Alabama Crimson Tide football , 1910 – 19 1910 . Alabama slipped to 4 – 4 after having lost no more than one game in each of the previous four seasons . The decisive points in Bama ' s 5 – 3 victory over Tulane came when a Tulane player was tacked in his own end zone for a safety after attempting to return a missed Alabama field goal . " Doc " Pollard , coach of Alabama from 1906 to 1909 , returned to Tuscaloosa as a coach for Washington & Lee . 1911 . Alabama had to settle for a scoreless tie against Georgia Tech when time expired as Alabama drove to the Tech three - yard line . Sewanee kicked a field goal with two minutes left to beat Alabama 3 – 0 . 1912 . Alabama moved its Birmingham home games to a new stadium , Rickwood Field . In the Georgia game , the Bulldogs ran a trick play in which they threw the ball to a receiver who was dressed as a waterboy , on the field , carrying a bucket . The play did not prove decisive , as Georgia fumbled the ball away soon after , but the Bulldogs won the game after they recovered a botched Alabama field goal and scored in the final minutes . Bama beat Ole Miss 10 – 9 after the Rebels missed an extra point and two late field goals . Against Sewanee , Alabama battled to a 6 – 6 tie against a Tigers team that had dominated the Tide in previous seasons . 1913 . Alabama ' s 81 points against Birmingham Southern was then a school record . Sewanee returned to its dominance over Alabama , holding off a Bama comeback in the fourth quarter to win 10 – 7 . 1914 . Before the Tennessee game , Alabama quarterback Charlie Joplin was ruled ineligible after he refused to sign an affidavit that he had never played professional baseball . Alabama went 3 – 0 with Joplin and 2 – 4 after he left the team . The Carlisle Indians team that beat Alabama in the season finale was coached by legendary " Pop " Warner . After this season Alabama and Tennessee would not meet again until 1928 . 1915 . William T . " Bully " Van de Graaff , who punted , kicked , and played tackle , was named Alabama ' s first All - American in 1915 . Against Mississippi College Van de Graaff kicked four field goals and missed a fifth from 54 yards out when the ball hit the upright . Coach Thomas Kelley was hospitalized with typhoid fever and missed the last five games of the season . Athletic director Lonnie Noojin and former player Farley Moody took control prior to the Sewanee game and coached the rest of the season . The entire 1915 season is still officially credited to Kelley . Noojin and Moody ' s first game with the Tide was a 23 – 10 victory over Sewanee , the first win for Alabama in that rivalry since 1894 . Alabama led the Tigers 10 – 0 at the half and continued to lead by that score after Sewanee marched inside the Alabama 20 four times in the third but came away with no points . The Tigers finally scored a touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter , then blocked a punt and kicked a field goal to tie the game 10 – 10 . However , Van de Graff knocked the ball out of a Sewanee player ' s hand and ran it back 65 yards for a touchdown , then tacked on two more field goals as the Tide beat the Tigers for only the second time in 12 meetings . In 1915 Alabama moved its home games from The Quad , where all on - campus home games had been played since 1893 , and into a new stadium , Denny Field ( originally called University Field but renamed for school president George Denny in 1920 ) . 1916 . Three brothers , Dexter , Walter , and Jack Hovater , were starters for the 1916 Tide . Alabama again found success against Sewanee , squeaking out a 7 – 6 victory . Two interceptions and a Sewanee stop of Bama on 4th and goal at the 1 almost won the game for the Tigers , but Alabama scored late and kicked the extra point ( Sewanee ' s having failed ) for the victory . One week later Georgia Tech held Alabama to two first downs and 60 yards of offense in a 13 – 0 loss . That began a season ending string of three straight shutout losses after Bama started the year 6 – 0 . 1917 . Alabama ' s 1917 season opener against the " Second Ambulance Company of Ohio " at Soldiers Field in Montgomery was the only game the Crimson Tide ever played at that location . The 2nd , which was part of the 37th Division training in Montgomery , only got two first downs . Alabama fought Sewanee to a 3 – 3 tie . Camp Gordon , the second military opponent Alabama faced as the country mobilized for World War I , beat the Tide 19 – 6 . Camp Gordon had several players with college experience , including Adrian van de Graaff , formerly of Alabama . Joe Sewell , who went on to a Hall of Fame baseball career with the Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees , lettered in football for Alabama in 1917 , 1918 and 1919 . 1918 . Alabama did not field a team in 1918 , the season was canceled due to the effects of World War I . B . L . Noojin was to serve as head coach for the season . University officials canceled the season as a result of multiple opponents canceling their contests against Alabama and a military policy that only allowed for the team to practice for less than one hour per week . Alabama also did not field a team in 1898 due to campus rules prohibiting athletic teams from traveling off campus to compete and in 1943 due to the effects of World War II . 1919 . Xen C . Scott arrived in 1919 as the head coach at the University of Alabama and the Tide football program , which had been relatively successful since its founding in 1892 but had not risen to the level of dominant powers such as Sewanee , Georgia Tech , and Vanderbilt , suddenly leapt to prominence . The Tide won eight games in a season for the first time ever , finishing 8 – 1 and was awarded by some organizations a share of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association title ( the SIAA was not a conference in the traditional sense and championships of the SIAA were unofficial ) . 1919 also happened to be the first year that Alabama ' s football team was called the " Crimson Tide " , with earlier editions referred to as the Cadets , the Crimsons , and the Thin Red Line . For most of the season Alabama was dominant . The Tide raced out to a 6 – 0 start without giving up a single point and without playing a close game . Bama ' s chance at a perfect season was ruined when the Tide traveled to Nashville and lost to Vanderbilt 16 – 12 after fumbling the ball away inside the Vandy 10 early and turning the ball over on downs at midfield late .