1925 college football season The 1925 college football season ended with the University of Alabama ' s recognition as a football powerhouse . The Rose Bowl was closer to a national championship than had been seen previously , providing an intersectional matchup between two unbeaten teams , the Washington Huskies ( 10 - 0 - 1 ) and the Alabama Crimson Tide ( 9 - 0 - 0 ) . In a thriller , Alabama won by a point , 20 - 19 . Major conferences that existed in 1925 were the Western Conference ( today ' s Big Ten ) , the Pacific Coast Conference ( now the Pac - 10 ) , the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association ( MVIAA , forerunner of the Big 12 ) , the Southwest Conference , and the Southern Conference ( whose members later formed the SEC and the ACC ) . September . Most colleges did not open their seasons until later , but on September 19 , in Seattle , the University of Washington Huskies opened their season with a 108 - 0 win over Willamette College . On September 26 Texas Christian ( TCU ) won 31 - 0 over Texas A & I , Penn beat Ursinus 32 - 0 and Syracuse beat Hobart by the same score ; Notre Dame beat Baylor 41 - 0 , Alabama opened with a win over Tennessee ' s Union College , 53 - 0 , Dartmouth beat Norwich 59 - 0 , Tulane defeated Louisiana College , 77 - 0 and Cornell beat Susquehanna 80 - 0 . Texas A & M beat Trinity College 20 - 10 . Stanford lost to San Francisco ' s amateur team , the Olympic Club , 9 - 0 . October . October 3 At New Orleans , Missouri and Tulane played to a 3 - 3 tie . Michigan beat Michigan State 39 - 0 and Stanford beat Santa Clara 20 - 3 . Army beat Detroit ' s Mercy College 31 - 6 and Notre Dame beat visiting Lombard College 69 - 0 . Texas A & M beat Southwestern Teachers 23 - 6 and TCU beat Daniel Baker College , 12 - 0 . Alabama allowed some points , but beat Birmingham Southern College 50 - 7 in a Friday game . Syracuse beat Vermont 26 - 0 , Dartmouth beat Hobart 34 - 0 , Cornell defeated Niagara 26 - 0 , and Penn beat Swarthmore 26 - 12 October 10 Michigan beat Indiana 63 - 0 Alabama won at LSU , 42 - 0 and Tulane beat Ole Miss , 26 - 7 . At Dallas , Texas A & M and Sewanee played to a 6 - 6 tie , while TCU and Baylor played to a 7 - 7 tie . Missouri beat Nebraska , 9 - 6 . Washington , which had registered wins against non - college foes like the crew of the U . S . S . Oklahoma ( 59 - 0 ) and the West Seattle Athletic Club ( 56 - 0 ) , defeated visiting Montana 30 - 10 . Stanford defeated Occidental 28 - 0 Syracuse beat William & Mary 33 - 0 Dartmouth defeated Vermont 50 - 0 Cornell defeated Williams 48 - 0 Penn defeated Brown 9 - 0 Notre Dame defeated Beloit College , 19 - 3 Army beat Knox College , 26 - 7 Texas A & M beat SMU 7 - 0 on Friday , October 16 . On October 17 , at Yankee Stadium , Army beat Notre Dame 27 - 0 . Washington and Nebraska played to a 6 - 6 tie at Lincoln . TCU defeated Hardin Simmons 28 - 16 and Missouri beat the Missouri School of Mines ( now Missouri S & T , at Rolla ) , 32 - 0 . In Los Angeles , Stanford beat USC 13 - 9 . In Birmingham , Alabama beat Sewanee 42 - 0 while in New Orleans , Tulane beat Mississippi State , 25 - 3 . Michigan won at Wisconsin 21 - 0 , while Syracuse won at Indiana 14 - 0 . After wins against Canisius ( 28 - 0 ) , Clarkson ( 60 - 0 ) and St . Bonaventure ( 49 - 0 ) , Colgate met Lafayette at Philadelphia , and the two played to a 7 - 7 tie . Dartmouth beat Maine 56 - 0 , Cornell beat Rutgers 41 - 0 , and Penn won at Yale 16 - 13 October 24 Michigan narrowly won at Illinois , but recorded another shutout , 3 - 0 . Syracuse rang up its fifth straight shutout with a 48 - 0 win over Providence . In Chicago , Tulane beat Northwestern 18 - 7 . In Atlanta , Alabama beat Georgia Tech 7 - 0 . Texas A & M beat visitng Sam Houston State , 77 - 0 and Missouri beat Kansas State 3 - 0 . Washington beat Whitman College 64 - 2 , while Stanford beat Oregon State 26 - 10 . Notre Dame won at Minnesota 19 - 7 . Colgate beat Princeton 9 - 0 , Dartmouth won at Harvard , 32 - 9 , and Pennsylvania beat visiting Chicago , 7 - 0 . Army defeated St . Louis 19 - 0 . Oklahoma State beat visiting TCU , 22 - 7 October 31 Michigan stayed unbeaten , untied and unscored upon , beating visiting Navy 54 - 0 . In its first five games , Michigan had outscored the opposition 180 - 0 . Syracuse also remained unscored upon with a 7 - 0 win over Penn State , having outpointed its foes 160 - 0 in six games . Dartmouth stayed unbeaten with a 14 - 0 win at Brown . Pennsylvania had a record of 5 - 0 - 0 when it hosted Illinois , which had a record of 1 - 3 - 0 . The Illini upset the Penn Quakers in Philadelphia , 24 - 2 . Yale handed visiting Army its first loss 28 - 7 . Texas A & M won at Baylor 13 - 0 and TCU beat Abilene Christian 21 - 9 . Missouri beat Iowa State 23 - 8 . Washington won at Washington State , 23 - 0 Stanford beat Oregon 35 - 13 and Colgate won at Michigan State 14 - 0 . In Atlanta , Notre Dame beat Georgia Tech , 13 - 0 , while in Montgomery , Tulane beat Auburn by the same score . Alabama beat Mississippi State 6 - 0 . November . November 7 Michigan ( 5 - 0 - 0 ) was upset by Northwestern , which won 3 - 2 . The field goal represented the only score against Michigan in an otherwise perfect season . Syracuse , which hadn ' t been scored upon in six games , was tied 3 - 3 by Ohio Wesleyan College . Dartmouth ( 6 - 0 - 0 ) hosted Cornell ( 5 - 0 - 0 ) in a meeting of unbeatens , winning 62 - 13 . Texas A & M ( 5 - 0 - 1 ) and Texas Christian ( 4 - 1 - 1 ) met with TCU handing the Aggies their first defeat , 3 - 0 . Washington ( 6 - 0 - 1 ) hosted Stanford ( 5 - 1 - 0 ) and won 13 - 0 . At Penn State , Notre Dame and the Nittany Lions played to a 0 - 0 tie . At St . Louis , Missouri beat Washington U . 14 - 0 . Colgate beat Providence 19 - 7 , Penn beat Haverford 66 - 0 , and Army beat Davis & Elkins , 14 - 6 . In Birmingham , Alabama beat Kentucky 31 - 0 and in New Orleans , Tulane beat Louisiana Tech 37 - 9 . November 14 Syracuse hosted Colgate in a matchup of unbeatens ( both 6 - 0 - 1 ) . Colgate won 19 - 6 . In New York , Columbia handed Army its first defeat , 21 - 7 . Dartmouth won at Chicago , 33 - 7 , to close with a perfect 8 - 0 - 0 record . At Montgomery , Alabama ( 8 - 0 - 0 ) met Florida ( 6 - 1 - 0 ) and won 34 - 0 . Tulane shut out Sewanee , 14 - 0 . In Houston , Texas A & M beat Rice 17 - 0 , while TCU beat visiting Arkansas , 3 - 0 . Missouri stayed unbeaten with a 16 - 14 win over Oklahoma , and Washington stayed unbeaten with a 7 - 0 win at California . Stanford beat visiting UCLA , 82 - 0 . Michigan beat Ohio State 10 - 0 . Cornell beat Cansisius 33 - 0 , Pittsburgh defeated Penn , 14 - 0 , and Notre Dame beat visiting Carnegie Tech 26 - 0 . November 21 Previously unbeaten Missouri lost at Kansas , 10 - 7 . Michigan beat Minnesota 35 - 0 . Tulane won at LSU , 16 - 0 . TCU defeated Austin College , 21 - 0 . Washington beat Puget Sound 80 - 7 . Stanford closed its season with a 27 - 14 win over California . Syracuse beat Niagara 17 - 0 , Notre Dame defeated Northwestern , 13 - 10 , and Army beat Ursinus 44 - 0 On Thanksgiving Day , November 26 , Syracuse and Columbia met at the Polo Grounds in New York , with Syracuse winning 16 - 5 . Penn handed Cornell its second loss , 7 - 0 . Notre Dame lost at Nebraska , 17 - 0 , in the four horsemen ' s first collegiate loss . Texas A & M and Texas , both 6 - 1 - 1 , met , with A & M winning 28 - 0 . Alabama beat Georgia 27 - 0 in Birmingham to close the regular season with 9 wins , and no losses or ties . In those nine games , the Crimson Tide had outscored its opponents 277 - 7 . Tulane closed its season with a 14 - 0 at Centenary College and finished unbeaten , with one tie ( 9 - 0 - 1 ) . On November 28 Texas A & M beat Texas 28 - 0 . Washington closed its season unbeaten with a 15 - 14 win over Oregon , and elected to meet Alabama in the Rose Bowl . At Providence , Colgate and Brown played to a 14 - 14 tie . In the Army – Navy Game , Army closed its season with a 10 - 3 win Conference standings . The following is an incomplete list of conference standings : 1926 Rose Bowl . The 1926 Rose Bowl would later be the subject of a television documentary , " Roses of Crimson " , and hailed as " the football game that changed the South " . Alabama was the first Southern football team to be invited to play in the Rose Bowl , and proved that the Southern teams could compete with those from the East , the Midwest and the West coast . George Wilson helped the Huskies take a 12 - 0 lead at halftime , but both extra point attempts failed , and Wilson was injured . In the third quarter , Alabama exploded for three touchdowns , starting with Quarterback Pooley Hubert ' s run to make the score 12 - 7 . Washington lost the ball on its 35 yard line , and Johnny Mack Brown carried the ball over to make the score 14 - 12 in favor of Alabama . A 61 yard pass from Hubert to Brown set up Alabama ' s third score for a 20 - 12 lead . George Wilson returned in the fourth quarter , and the Huskies scored a touchdown and the point after to close the score to 20 - 19 , but the missed conversion attempts from the first half cost them the game . The victory for Coach Wallace Wade established Alabama as a football powerhouse