Alabama Football: In its 14th decade Crimson Tide history is defined by eight decades of performance. Top Tide decades are surprisingly similar.
Some Alabama football fans may be primed for week 20 of the FCS season. The week has one college football game on Saturday, Feb. 13 with the McNeese State Cowboys traveling to Texas to take on the Tarleton State Texans.
With another Super Bowl, having come and gone, and Alabama Football spring practice not for at least another month – some FCS football might fill the gap.
Those of us not engaged with following spring, FCS football, can spend our time re-living recent and past Crimson Tide memories. With the Alabama Crimson Tide being college football’s greatest program, there is an abundance of memories to enjoy.
Thinking about the greatest program of all-time leads to some Alabama football history. Perspective is always of value and the broader the view the better. A question worthy of review is was the last decade the greatest Crimson Tide decade of all-time? A quick decade definition is that each one begins with a year, whose last number is a zero. The Alabama Crimson Tide 2020 National Championship was the first of the current decade. The previous decade ended in 2019.
Going back to the 1920-1929 decade, the Crimson Tide has won National Championships in nine decades. The 1950s and the 1980s were the only decades since the ’20s when the Crimson Tide did not win a National Championship.
National Championships, SEC Championships and Winning Percentage
Without taking a close look, Alabama football fans know the 2010s are the program’s best-ever decade and arguably the best-ever in the history of college football. But the gap between the 2010s and other decades is not a big as many Tide fans may think.
Let’s break the eight decades into three categories beginning with National Championships. The lists are most to least, rather than chronologically.
Alabama Football National Championships
- 2010s – Four National Championships – 2011; 2012; 2015; 2017
- 1970s – Three National Championships – 1973; 1978; 1979
- 1960s – Three National Championships – 1961; 1964; 1965
- 1930s – Two National Championships – 1930; 1934
- 1920s – Two National Championships – 1925; 1926
- 2000s – One National Championship – 2009
- 1990s – One National Championship – 1992
- 1940s – One National Championship – 1941
The merits of the 1941 National Championship claim are disputable. A better claim could be made for 1945, but that is a different story. Also in its list of National Champions, the NCAA does not credit the Crimson Tide with a national championship in 1934, or 1941.
Alabama Football SEC Championships
Prior to 1933, the conference championships occurred in the Southern Conference, which pre-dated the SEC.
- 1970s – Eight SEC Championships – 1971; 1972; 1973; 1974; 1975; 1977; 1978; 1979
- 2010s – Five SEC Championships – 2012; 2014; 2015; 2016; 2018
- 1930s – One Southern and Three SEC Championships – 1930; 1933; 1934; 1937
- 1960s – Four SEC Championships – 1961; 1964; 1965; 1966
- 1920s – Three Southern Championships – 1924; 1925; 1926
- 1990s – Two SEC Championships – 1992; 1999
- 2000s – One SEC Championship – 2009
- 1940s – One SEC Championship – 1945
Alabama Football Winning Percentage
- 2010s – 89.2 percent
- 1930s – 88.1 percent
- 1970s – 86.6 percent
- 1960s – 85.2 percent
- 1920s – 78.1 percent
- 1940s – 74.7 percent
- 1990s – 74.6 percent
- 2000s – 62.2 percent
All the data begs the question, can the 2020s be the greatest Alabama Football decade? We have a long wait for the answer. The start of the current decade could not have started any better; 13-0 for 100 percent; an SEC Championship and a National Championship.
If the University of Alabama used the ‘Danny White – UCF’ model for claiming national championships, the 1945, 1962, 1966, 1975 and 1977 seasons would push the Tide total to 23.