Alabama’s CFP opener at Oklahoma on Friday is one of two rematches in this year’s first round, with Tulane vs. Ole Miss on Saturday being the other. The Sooners beat the Crimson Tide 23-21 in Tuscaloosa on Nov. 15, and will go for the season sweep when the teams meet for the second time in Norman.
The game with Oklahoma marks just the seventh time in Alabama’s 134-year football history it will face the same team twice in one season. The sixth time, of course, happened just three weeks ago, with the Crimson Tide losing to Georgia 28-7 in the SEC championship game on Dec. 6 after beating the Bulldogs 24-21 in Athens on Sept. 27.
Two of the previous five instances happened in the program’s primordial days, with the other three taking place in the relatively recent past. Here’s a look at the first five times Alabama has had an in-season “rematch” and how things went for the Crimson Tide:
1892 Alabama football team
The 1892 Alabama football team, the first in program history, is shown. Coach E.B. Beaumont is shown in derby hat, while team captain (and program founder) William G. Little is shown at center with dark sleeves. (Photo courtesy of the Paul W. Bryant Museum)Paul W. Bryant Museum photo
1892 vs. Birmingham Athletic Club (1-1)
Alabama beat a collection of Birmingham high school players 56-0 on Nov. 11, 1892, the first game ever played by the team that would come to be known as the Crimson Tide. The Cadets (as they were then known) faced members of the Birmingham Athletic Club the following day at Lakeview Park, losing 5-4 on a 65-yard “goal kick” by a player named Ross (no first name given).
“It seems almost miraculous, but (Ross) made a clean kick of sixty-five yards which was the most brilliant feat ever witnessed in a match game,” an unknown reporter wrote in the Birmingham News. “The crowd sent up cheer after cheer and his admirers gather him on their shoulders and paraded him around the grounds.”
The Cadets got their revenge on Dec. 10, winning 14-0 in what the Birmingham News described as a “Waterloo for Birmingham.” Grayson, Cope and Abbott all scored for Alabama, which, The Birmingham News dutifully reported, had been “following a prescribed regimen, foregoing sweets, coffee, etc.”
Alabama finished its inaugural season at 2-2, losing 33-22 to Auburn the following February.
1893 vs. Birmingham Athletic Club (0-2)
The only time Alabama has lost twice to the same team in one season came a mere 132 years ago, a 4-0 loss to the BAC on Oct. 14 and a 10-8 defeat on Nov. 4. The Crimson White (they had changed their name after Year 1) went 0-4 that season, also losing to Sewanee (its first out-of-state opponent) 4-0 on Nov. 11 and to Auburn (this time in Montgomery) 40-16 on Nov. 30.
The first 1893 meeting with Birmingham was Alabama’s first-ever game played in Tuscaloosa. The Birmingham team had “a decided advantage in the matter of size and weight,” the Birmingham News reported. An unknown player for the Athletics scored the only points of the game in the second half (touchdowns were worth four points at the time).
The second game in 1893 was closer, though the University team was “at a disadvantage with several men including the captain crippled,” as the Birmingham News reported. Walker scored two touchdowns, though the Crimson White failed to “kick goal” on both occasions, which made the difference in the game.
Alabama running back Shaun Alexander (37) drives up the field in the first half of action against Florida at the SEC Championship Saturday Dec. 4, 1999 in Atlanta, Ga. (Mobile Register file photo by John David Mercer)
More than a century passed before Alabama faced the same team twice in one season again. The formation of conferences and college football’s limited postseason (there were no conference championship games until 1992) generally didn’t allow for it.
The first win over Florida in 1999 was viewed as a massive upset at the time, as the Gators were undefeated and ranked No. 3 nationally and Alabama had lost two weeks earlier to Louisiana Tech. Steve Spurrier’s Florida team had not lost in “The Swamp” since 1994, a span of 30 games.
But Alabama won 40-39 in overtime (the first overtime win in program history) thanks to a bizarre sequence at game’s end. Florida scored a touchdown on its overtime possession to go up 39-33, but Jeff Chandler missed the extra point. Shaun Alexander scored on a 25-yard run on the Crimson Tide’s first play of overtime, but kicker Chris Kemp also missed the extra point.
However, Florida was offsides on the play. Kemp was true on his second chance, and Alabama left Gainesville with a one-point win.
Alabama lost just once the rest of the regular season (to Tennessee in late October) to clinch the SEC West title, while Florida won its final five SEC games to take the East. That set up a rematch in the SEC championship game, scheduled for Dec. 4 in Atlanta.
Florida scored a touchdown less than two minutes into the game to go up 7-0, but Alabama dominated the rest of the way to win 34-7. A 77-yard touchdown run by Freddie Milons and a 38-yard interception return for a touchdown by defensive tackle Reggie Grimes highlighted a 19-point fourth quarter for Mike DuBose’s Crimson Tide.
The 1999 season remains the only one in Alabama history in which the Crimson Tide beat the same team twice.
Alabama running back Eddie Lacy (42) makes a gain in the first quarter agsinst LSU during the BCS Championship Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, La. (Press-Registe file photo by Mike Kittrell)MO
No. 2 Alabama and No. 1 LSU met in Tuscaloosa on Nov. 5, 2011, a contest dubbed the “Game of the Century.” It was the first (and still only) regular-season meeting between SEC teams who were undefeated and ranked 1-2 nationally.
LSU won 9-6 in a defensive struggle that went to overtime, with Drew Alleman’s 25-yard field goal giving the visitors the victory. Alabama kickers Cade Foster and Jeremy Shelley missed four field goals in the game, including a 52-yard attempt by Foster in overtime.
The game is also remembered for the sheer amount of talent on the field at a given time. Between them, Alabama and LSU had 45 players from the 2011 game eventually selected in the NFL draft, including 14 in the first round.
LSU finished the regular season undefeated (including an SEC championship victory over Georgia) to earn one of the two spots in the BCS National Championship Game. After second-ranked Oklahoma State lost to Iowa State in late November, Alabama took the other.
That set up a rematch at the Superdome in New Orleans on Jan. 9, 2012, and this meeting was no contest. Alabama won 21-0 on five field goals and a late Trent Richardson touchdown run, but totally smothered LSU defensively.
The Tigers totaled only five first downs and 92 offensive yards, failing to cross the 50-yard line until the fourth quarter. The Crimson Tide had its second national championship in three years, among six it would win during Nick Saban’s 17-year tenure.
Georgia wide receiver George Pickens
Georgia wide receiver George Pickens catches a pass for a 52-yard gain against Alabama during the CFP national championship game on Jan. 10, 2022, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.(AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Alabama and Georgia did not play during the regular season in 2021, but faced off twice in their final three games to decide the SEC and national championships. Unlike in its meetings with LSU 10 years earlier, Saban’s Crimson Tide won the first game but lost the second.
At Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Dec. 4, once-beaten Alabama spotted undefeated Georgia 10 early points before rolling to a 41-24 victory. Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young threw three touchdown passes — including strikes of 67 and 55 yards to Jameson Williams — and Jordan Battle ran an interception back for a touchdown as the Crimson Tide won its eighth SEC title under Saban.
Both teams made the four-team College Football Playoff, with top-seeded Alabama roughing up Cincinnati 27-6 in the Cotton Bowl semifinal game. Kirby Smart and Georgia stomped Michigan 34-11 in Orange Bowl to set up a national championship showdown in Indianapolis on Jan. 10.
Alabama had of course beaten Georgia for the national title 26-23 in overtime at the end of the 2017 season, but the Crimson Tide had no such magic this time. The Bulldogs won 33-18, outscoring Alabama 20-9 in the fourth quarter to clinch their first national championship in 41 years.
Alabama, shorthanded by the loss of John Metchie in the SEC championship game and Williams during the first half of the title game, actually led 18-13 with 10:14 left. But Georgia then scored three straight touchdowns, the first two on Stetson Bennett touchdown passes and the last on Kelee Ringo’s 79-yard pick-six with 54 seconds remaining.
Alabama will be out for its third “revenge” victory on Friday night at Oklahoma, with the 2025 Crimson Tide trying to join the 1892 and 2011 teams by winning in its second shot at an opponent. On the flip side, an Alabama loss would cast this team down with the 1893 squad as the only one to get “swept” in two games during the same season.
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