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.

References and external links

 * All-Time Alabama schedules at the Paul W. Bryant Museum
 * All-Time Alabama schedules at CrimsonTider.com