Alabama Crimson Tide football , 1960 – 69 After the worst decade in the history of Alabama football , Paul Bryant took the Tide to its greatest successes to date . From 1961 to 1966 Alabama won four SEC championships , three national championships ( in 1961 , 1964 , and 1965 ) , and enjoyed winning streaks of 19 and 17 games . Alabama participated in a bowl game every season . However , the end of the decade saw a slight decline into mediocrity . 1960 . Bear Bryant ' s third team at Alabama was better than his second , which was better than his first . The 1960 team went 8 – 1 – 2 , which was the best record for any Alabama team since the 1952 team went 10 – 2 and played in the Orange Bowl . Highlights of the season included a victory over defending SEC champion Georgia and a 3 – 0 win over Auburn in the Iron Bowl . After trailing Georgia Tech 15 – 0 at the half , Bama rallied to win 16 – 15 on a field goal as time expired . However , Alabama lost 20 – 7 to Tennessee , a team they had not beaten since 1954 , and that loss cost Bama a share of the conference title in 1960 . Alabama played Texas to a 3 – 3 tie in the Bluebonnet Bowl . 1961 . In 1961 Bear Bryant ' s work in rebuilding the Alabama football program , which won only eight games in the four years before his arrival , was complete . Alabama went 11 – 0 , winning its fifth SEC title and first Associated Press national championship . The Tide defense allowed only 22 points in the regular season ; only three other SEC teams allowed fewer than 120 points . Only twice all year , against Tulane and in the Sugar Bowl against Arkansas , did Alabama win by less than ten points . Bama ' s 34 – 3 victory over Tennessee was its first since 1954 and only its second since 1947 . Game notes . Auburn . 1962 . Behind new starting quarterback Joe Namath , Alabama won its first nine games in just as dominant a fashion in 1962 as it did in 1961 , every victory by double digits . However , on November 17 Alabama lost to Georgia Tech 7 – 6 , and a 19 - game winning streak came to an end . Namath threw four interceptions that day and a Bama two - point conversion attempt in the fourth quarter failed . Bama rebounded to beat Auburn for the fourth year in a row but the loss to Tech cost Bama a share of the SEC title , which went to Mississippi . 1963 . The 1963 Alabama squad was not quite as dominant as the previous two years . The defense ' s 88 points given up in the regular season was still second - best in the conference but more than their points allowed in 1961 and 1962 combined . Bama ' s upset loss to Florida was one of only two games Paul Bryant lost in Tuscaloosa in his 25 years as Alabama head coach ( the other came in his last game there , vs . Southern Miss in 1982 ) . An Iron Bowl matchup of top 10 teams lead to a 10 – 8 Auburn victory , its first in the rivalry since 1958 . Alabama ' s December 7 game with Miami was postponed from its original scheduled date of Nov . 23 due to the assassination of John F . Kennedy . The season ended with an unusual bowl matchup between two teams from the same conference ; Alabama beat SEC champion Mississippi 12 – 7 . 1964 . Alabama returned to dominance in 1964 , going 10 – 1 to win its sixth SEC title and second AP national championship . There were a few more close games this year . On October 24 Bama rallied for ten points in the fourth quarter to beat Florida ( and their star quarterback Steve Spurrier ) 17 – 14 . Another ten - point rally in the fourth quarter led to a 17 – 9 victory over LSU . In the regular season finale , Ray Ogden returned a kickoff 100 yards , Ray Perkins caught a touchdown pass , and Bama beat Auburn 21 – 14 . ( 18 years later , Perkins succeeded Bear Bryant as Alabama coach . ) The bowl game loss to Texas did not affect Alabama ' s national championship , because in 1964 voting came before the bowl games . This National Title is disputed because # 2 Arkansas defeated # 6 Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl to finish the season undefeated at 11 - 0 while # 1 Alabama lost its bowl game , to a # 5 Texas team that Arkansas had beaten earlier in the year , to finish at 10 - 1 . Alabama ' s loss led the The Football Writers Association of America and the Helms Athletic Association to select the Razorbacks as the National Champions . The following year , the Associated Press decided to wait until after the bowl games were finished for their final voting . The 1964 National Title is officially claimed by both schools . Alabama ' s 24 – 7 victory over Georgia Tech marked the end of that rivalry , Georgia Tech having withdrawn from the Southeastern Conference earlier that year . 1965 . The 1965 season opened with the fifth - ranked Tide suffering a surprise upset loss to Georgia . Bama fell behind 10 – 0 , came back to go ahead 17 – 10 in the second half , then lost 18 – 17 on a Georgia touchdown and two - point conversion in the final two minutes . Against Mississippi on October 2 , Alabama had to rally from a nine - point fourth - quarter deficit to win 17 – 16 . On October 16 , Alabama and Tennessee played to an unusual tie . The score was deadlocked 7 – 7 in the closing seconds , and Alabama had driven to the Tennessee four - yard - line after a 14 - yard scramble by Tide quarterback Ken Stabler . Stabler , however , believing that it was third down , threw the ball out of bounds with six seconds left to stop the clock . Unfortunately for Stabler and the Tide , it was actually fourth down , possession went to Tennessee , and the game ended in a tie . After the tie with Tennessee Bama won five in a row to win Bryant ' s fourth SEC title at Bama . Because the Associated Press , for the very first time , was holding its vote until after the bowl games instead of before , fourth - ranked Bama still had a chance to win the national championship when they traveled to Miami to play # 3 Nebraska in the Orange Bowl . On New Year ' s Day , # 1 Michigan State lost in the Rose Bowl and # 2 Arkansas lost in the Cotton Bowl Classic . Later that night , Alabama beat Nebraska 39 – 28 in the Orange Bowl . The Tide won its third AP National Championship in five years . 1966 . Alabama ’ s 1966 team was one of Bryant ' s most dominant , ripping through the schedule undefeated while only giving up 37 points on the season . Bama won its third SEC championship in a row and ninth overall . The matchup with Tennessee was the only close game of the year . The Volunteers took a 10 – 0 lead in the first quarter and the score stayed that way until the fourth . Early in the fourth quarterback Ken Stabler scored on a two - yard touchdown run and then threw for a two - point conversion that made it 10 – 8 . Later in the quarter a 14 - play drive resulted in a field goal that gave Alabama an 11 – 10 lead with 3 : 23 to go . Tennessee drove the ball to the Alabama 3 - yard - line in the final seconds but missed the field goal and Alabama won 11 – 10 . The season was capped with a 34 – 7 beatdown of Nebraska in the Sugar Bowl . Bama went undefeated and was two - time defending national champions , but did not win the national title in 1966 . Instead voters rewarded Notre Dame after Fighting Irish coach Ara Parseghian , with his team tied 10 – 10 with Michigan State with 1 : 10 to go , chose to play for the tie rather than attempt to win the game . The Fighting Irish and Spartans both finished 9 – 0 – 1 and were ranked # 1 and # 2 in the polls , while Alabama finished third . Writer Keith Dunnavant suggests in his book about the 1966 season , " The Missing Ring " , that the continuing segregation of the Alabama football team ( the Crimson Tide did not integrate until Wilbur Jackson and John Mitchell made the 1971 team ) , as well as violent resistance by white Alabamians to the Civil Rights Movement , cost the Crimson Tide support with voters in 1966 and led to the third - place finish . 1967 . The latter portion of the 1960s saw Alabama football decline somewhat after its remarkable success from 1960 through 1966 . In the very first game of the 1967 season , Alabama and Florida State fought to a 37 – 37 tie , snapping a 17 - game winning streak . In one game Alabama surrendered as many points as it did in the entire 1966 regular season . After winning three in a row Alabama suffered a 24 – 13 loss to Tennessee in which Ken Stabler threw five interceptions . That loss cost Alabama the SEC title after Tennessee went undefeated in conference play . The season finale against Auburn was played in " miserable and sloppy and nasty " conditions after rain started falling the night before and kept up during the game . Auburn was clinging to a 3 – 0 lead in the fourth quarter when quarterback Ken Stabler took the ball on a keeper , ran right , and slogged 53 yards through the mud for a touchdown that gave Alabama a memorable 7 – 3 victory . Bama finished the season 8 – 2 – 1 after losing 20 – 16 in the Cotton Bowl Classic to Texas A & M and coach Gene Stallings , who became head coach at Alabama 23 years later . 1968 . Alabama ' s 17 – 14 game over Southern Mississippi on Sept . 28 was the last game the Tide ever played in Ladd Stadium in Mobile . The season was marred by a 10 – 8 loss to Mississippi and a 10 – 9 loss to Tennessee that was decided when Alabama failed on a fourth - quarter two - point conversion . Bama won four in a row after the Tennessee loss , including its fifth consecutive win over Auburn , but suffered a 35 – 10 beating from Missouri in the Gator Bowl to finish the season 8 – 3 . 1969 . In 1969 the defensive excellence that had been the hallmark of Alabama football for much of the 1960s was a thing of the past . Alabama gave up 268 points in 11 games ( including the bowl game ) and allowed four teams to score more than 30 points . Quarterback Scott Hunter threw for 484 yards against Auburn , a team record that still stands , but Alabama lost the game 49 – 26 , snapping a five - game Iron Bowl win streak . The 49 points yielded to Auburn was , and as of 2012 still is , the most points given up by any Alabama defense in a regulation game since losing 54 – 4 to in 1907 . ( In 2004 Alabama lost 51 – 43 to Tennessee in a game that went five overtimes ) . The 41 – 14 loss to Tennessee was Bama ' s third loss in a row to the Volunteers . Vanderbilt beat Alabama for the first time in thirteen years . Alabama lost its third consecutive bowl game , this time to Colorado in the Liberty Bowl 47 – 33 . The lone highlight of the season was a 33 – 32 victory over Mississippi in which the teams combined for 1 , 099 yards in total offense and four lead changes in the fourth quarter . It was the first ever college football game broadcast nationally in prime time .