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.

References and external links

 * All-Time Alabama schedules
 * All-Time Alabama scheudles at crimsontider.com