How close Bear Bryant came to 10 national titles
Most people are aware that Bear Bryant has more national titles than any coach in college football with six. Bear won all six of his national titles at Alabama in 1961, 1964, 1965, 1973, 1978 and 1979. What many people do not realize is how close Bear Bryant was to four more national titles. In his 25 years at Alabama, Bear also won the SEC championship 13 times.
1966 is a year that many still debate today as Alabama was the defending two time national champion and completed an undefeated season in 1966. The Crimson Tide started the season ranked #1 in the nation but had a bye for the first week. After the first week Alabama found themselves at #3 as Michigan State and UCLA jumped Alabama with their first week victories. Alabama would find themselves jockeying between #3 and #4 for most of the year despite beating everyone soundly with the exception of Tennessee in which Alabama had to mount a furious fourth quarter comeback and won 11-10. Notre Dame who was ranked #6 in the polls quickly moved up to #1 despite none of the teams losing in front of them. Many will argue that pollsters was aiming for a #1 vs #2 game between Notre Dame and Michigan State late in November. Despite Alabama shutting out their last four opponents in the regular season they could not advance past #3 in the polls. Alabama would go on and destroy #6 Nebraska 34-7 in the Sugar Bowl while Michigan State and Notre Dame tied 10-10 and neither team played in a bowl game afterwards. The AP and UPI Poll voted Notre Dame as national champions while Michigan State finished second. Alabama finished 3rd in both polls.
Many people forget that Alabama had what was basically a national championship game against Nebraska in 1971. Second ranked Alabama would face off against #1 Nebraska led by future Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Rodgers. The Cornhuskers had already been awarded the UPI national championship at the conclusion of the regular season but the AP national championship was up for grabs for the winner of the Orange Bowl. Unfortunately Bears boys ran up against one of the best football teams of all time in Nebraska. Led by Johnny Rodgers, the Cornhuskers would cruise to a 38-6 victory over Alabama. Bear would fall one game short of a national title in 1971.
In 1974 second ranked Alabama faced #9 Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl. Number one ranked Oklahoma was on probation and could not participate in a bowl game so Alabama had a great chance to jump Oklahoma to number one in the AP Poll if they could defeat the Fighting Irish. Oklahoma was not recognized in the UPI Poll since they were on probation. The UPI Poll that year was awarding their national championship at the conclusion of the bowl games same as the AP Poll so an Alabama victory would almost guarantee Alabama the UPI national title. In the game itself, Alabama would out gain Notre Dame with 285 yards compared to just 204 for the Irish. But critical mistakes would haunt the Crimson Tide. Willie Shelby fumbled a punt in the first quarter and the Irish recovered on the Alabama 16 yard line. They were able to capitalize for a touchdown to make the score 7-0 in favor of the Irish. In the second quarter an Alabama penalty kept an Irish drive alive that resulted in the only long drive for a touchdown and extended Notre Dame's lead to 13-0 after a failed extra point. Alabama would chip away at the lead and Alabama would have one last chance in the fourth quarter trailing 13-11. Alabama had the ball in Notre Dame territory with just over a minute to go only needing a field goal to win but the Irish picked off a Richard Todd pass to seal the victory and deny Alabama the national title.
In 1977 chaos erupted on New Years Day. Entering the bowl season the top five consisted of #1 Texas #2 Oklahoma #3 Alabama #4 Michigan and #5 Notre Dame. Alabama crushed #8 Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl 35-6 but needed help to win the national title. Things fell Alabama's way. Number one Texas imploded against #5 Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl turning the ball over five times and getting whipped 38-10 so number one was out of the way. Number two Oklahoma was whipped by #6 Arkansas 31-6 in the Orange Bowl so #2 was out of the way. Number four Michigan was beaten by Washington in the Rose Bowl so everything looked good for Alabama to be voted as national champions. But the voters decided to leap frog Notre Dame over Alabama and the Fighting Irish took the national title in both major polls leaving Alabama to finish the year at #2 in both polls.
Bear Bryant was so close to as many as 10 national championships as the head coach of Alabama. The Bear could very easily have eight national titles as the Tide went undefeated but unnoticed in 1966 and voters decided that Texas imploding against the Irish in 1977 Cotton Bowl was more impressive than Alabama's total dominance of #8 Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl and allowed to Irish to vault from #5 to #1 over Alabama. Bear's other two chances came down to losing to one of the greatest football teams of all time, the 1971 Nebraska Cornhuskers in the Orange Bowl and a painful loss in 1974 to Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl in a game where Alabama out played the Irish but made some critical mistakes to cost them the national title. We remember the six national titles that Bear Bryant has, but we often forget how close he was to four more national titles.
