1971 Alabama Crimson Tide football team

1971 Alabama Crimson Tide football
SEC champion
Orange Bowl, L 6–38 vs. Nebraska
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 2
AP	No. 4
1971 record	11–1 (7–0 SEC)
Head coach	Bear Bryant (14th year)
Captain	Johnny Musso
Captain	Robin Parkhouse
Home stadium	Denny Stadium Legion Field
Seasons ← 1970 1972 →

1971 SEC football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
#4 Alabama $	7	–	0	–	0			11	–	1	–	0
#7 Georgia	5	–	1	–	0			11	–	1	–	0
#12 Auburn	5	–	1	–	0			9	–	2	–	0
#15 Ole Miss	4	–	2	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
#9 Tennessee	4	–	2	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
#11 LSU	3	–	2	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
Vanderbilt	1	–	5	–	0			4	–	6	–	1
Florida	1	–	6	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
Kentucky	1	–	6	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
Mississippi State	1	–	7	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

1 2 3 4 Total • #16 Alabama 10 7 0 0 17 #5 USC 0 10 0 0 10 Date: September 10 Location: Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA Game attendance: 67,781 Sources:

1 2 3 4 Total Southern Miss 0 0 0 6 6 • #9 Alabama 7 14 14 7 42 Date: September 18 Location: Denny Stadium Tuscaloosa, AL Game attendance: 52,701 Sources:

1 2 3 4 Total • #8 Alabama 10 14 7 7 38 Florida 0 0 0 0 0 Date: September 25 Location: Florida Field Gainesville, FL Game attendance: 61,832 Sources:

1 2 3 4 Total Ole Miss 0 6 0 0 6 • #7 Alabama 3 10 14 13 40 Date: October 2 Location: Legion Field Birmingham, AL Game attendance: 72,871 Sources:

1 2 3 4 Total • #6 Alabama 7 6 15 14 42 Vanderbilt 0 0 0 0 0 Date: October 9 Location: Dudley Field Nashville, TN Game attendance: 34,000 Sources:

Third Saturday in October

1 2 3 4 Total #14 Tennessee 7 0 0 8 15 • #4 Alabama 6 9 7 10 32 Date: October 16 Location: Legion Field Birmingham, AL Game attendance: 73,828 Sources:

1 2 3 4 Total Houston 0 7 7 6 20 • #4 Alabama 7 13 6 8 34 Date: October 23 Location: Denny Stadium Tuscaloosa, AL Game attendance: 56,939 Sources:

1 2 3 4 Total • #4 Alabama 3 14 0 24 41 Mississippi State 0 3 7 0 10 Date: October 30 Location: Memorial Stadium Jackson, MS Game attendance: 40,500 Sources:

The 1971 Alabama Crimson Tide football team (variously "Alabama", "UA" or "Bama") represented the University of Alabama in the 1971 college football season. It was the Crimson Tide's 77th overall and 38th season as a member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The team was led by head coach Bear Bryant, in his 14th year, and played their home games at Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa and Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama. They finished season with eleven wins and one loss (11–1 overall, 7–0 in the SEC), as SEC champions and with a loss to Nebraska in the Orange Bowl.

The 1971 squad was notable for a pair of firsts in Alabama football history. This was the first team that African Americans contributed as members of the Alabama varsity squad, with John Mitchell being the first to actually see playing time. 1971 also marked the first season the Crimson Tide utilized the wishbone offense that Alabama became noted for throughout the remainder of Bryant's tenure as head coach at Alabama.

Alabama opened the season with an upset victory at USC. This was the first game that the wishbone was utilized by the Crimson Tide offense, and their victory was attributed in part to surprising the Trojans with its introduction. They then won their next four games over Southern Miss, Florida, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt and set up a top 20 match-up against Tennessee. In their rival game, the Crimson Tide ended a four-game losing streak to the Vols with their 32–15 victory. After a hard-fought win over Houston and victory over Mississippi State at Jackson, Alabama defeated LSU for their third win over a ranked team on the season.

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