Alabama vs Texas: 1902
by kleph on Dec 10, 2009 8:00 AM CST
in History
28 comments
In the long history of the Alabama and Texas football programs, the two teams have met just eight times on the gridiron. Over the next two weeks Roll Bama Roll will look back on each of these contests. Today we revisit the inaugural game between the two on Nov. 18, 1902 in Tuscaloosa.
Alabama's "Thin Red Line"
At the time Alabama and Texas first met on the football field, both programs were a decade old; Alabama football kicked off on Nov. 11, 1892 while Texas fielded its first permanent team in 1893. The earliest traditions were already being set in place but many more were still far in the future.
The matchup wasn’t all that unusual at the time since both teams were then members of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association. The conference had been formed in 1894 to standardize player eligibility rules and host an annual track meet and basketball tournament. As football gained popularity, the conference ties applied to it as well.
For both teams, the early years of the programs were ones of change. No coach stayed longer than three seasons and one was more likely than not. And 1902 was no exception.
Texas’ new coach was J.B. Hart. The Cincinnati native had sterling Ivy League credentials having been a back at mighty Yale, but Texas fans were skeptical if for no other reason than his diminutive stature. He stood no taller than 5-5 and tipped the scales at 130.
His team was looking like a powerhouse by the time they arrived in Tuscaloosa, running up a 4-2-1 record including decisive wins over Oklahoma and Sewanee.
Alabama’s season began on a much more tumultuous note. The head coach resigned just prior to the start of the season sending university officials scrambling to come up with a replacement. They found two.
One was J.O. Heyworth, a Yale graduate who had come to Tuscaloosa with the Fuller Construction Company to build locks and dams on the Black Warrior River. The other was Eli Abbot, who had been a standout tackle on Alabama’s inaugural 1892 squad and served as its coach the three years after that. Both refused compensation for their effort.
The setbacks didn’t seem to be a problem for the first two games on the slate which Alabama won by a combined score of 138-0. But the competition might have been a bit… suspect. One of the teams was made up of high-school players from Birmingham.
When Alabama got to the meat of the schedule, things got tougher. They traveled to Birmingham’s West End Park for their third game and were pounded 23-0 by Auburn. And that’s all I’ve got to say about that.
When the Longhorns arrived in Tuscaloosa on Nov. 18, Alabama’s record stood at 3-2 and its season was on the brink. The news didn’t get better when they saw the Texas team – the Longhorns outweighed Alabama 10 lbs to the man.
The game turned into a slog. Neither team could get a consistent rhythm going in the first half. Texas' size made the difference allowing the Longhorns to pound out more yardage but scoring was at a premium.
Alabama was holding its own until the final drive of the half when they turned over the ball on downs. Texas ripped off a pair of long runs all the way back to the Alabama 10-yard-line. With just 13 seconds left in the half Texas ran a double pass to Johnson in the end zone. The extra point was no good and Texas had the lead at 5-0.
Starting the second half, Texas picked up where they left off when Alabama turned the ball over on downs. Three drive plays and an offsides penalty put them in the red zone and John A. Jackson scampered in for a score. Another missed extra point and the Longhorns were up 10-0.
Alabama played tough for the rest of the second half but the sheer size of the Texas line proved to be too much as they were only able to break through it on two occasions. One end run put Alabama running back H.H. Jones in the open field with a clear shot at the end zone, only to be stopped by the last Texan between him and the score.
Alabama went on upset Georgia Tech but lost to LSU in the final game of the season. The 4-4 record gave the program the most wins it had ever had for a single season, a testament to the work left to be done in the future.
For Texas, the month-long road trip would end in another victory against Tulane in New Orleans. But the season concluded on a bitter note with rival Texas A&M racking up its first-ever win against the Longhorns. The three-loss season was the most Texas had ever endured in a decade of playing football and Coach Hart was invited not to return for 1903.
In 1905 Texas left the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association and eventually joined the Southwest Conference thus ending the chance of the two teams meeting on the football field on a regular basis.
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Stellar job, kleph...
…and I’ve always loved the ‘Thin Red Line’ label…though I’m glad we didn’t try to apply it with Mount Cody in the lineup….
"High standards come from passion within...." --Coach Nick Saban
by NiceLittleSaturday on Dec 10, 2009 8:38 AM CST reply actions
actually, i've had a hard time nailing down exactly when that label applied to the team
there are a number of different “nicknames” for Alabama’s football team in the early years; “Cadets”, the “Crimson White”, or simply as “the varsity.” so determining what was in use for a specific year is almost impossible. i’m kind of writing around it on these early entries.
and the actual year “crimson tide” became the moniker is somewhat ambiguous as well. i’ve seen sources say as early as 1907 and as late as 1920. but that won’t be a problem since the next entry will be for the 1922 matchup.
Roll 'Bama Roll: The Champagne of 'Bama Blogs.
In 1902...
…I think they were still called ‘the varsity’. If memory serves, the ‘thin red line’ is a WWI reference, which would place it almost two decades later. I think ‘crimson tide’ came in the twenties. If I have time to do any reference work, I’ll get back to you. Thanks again for all your good work.
"High standards come from passion within...." --Coach Nick Saban
by NiceLittleSaturday on Dec 10, 2009 9:03 AM CST up reply actions
right....
but the varsity is likely an intra-squad distinction and wouldn’t really apply in terms of describing a game between two teams like this. in fact, this distinction between the “varisity” and freshmen squads became a contentious issue among the schools in the conference.
Roll 'Bama Roll: The Champagne of 'Bama Blogs.
I'm pretty sure the origins of "Thin Red Line,"
and “Crimson Tide” are both explained in Eli Gold’s book Crimson Nation, if you have that. I know “Crimson Tide” came from an article reporting on one of our games, but I’d have to find out when it was written. I’ll look it up later.
by crimsontsunami on Dec 10, 2009 11:48 AM CST up reply actions
i have it...
and it’s a great starting point but by no means do i consider it an authoritative source.
Roll 'Bama Roll: The Champagne of 'Bama Blogs.
Crimson Tide came from...
The 1907 Iron Bowl
"There's a lot of blood, sweat, and guts between dreams and success" - Coach Bryant
The most common explanation I've seen for Thin Red Line...
comes from Rudyard Kipling’s 1892 poem, “”http://www.online-literature.com/kipling/840/" >Tommy". And if this is the case, and it was common knowledge to reporters and sportswriters back then, this poem may have also had a hand in then being dubbed The Crimson Tide. Just a theory, though.
"There's a lot of blood, sweat, and guts between dreams and success" - Coach Bryant
Well, that didn't work...
That was supposed to be a hyperlink to the poem, Tommy
"There's a lot of blood, sweat, and guts between dreams and success" - Coach Bryant
right...
that’s the part most folks agree upon. the question is when was it applied to the alabama football team?
Roll 'Bama Roll: The Champagne of 'Bama Blogs.
The generally-accepted first use of “Thin Red Line” was when William Russell described in the London Times the 93rd Highlanders at the Battle of Balaclava in October 1854. This was then probably picked up by Rudyard Kipling for use in his poem ‘Tommy’:
Yes, makin’ mock o’ uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an’ they’re starvation cheap;
An’ hustlin’ drunken soldiers when they’re goin’ large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin’ in full kit.</em
Then it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, ’ow’s yer soul?”
But it’s “Thin red line of ’eroes” when the drums begin to roll,
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
O it’s “Thin red line of ’eroes” when the drums begin to roll.
The phrase was also used as the title of James Jones’ novel (and the 1998 movie based on it) telling the story of the United States capture of Guadalcanal during the Second World War.
Roll 'Bama Roll: The Champagne of 'Bama Blogs.
awesome history lesson...
I love it when you do these posts, Kleph.
The coaching scramble you mention is interesting to me. Funny how history repeats itself.
and I’m glad this: " the Longhorns outweighed Alabama 10 lbs to the man."
is no longer the case. Bless Mt. Cody and his fellow big boys on our lines.
by Queen of the Universe on Dec 10, 2009 9:04 AM CST reply actions
Good job, but I didn't know
that we played Auburn in ’02
But the competition might have been a bit… suspect. One of the teams was made up of high-school players from Birmingham.
"Hollywood made a movie of my life. The film had me proposing to my wife on the football field. I would never misuse a football field that way." -Crazy Legs Hirsch
by Stuck in the Plains on Dec 10, 2009 10:30 AM CST reply actions
you might want to peruse the graf following that one.
Roll 'Bama Roll: The Champagne of 'Bama Blogs.
Nooooooooo!!!!!
comprehension error!!!!!
"Hollywood made a movie of my life. The film had me proposing to my wife on the football field. I would never misuse a football field that way." -Crazy Legs Hirsch
by Stuck in the Plains on Dec 10, 2009 10:42 AM CST up reply actions
I figured someone would make a joke about...
…“I see things haven’t changed” with the scheduling high school teams thing.
Why?
Is this about Florida?
"High standards come from passion within...." --Coach Nick Saban
by NiceLittleSaturday on Dec 10, 2009 3:13 PM CST up reply actions
Great write up, Kleph...
No grammatical errors to report :)
But I do have one question:
You mentioned that one of Texas’ scores came on a double pass, which I take to mean a lateral with a forward pass. By no means have I ever spent a hellacious amount of tiime in my research, but what I have always found is that the NCAA was created in 1905 to regulate the game, and one of their first actions was to legalize the forward pass. So, again I could be completely wrong, but I’ve always been under the assumption that the first forward pass was not thrown until the 1906 season.
On the other hand, double pass could have mean two laterals. Any info on this?
"There's a lot of blood, sweat, and guts between dreams and success" - Coach Bryant
nope
i had to go with that wording since it was all the info i could find. i was hoping one of you guys would read it and fill us in.
similarly, it seems each touchdown was worth five points, not six. so anyone who can bring us all up to speed on the differences in scoring in that era, i’d love to know more about it.
Roll 'Bama Roll: The Champagne of 'Bama Blogs.
Thanks, I figured that may be the case...
since there’s not likely to be a play by play list available for this game.
"There's a lot of blood, sweat, and guts between dreams and success" - Coach Bryant
not likely at all...
but the term was used repeatedly and it seems alabama ran a variation of it as well (not surprising since both teams had coaches from Yale). i’ve made a mental note to keep an eye out for it in the future.
Roll 'Bama Roll: The Champagne of 'Bama Blogs.
History of Scoring...
(Year, TD, FG, PAT, Safety)
1883 – 2, 5, 4, 1
1884-1897 – 4, 5, 2, 2
1898-1903 – 5, 5, 1, 2
1904-1908 – 5, 4, 1, 2
1909-1911 – 5, 3, 1, 2
1912-Present – 6, 3, 1, 2
2 Point Conversion started in 1958.
"There's a lot of blood, sweat, and guts between dreams and success" - Coach Bryant
i’m going to assume that had variations across conferences
Roll 'Bama Roll: The Champagne of 'Bama Blogs.
Why were placekickers
godawful enough that FGs were worth so much, and every extra point in the Texas game was missed?
by billycthulhu on Dec 10, 2009 4:39 PM CST up reply actions
i kind of was wondering that myself.
missed extra points seem to be the rule not the exception. but i don’t know enough about the game back then to come up with a hypothesis as to why this is the case.
Roll 'Bama Roll: The Champagne of 'Bama Blogs.
Great write up
Man, you gave info that I’m ashamed to say, as an Historian, that I didn’t know. Thanks much!
RTR!
In Poland They Tell Auburn Jokes...
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