EDITOR’S NOTE: Every day until Aug. 29, Creg Stephenson is counting down significant numbers in Alabama football history, both in the lead-up to the 2025 football season and in commemoration of the Crimson Tide’s first national championship 100 years ago. The number could be attached to a year, a uniform number or even a football-specific statistic. We hope you enjoy.
Of all the Alabama national championship teams in the modern era, 1992 might have been the most unexpected.
It had been 13 years since the Crimson Tide last finished No. 1 in the country, and Gene Stallings’ team came into that season with relatively modest expectations despite an 11-1 final record in 1991. Alabama was ranked No. 9 in both the Associated Press and USA Today/CNN coaches’ preseason polls in 1992, easily its lowest rankings in any national championship season in the post-World War II era.
The 1964 and 1973 Alabama national championship teams were both No. 6 in the preseason. Every other Crimson Tide title team since 1961 began the season in the Top 5.
But by season’s end in 1992, Alabama was the last undefeated team standing. The Crimson Tide went 13-0, winning the inaugural SEC championship game and pummeling heavily favored Miami 34-13 in a 1 vs. 2 matchup in the Sugar Bowl.
As it has in so many Alabama championship seasons, defense carried the day in 1992. Led by All-America defensive ends Eric Curry and John Copeland (AKA, “The Bookends”) and a star-laden secondary featuring cornerback Antonio Langham and cornerback/safety George Teague, the Crimson Tide virtually suffocated opposing offenses that season.
Alabama led the SEC and finished near the top nationally in all four major statistical defensive categories: points allowed per game (9.08), rushing yards allowed per game (55.0), passing yards allowed per game (139.2) and total yards allowed per game (194.2). The Crimson Tide posted three shutouts and didn’t allow an opposing team to score multiple touchdowns in a game until mid-November.
“I still think we’ll go down as the best defense to ever play college football,” Alabama linebacker Michael Rogers told AL.com in 2017. “I’ve seen some great ones over there at Alabama, but I still think we’re the best ever.”
Alabama’s offense was less-stacked, though the team returned a solid corps of running backs and five experienced offensive linemen. In addition, sophomore Jay Barker had taken over at quarterback late in the 1991 season and led the Crimson Tide to several key victories.
Alabama’s most-dynamic offensive playmaker, however, was wide receiver/kick returner David Palmer. Trouble is, Palmer was arrested on a DUI charge over the summer, and again on the night after the Crimson Tide’s season-opening victory over Vanderbilt.
Stallings suspended Palmer indefinitely, and it wasn’t entirely clear when or if he’d be allowed back. Ultimately, Palmer sat out three games — the opener, plus wins over Southern Miss and Arkansas — before returning in Week 4 vs. Louisiana Tech, and returning a punt for the only touchdown in a 13-0 Crimson Tide victory.
“He grew up in a tough environment,” Stallings said of the decision to allow Palmer to return. “His mother was doing the best she could to raise him and several other kids. Best I remember, he did not have a father at that time. He needed to be in a good environment. And the football team was a good environment for him. I felt like he needed to be in that environment.”
Its top playmaker back in the fold, Alabama stayed on a roll and stayed undefeated. The Crimson Tide moved into the Top 5 in early October, then up to No. 3 entering November.
Previously unbeaten Washington lost to Arizona on Nov. 7, allowing Alabama to slide up to No. 2 behind Miami. There the Crimson Tide stayed, finishing off an 11-0 regular season with a 17-0 shut out of Auburn at Legion Field on Thanksgiving Day.
The 1992 season was the first of the expanded SEC, with Arkansas and South Carolina joining the fold to create a 12-team, two-division league. SEC commissioner Roy Kramer had instituted the first conference championship game at the major-college level, with West champion Alabama pair up against East champion Florida in Birmingham on the first Saturday in December.
It was a precarious spot for Alabama, which could miss out on a national title shot if it lost to Florida (which had been the last team to beat the Crimson Tide, early in the 1991 season). At it happened, however, the Crimson Tide won 28-21 on a 28-yard interception return for a touchdown by Antonio Langham in the closing minutes.
The victory moved Alabama on to the Sugar Bowl to face Miami, which had won 29 straight games. But the Crimson Tide’s defense shut down the powerful Hurricanes’ offense — highlighted by an all-time hustle play from Teague to chase down receiver Lamar Thomas and take the ball away in the third quarter — and the Derrick Lassic-fueled running game controlled the clock, resulting in a shocking and thoroughly dominant upset victory to secure the program’s 12th national championship.
“I felt like, in order to be accepted at the University of Alabama, you have to win the national championship, you have to beat Auburn and you have to beat Tennessee,” Stallings said. “And we did those things. I felt like I would be accepted after that.”
On BetMGM, Alabama is +1500 to win the National Championship. Our complete guide to Alabama’s championship odds provides an in-depth look at their chances to win it all.
Coming Saturday: Our countdown to kickoff continues with No. 91, a former Alabama star who has transcended the game