Alabama Crimson Tide football , 1940 – 49 1940 . The 1940 season opener , played against Spring Hill College at Murphy High School Stadium in Mobile , was the first night game in Alabama football history . Bama ' s loss to Tennessee was its third in a row in the Third Saturday in October rivalry . 1941 . The Tuscaloosa News described the 1941 Alabama Crimson Tide as the University ' s best team since the 1934 Rose Bowl Championship Team . Frank Thomas used his running game and special teams to forge a team that was only one of 10 chosen for post - season play . An example of Alabama ' s special team play was the 19 – 14 victory over Tulane in New Orleans , despite being outgained in total yards , 252 – 123 . Superior special teams that included a punt return for a touchdown were the key . In the Cotton Bowl Classic against Texas A & M , Alabama was outgained 309 yards to 75 and earned just one official first down . However , under Southwest Conference rules at the time , long touchdown runs and long touchdown passes were not counted as first downs . Despite statistics skewed toward Texas A & M , Alabama raced to a 29 – 7 lead , and was able to substitute liberally late in the game , allowing the Aggies to score late . Alabama ' s defense forced 12 turnovers ( seven interceptions and five fumbles ) . Alabama scored a touchdown on a 72 - yard punt return , a 12 - yard interception return , scored two touchdowns after recovering A & M fumbles on the A & M 21 - and 24 - yard lines , and kicked a field goal after intercepting a pass on the Texas A & M 17 . While Alabama finished 3rd in the 1941 Southeastern Conference regular season standings , the Crimson Tide were only one of 10 teams chosen to play in a post - season competition . In the final regular season AP Poll , Alabama was ranked 20th , while the Minnesota Golden Gophers won the 1941 AP Poll regular season national championship . The University of Alabama ' s claim to the 1941 national championship is based on their post - season Cotton Bowl championship and Alabama ' s # 1 ranking in the Houlgate Ranking System . Houlgate is a mathematical ranking system devised by Dale Houlgate that was syndicated in newspapers between 1927 and 1958 . In addition to Minnesota , the 2010 Official NCAA Record Book states that the Texas Longhorns and the Alabama Crimson Tide were selected as national champions by various nationally - syndicated ranking systems for the 1941 season . 1942 . In 1942 Alabama played home games in four different stadiums . In addition to home dates in Legion Field in Birmingham and Denny Stadium on campus in Tuscaloosa , the Tide played one game each at Cramton Bowl in Montgomery and Ladd Stadium in Mobile . A safety on a fumbled kickoff and a 38 - yard touchdown run by running back Tom Jenkins were enough for an 8 – 0 win over Tennessee . However , in a game that decided the SEC championship for 1942 , Alabama blew a 10 – 0 fourth quarter lead against Georgia . Frank Sinkwich , who went on to win the Heisman Trophy for 1942 , threw two touchdown passes in the fourth , followed by a fumble return for a TD which iced Georgia ' s 21 – 10 victory . With the United States mobilizing for World War II and millions of men joining the armed forces , Alabama ' s schedule for 1942 included two games against military all - star teams . ' Bama won 27 – 0 against Pensacola Naval Air Station , a team that included former Alabama end Ben McLeod as well as players formerly of Fordham , LSU and Nebraska , but lost to a Georgia Pre - Flight squad that boasted former All - Americans from Tennessee and Tulane as well as other players with college experience . Alabama ' s first ever Orange Bowl was a wild affair against Boston College . Alabama trailed 14 – 0 at the end of the first quarter , scored 22 points in the second quarter to go into halftime up 22 – 21 , then dominated the second half to win the game 37 – 21 . 1943 . Due to the manpower requirements of World War II , Alabama did not field a football team in 1943 . Only five SEC members out of 12 played football that year . 1944 . With most of America ' s youth still serving in the armed forces , Frank Thomas scrambled to assemble a team in 1944 . Finally he was able to fill out a roster , mostly composed of 17 - year - old freshmen and students who had been rejected as unsuitable for military service . This team went down in Tide history as the " War Babies " . Its leader was a 155 - pound halfback named Harry Gilmer . Gilmer , running and passing out of the Notre Dame Box offense , gained 4 , 657 yards on offense in four years at Alabama . His 52 touchdowns ( 29 TD passes , 19 TD runs , two punt returns and one kickoff return ) set an Alabama record that still stands , as does his school record 1 , 119 punt return yards . After leaving Alabama Gilmer was the first pick in the 1948 NFL Draft . He went on to play nine years in the NFL for the Redskins and Lions . In 1993 Gilmer was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame . The 1944 season opener featured Gilmer against another star making his college debut : future Pro Football Hall of Fame member Y . A . Tittle , playing for LSU . Gilmer ran 23 yards for one touchdown and returned a kickoff 95 yards for another touchdown , but LSU blocked two Alabama punts for two touchdowns . The result was a 27 – 27 tie . A scoreless tie with Tennessee and a loss to Georgia left Alabama in fourth place in the SEC , but the Tide still got an invitation to the Sugar Bowl . The War Babies faced off against a Duke team loaded with veterans and Navy trainees . The result was a game that Grantland Rice called " one of the great thrillers of all time " . After Duke scored on its opening possession , Alabama scored three touchdowns in a row to take a 19 – 7 second - quarter lead . Duke scored again before the half and scored another touchdown in the third to go ahead 20 – 19 at the end of the third quarter . In the fourth , Bobby Morrow of Alabama intercepted a Duke pass to go back in front 26 – 20 . Late in the fourth , Duke turned the ball over on downs at the Alabama 1 . Bama yielded an intentional safety so Gilmer could kick off from the 20 , but Duke ran the punt back to the Alabama 39 and scored two plays later , taking a 29 – 26 lead with less than a minute left . On the last play of the game Gilmer hit Ralph Jones with a pass at the Duke 30 , but Duke safety Gordon Carver dove , grabbed Jones by the foot , and dragged him down at the Duke 24 as time expired . 1945 . The War Babies had a year of experience under their belts in 1945 . It paid off with one of the most spectacularly successful seasons in the history of Alabama football . The Tide stormed to a 10 – 0 record . Bama scored 430 points on the season to just 80 for the opposition . The defense recorded three shutouts ; the offense scored 50 points or more in five games . The closest margin of victory was 14 points , against Georgia and future Pro Football Hall of Fame member Charley Trippi . Against Kentucky , Gilmer ran for 216 yards on only six carries and completed both of his only two pass attempts for 50 more yards . Only once all year , in the Mississippi State game , did Alabama fail to score a touchdown on its opening drive . Alabama ' s reward was its sixth Rose Bowl appearance , which matched the Tide up against the Trojans of Southern Cal . It was as much of a blowout as the regular season had been , with the Tide pounding the Trojans 34 – 14 . At the half , Alabama led 20 – 0 and USC had −24 yards total offense ; it was 27 – 0 in the third quarter by the time USC earned its first first down . USC coach Jeff Cravath said of Thomas after the game : " There ' s a great coach . I ' ll never forget what he did today . If he had wanted to name the score he could have . " It was the last Rose Bowl game ever in which the visiting spot was open to any team from the east ; the very next year the Rose Bowl entered into an agreement to pit the champion of the Pacific Coast Conference ( the forerunner of the modern Pac - 10 ) against the champion of the Big Nine Conference ( the future Big Ten ) . The 1945 season was the fourth perfect season in Alabama history , following the perfect seasons of 1925 , 1930 , and 1934 . However , Alabama did not win the national championship in 1945 ; that honor went to the Army Cadets team that went 9 – 0 and outscored its opponents by a 412 – 46 margin . Alabama finished third in the AP poll behind the Cadets and a Navy team that went 7 – 1 – 1 . 1946 . Alabama ' s 14 - game winning streak was snapped when the Tide traveled to Knoxville and lost to Tennessee 12 – 0 . One week later Bama faced off against the Kentucky Wildcats and their young new coach , Paul " Bear " Bryant , and won a 21 – 7 victory . However , victory over the Bear was followed by losses to Georgia and LSU . A rare road trip out of the southeast saw Alabama travel to Boston , Massachusetts , only to lose to Boston College . The struggles of the 1946 team might have been caused in part by the deteriorating health of coach Frank Thomas . High blood pressure left him bedridden for most of the 1946 season , unable to stand for long periods , and forced to ride in a trailer to conduct many Alabama practices . After the 1946 season his ill health forced his resignation when he was only 48 years old . Thomas died in Tuscaloosa on May 10 , 1954 . He coached fifteen seasons at Alabama , winning four SEC championships and compiling a 115 – 24 – 7 record , for an . 812 winning percentage . 1947 . Harold " Red " Drew was named Alabama ' s new coach in 1947 . He came to the Tide after stints at Birminghan Southern , Tennessee - Chattanooga , and Mississippi . Losses early in the season to a bad Tulane team and a mediocre Vanderbilt team cost Alabama a conference title in 1947 . The loss to Tulane was particularly galling , as one of Tulane ' s three touchdowns came on a 103 - yard kickoff return and another came on an interception return . However , after those disappointments Alabama won seven games in a row , including another victory over Bear Bryant and the Kentucky Wildcats . Harry Gilmer and the War Babies ended their Alabama careers on a down note when they lost to the Texas Longhorns in the Sugar Bowl , 27 – 7 . Texas held Alabama to 103 yards of total offense and scored touchdowns on a blocked punt and an interception return . 1948 . Alabama football fell off sharply in 1948 . The season opening loss to Tulane was the first time Alabama started its season with a loss since the 1903 team kicked off with a 30 – 0 loss to Vanderbilt . The next week the Tide had to score a TD with ten seconds left to salvage a tie with Vanderbilt . A 35 – 0 loss to eventual SEC champion Georgia was the worst loss for Alabama since a 36 – 0 loss to Georgia Tech in 1910 . The Tide struggled home with a 6 – 4 – 1 record . This otherwise forgettable season is noteworthy for one event : the resumption of the Iron Bowl rivalry with Auburn after a 40 - year hiatus . The Iron Bowl dated all the way back to Alabama ' s very first team in 1892 . The two schools met regularly through 1895 and then , after a five - year break , regularly from 1900 through 1907 . However , trivial disputes led to the series being discontinued in 1908 . Alabama and Auburn disagreed on how much per diem to allow players for the trip to Birmingham , how many players each school should bring , and where to find officials . By the time all these matters were resolved , it was too late to play in 1908 , and the series ended . By 1947 pressure to renew the Iron Bowl had grown to the point that the state legislature threatened to withhold funding from the two schools unless they scheduled a game . In 1948 the Tide and Tigers finally agreed to meet on a football field . The result was a 55 – 0 Tide victory that remains the most lopsided win by either team in the history of the series . 1949 . Alabama wallowed in mediocrity again in 1949 . Lowlights included a third straight loss to Tulane and a loss to Vanderbilt . Alabama battled Tennessee to a 7 – 7 tie and won games against Georgia and Georgia Tech . The Tide entered the Iron Bowl a three - touchdown favorite but suffered an embarrassing 14 – 13 loss to Auburn in which a missed extra point proved decisive .