored fewer than 20 points . Bama never even came close to a victory , with the smallest margin of defeat being 15 points in a 21 – 6 loss to Vanderbilt . The next worst team in the SEC , Georgia , scored 125 points more than Alabama and allowed 86 fewer , and whipped the Tide 35 – 14 . 1956 . In 1956 the Crimson Tide improved somewhat from the meltdown of the year before — but not much . Alabama opened the season with four straight losses by a combined score of 99 – 26 . The all - time school record losing streak ran to seventeen consecutive games , and the winless streak reached 20 games . Then , finally , Alabama won a game for the first time since October 16 , 1954 . The Tide scored with 2½ minutes to go and kicked the extra point to beat Mississippi State 13 – 12 . The Tide managed a 13 – 7 victory over Tulane two weeks later and a 13 – 13 tie with Southern Mississippi two weeks after that , but lopsided losses to Georgia Tech and Auburn left Bama ' s final record at 2 – 7 – 1 . It was the Tide ' s third losing season in a row . 1957 . Whitworth ' s third and last season resulted in a 2 – 7 – 1 record that was identical to the year before . The first four games saw the opposition outscore Alabama 76 – 6 , but those six points were good enough to salvage a tie with Vanderbilt . ( The Tide missed a chance to win after they turned the ball over on downs at the Vanderbilt 1 in the final minutes ) . Highlights of a dismal year were a 14 – 13 victory over Georgia and a 29 – 2 drubbing of Southern Mississippi , the only time in thirty games under Coach Whitworth that Alabama managed to score more than 14 points . However , the season ended with an embarrassing 40 – 0 loss to Auburn . Alabama had now lost four games in a row to their arch - rivals by a combined score of 128 – 7 . To add insult to injury , Auburn went 10 – 0 and won the national championship . After the season was over , Whitworth was finally fired . He was replaced by another former Alabama player , one who had gone on to great success as a head coach at Kentucky and Texas A & M - - Paul " Bear " Bryant . 1958 . The improvement of Crimson Tide football under Bryant was immediate and dramatic . Despite playing a tough schedule ( five ranked teams ) , Alabama managed its first winning season since 1953 . The Tide went 5 – 4 – 1 , with Bryant winning more games in one year than Whitworth did in three . In the season opener , Bama led LSU 3 – 0 at the half before losing 13 – 3 ; LSU went on to win the 1958 national championship . The Tide played a ranked Vanderbilt team to a scoreless tie and then , on October 25 , beat then - # 19 Mississippi State for its first victory over a ranked team since beating Auburn in 1953 . On November 15 Alabama sprang a 17 – 8 upset on Georgia Tech . The season finale saw Alabama ' s fifth straight Iron Bowl loss , but the 14 – 8 defeat to Auburn was much closer than the previous four . For the season , Bama scored 37 points more than the year before ( although the offense was still poor , averaging 10 . 6 points per game ) , and allowed 98 points fewer , holding the opposition to 7 . 5 points per game . Respectability had been restored . 1959 . An outstanding defense in 1959 keyed Alabama ' s continuing rapid improvement , as the Tide went 7 – 2 – 2 . ( The offense was actually slightly worse than the year before , scoring only 95 points all season ) . After dropping the opener to Georgia , Alabama did not lose for the rest of the regular season . A 7 – 7 tie with Vanderbilt was the third year in a row that Alabama tied the Commodores . Against Tennessee , a missed 26 - yard field goal try with 12 seconds left forced Bama to settle for a 7 – 7 tie . Alabama beat Georgia Tech again and , most importantly , beat Auburn 10 – 0 , snapping what was then a school - record five - game Iron Bowl losing streak ( since exceeded by a six - game streak , 2002 – 2007 ) . The Tide ' s rewards were a national ranking and a bowl game , each the first since 1953 . The season ended on a downer when Alabama lost the Liberty Bowl to Penn State , 7 – 0 . This bowl game marked the beginning of a school record 25 straight bowl appearances .