Alabama's first bowl game was in 1926, when
Wallace Wade led them to the first of three Rose Bowls during his tenure and defeated
Washington20–19.[5] Taking over for Wade following the 1930 season, between 1931 and 1946
Frank Thomas led Alabama to six bowl appearances including three Rose, and one trip each to the Cotton, Orange and Sugar Bowls.[6] After Thomas,
Harold Drew led Alabama to the Sugar, Orange and Cotton Bowls between 1947 and 1954.[7] After a five-year bowl absence, Alabama made the first of 24 consecutive bowl appearances under
Paul "Bear" Bryant in the 1959
Liberty Bowl.[8] From 1959 to 1982, Bryant led the Crimson Tide to eight Sugar, five Orange, four Cotton, four Liberty, two
Bluebonnet and one
Gator Bowls.[8]
After Bryant retired,
Ray Perkins extended Alabama's consecutive bowl game streak to 25 years with a victory in the 1983
Sun Bowl.[9] However, the streak ended when the
1984 team finished the season with a record of five wins and six losses and failed to qualify for a bowl for the first time in 26 years.[10] The bowl absence lasted only one season as Perkins led the Crimson Tide to wins in both the
Aloha and Sun Bowls before he resigned as head coach following the
1986 season.[11]Bill Curry continued the bowl tradition and led the Crimson Tide to
Hall of Fame, Sun and Sugar Bowl appearances in his three seasons as head coach.[12] After Curry,
Gene Stallings took Alabama to the
Fiesta,
Blockbuster, Gator,
Citrus and Outback Bowls.[13] Stallings also led the Crimson Tide to victory in the first
Bowl Coalition national championship game with a 34–13 victory over
Miami in the Sugar Bowl.[14][15] In August 1995, as part of the penalty imposed by the NCAA for rules violations, Alabama was ruled ineligible to participate in the
1995 bowl season.[16]
Following the retirement of Stallings,
Mike DuBose was hired as head coach.[17] After failing to qualify for a bowl game in
1997, DuBose led the Crimson Tide to the inaugural
Music City Bowl and Alabama's first BCS bowl berth in the Orange Bowl.[3][18] After again failing to qualify for a bowl in
2000, DuBose was fired and
Dennis Franchione was hired as head coach.[19] In his first season, Franchione led Alabama to the
Independence Bowl.[18] In February 2002, the NCAA found Alabama violated multiple rules, and as part of its penalty a two-year bowl ban was imposed to include both the
2002 and
2003 seasons.[20] Eligible again to compete in bowl games,
Mike Shula led Alabama to the Music City Bowl and a victory in the Cotton Bowl.[18] However, in 2009, Alabama was again found to have violated NCAA rules between 2005 and 2007 and as part of their penalty, the 2006 Cotton Bowl Classic victory was officially vacated.[21] In the week following the 2006
loss to Auburn, Shula was fired and
Joe Kines served as interim head coach for the Independence Bowl loss.[18][22]
In January 2007,
Nick Saban was hired as head coach, and has led the Crimson Tide to 15 bowl appearances in his twelve seasons at Alabama.[23] After defeating
Colorado in the Independence Bowl, Saban led Alabama to their second BCS bowl against
Utah in the Sugar Bowl.[3][23] In 2009, Saban led the Crimson Tide to the BCS National Championship Game, and defeated
Texas 37–21 to clinch the program's first national title of the BCS era.[3][23] A year after Alabama defeated
Michigan State in the
2011 Capital One Bowl, the Crimson Tide defeated
LSU in the
BCS National Championship Game to clinch the program's second national title of the BCS era.[24][25] The following season, the Crimson Tide won their second consecutive
BCS National Championship Game by a final score of 42–14 over
Notre Dame.[26] In their latest bowl appearance, Alabama defeated
Ohio State in the
2021 College Football Playoff National Championship.[27] The win brings Alabama's overall bowl record to 44 wins, 26 losses, and 3 ties, placing the Crimson Tide in first place among all FBS schools for both bowl appearances and victories.[1]
^Results are sortable first by whether the result was an Alabama win, loss or tie and then second by the
margin of victory.
^Links to the season article for the Alabama team that competed in the bowl for that year.
^Links to the season article for the opponent that Alabama competed against in the bowl for that year when available or to their general page when unavailable.
^This stadium was built for the 1926
Sesquicentennial Exposition and originally known as Sesquicentennial Stadium. After the end of the exposition, it was renamed Philadelphia Municipal Stadium, retaining that name until 1964. It was renamed John F. Kennedy Stadium in the wake of
Kennedy's assassination, and retained that name until its demolition in 1992.
^
abOriginally called Memphis Memorial Stadium, in 1976 it was renamed Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.[29]
^
abThe
Outback Bowl was previously known as the Hall of Fame Bowl (1986–1995).[30]
^The
Camping World Bowl was at the time known as the Blockbuster Bowl (1990–1993).
^
abThe
Citrus Bowl has been known as: the Tangerine Bowl (1947–1982), Florida Citrus Bowl (1983–1993), CompUSA Florida Citrus Bowl (1994–1999), OurHouse.com Florida Citrus Bowl (2000), Capital One Florida Citrus Bowl (2001–2002), Capital One Bowl (2003–2014), Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl (2015–2017), Citrus Bowl presented by Overton's (2018), and VRBO Citrus Bowl (2019–present).[30]
^
abThe Citrus Bowl stadium has been known as Camping World Stadium since 2016.[31]
^
abcOriginally called Joe Robbie Stadium, in 1996 it was renamed Pro Player Stadium after
naming rights were sold, and it retained the Pro Player moniker through the 2005 season. It was later known as Sun Life Stadium, and is now known as Hard Rock Stadium.[32][33][34]
^This stadium opened in 1999 as Adelphia Coliseum. In 2002, after Adelphia missed a required payment on its naming rights contract and later filed for bankruptcy, the contract was terminated and the stadium became The Coliseum. It was renamed LP Field in 2006 and Nissan Stadium in 2015.[35][36]
^In March 2009, the NCAA ruled that Alabama had to vacate its 2006 Cotton Bowl Classic victory due to sanctions stemming from textbook-related infractions discovered during the 2007 season. After an unsuccessful appeal to the NCAA Division I Infractions Appeals Committee, the 2006 Cotton Bowl Classic victory was officially vacated. As the penalty to vacate the victory did not result in a loss (or forfeiture) of the contest or award a victory to the opponent,
Texas Tech still counts the game as a loss in its overall records.[21]
^Mike Shula coached the entire 2006 regular season with Joe Kines serving as the interim head coach for the bowl game.
^
abcOn October 3, 2011, it was announced that
Mercedes-Benz purchased
naming rights to the Superdome effective October 23, 2011. From 1976 through 2011 the facility was called the Louisiana Superdome.[37]
^This stadium opened in 2008 as Cardinals Stadium, but shortly thereafter was renamed University of Phoenix Stadium, retaining that name until 2018. It is now known as State Farm Stadium.[38]
References
General
National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
"Bowl/All-Star Game Records"(PDF). 2011 NCAA Division I Football Records. NCAA.org. Retrieved August 30, 2011.
UA Athletics Media Relations Office.
"Bowl Bound"(PDF). 2010 Alabama Football Media Guide. Archived from
the original(PDF) on May 23, 2011. Retrieved January 29, 2011.