1. Death of an icon

When it comes to heartbreak a lot of people will point to a game or a moment in University of Alabama history, but any true Crimson Tide fan will tell you that nothing tops January 26, 1983, the day that Paul W. “Bear” Bryant died.

It occurred roughly a month after he coached his last game, the 1982 Liberty Bowl against Illinois, a 21-15 victory despite Alabama giving up 444 total yards.

“Many thanks to the staff for one heck of a job,” the retiring coach said in the crowded tent where his postgame interview was held in Memphis. “The players’ preparation and the coaches’ preparation, especially in this circus-type atmosphere, were exceptional. I am thankful to have won my final game. Whether the team likes it or not, they will always be remembered for winning my last game. I am proud they wanted to win this one for me.”

The day before he died Bryant complained of chest pains only to feel better the next morning and was making jokes with the hospital staff. While undergoing X-rays he had a massive heart attack at 1:24 p.m., and was declared dead at 2:30 p.m.

Bryant, the winningest coach in college football history at that point, was 69 years old.

The funeral was held in Tuscaloosa with the burial at Birmingham’s Elmwood Cemetery. Eight players served as pallbearers: Jeremiah Castille, Paul Ott Carruth, Paul Fields, Walter Lewis, Mike McQueen, Jerrill Sprinkle, Darryl White and Tommy Wilcox. Hundreds of thousands watched the procession, which went by Bryant-Denny Stadium and the university practice fields, along the streets and interstate to Birmingham, more than 50 miles away.

It’s still considered one of the South’s biggest funerals, rivaled by only Jefferson Davis, Elvis Presley and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“He literally coached himself to death,” former Ohio State coach Woody Hayes said at the funeral. “He was our greatest coach.”

Statistically, Bryant’s career legacy was a 323-85-17 record, 29 bowl appearances, 15 conference championships and six national championships. In the 1960s and 1970s, no school won more games than Alabama (193-32-5), and he’s considered the only college football coach since the Associated Press Poll was created in 1936 to successfully lead not one, but two dynasties.

It took Alabama until 1992 to win another national championship, and today, a good part of Tuscaloosa is named in Bryant’s honor.

2. The 1973 Sugar Bowl

Even though they were arguably been the two biggest powerhouses in college football, Alabama and Notre Dame never met on the field until the 1973 season, during which the Crimson Tide finished the regular season undefeated, scoring a school-record 477 points and averaging 480.7 yards per game.

It was a dream matchup in the Sugar Bowl, but at the time the United Press International coaches’ poll held its final voting at the end of the regular season (the Associated Press had already switched and since 1969 held its final rankings at the end of the postseason). So No. 1 Alabama had a claim in its back pocket before ever heading to New Orleans.

Nevertheless, the showdown lived up to the billing, with the lead changing hands six times and after Alabama missed a chance to put the game away in the third quarter featured a wild 90-second span with three turnovers at the beginning of the fourth quarter. The deciding points finally came with 4:26 left on the clock, when Notre Dame’s Bob Thomas, who had missed two attempts earlier in the game, kicked a 19-yard field goal.

After the Crimson Tide offense stalled on the subsequent possession, Greg Gantt’s 69-yard punt gave Notre Dame first down at its own 1-yard line, but Gantt also drew a penalty on the play that would have given Alabama fourth down and 5 yards to go. Bryant decided to decline the penalty, putting the game into the defense’s hands, only to see the Fighting Irish quarterback Tom Clements complete a key 35-yard third-down pass to tight end Robin Weber — who hadn’t practiced in two days because of a knee injury and hadn’t caught a pass all season — to secure the 24-23 victory.

“We were going to rush and try to block it,” Bryant was quoted as saying. “Two points would have won the game, or three on a field goal. When we had them backed up like that, if I had been a betting man, I would have bet anything we were going to win.

“I think Notre Dame is a great team, but I wouldn’t mind playing them again. In fact, I’d like that.”

Clements was named the game MVP, and Notre Dame was voted No. 1 in the final AP poll. Soon after the coaches’ poll announced that it too would hold its final voting after all bowl games had been played.

3. The Lost Ring

The two-time reigning national champions began the season atop the preseason polls, but the 1966 Crimson Tide was able to do something its immediate predecessors could not, finish undefeated.

Led by players like quarterback Kenny “Snake” Stabler, end Ray Perkins, tackle Cecil Dowdy, All-American defensive tackle Richard Cole, guard John Calvert, and back Dicky Thompson, Alabama blew out every opponent, save one, Tennessee, which it still came back to defeat in the Knoxville rain, 11-10.

The defense allowed just 37 points all season with five shutouts, including 21-0 against LSU and 31-0 over Auburn.

Even the Orange Bowl was a lopsided affair as Alabama played Nebraska in a rematch of the previous year’s decisive title game. With Stabler throwing a 45-yard pass to Perkins on the first play from scrimmage to set up the initial score, and defensive back Bobby Johns making three interceptions, the Crimson Tide crushed the Cornhuskers 34-7.

“The Alabama team toady is the best football team I’ve ever seen,” Nebraska coach Bob Devaney said afterward. “They’re No. 1 all right.”

Yet the Crimson Tide still didn’t finish that way.

Despite the perfect season, the Crimson Tide was ranked third behind Notre Dame and Michigan State heading into the postseason – with both the Associated Press and coaches holding the final voting before the bowl games were played.

Moreover, the Spartans and Fighting Irish had played to a 10-10 tie earlier in the season, in what was hyped as the “Game of the Century,” with Notre Dame, which was No. 1 at the time, running out of the clock instead of going for the road win.

Coach Paul W. “Bear” Bryant was quoted as saying, “At Alabama, we teach our men to win,” and the Crimson Tide felt it was robbed of its place in history as the first program to win three consecutive national titles (which still hasn’t been accomplished).

Numerous ranking services, including the National Championship Foundation and Clyde Berryman’s Quality Point Rating System had the 11-0 Tide No. 1, but Alabama didn’t count it.

Many believe that the state’s racial issues, which were the focal point of national debate, including Governor George Wallace’s “Stand in the Schoolhouse Door,” the Rosa Parks bus incident in Montgomery, and the Selma civil rights march, were a crucial factor in the snubbing.

4. Kick 6

To say the Crimson Tide was stunned would be the understatement of understatements.

The two-time reigning national champions were undefeated at rival Auburn and had mostly outplayed the Tigers only to see a late touchdown tie the game.

After a replay review of Alabama’s final play determined that there was still one second remaining on the clock when sophomore running back T.J. Yeldon stepped out of bounds, Nick Saban decided to go for a game-winning 57-yard field-goal attempt.

But when redshirt freshman Adam Griffith’s attempt landed short, Auburn’s Chris Davis fielded it barely in-bounds and raced 10-plus yards for one of the most incredible, if not improbable, touchdowns in college football history.

“I just can’t believe it happened,” senior linebacker C.J. Mosley said while echoing what everyone on the Alabama side felt after the 34-28 loss. “Nobody ever expected that.”

“Shock,” junior defensive end Jeoffrey Pagan said.

It was just the fourth time it had ever happened in NCAA history, never mind in a game between the No. 1- and 4-ranked teams with a Southeastern Conference division title on the line.

However, with Auburn (11-1 overall, 7-1 SEC) having the first tiebreaker, winning the head-to-head matchup, it advanced to the league’s Championship Game in Atlanta, and defeated Missouri for a spot in the BCS national title game.

“First time I’ve seen a game decided that way,” Saban said.

“For the seniors who we have on the on the team I feel really badly. We just didn’t make plays. We had every opportunity to win the game.”

Running back T.J. Yeldon finished with 144 rushing yards, wide Amari Copper had 178 receiving yards on six receptions including a record-setting 99-yard touchdown, and quarterback AJ McCarron competed 17 of 29 passes for 279 yards and three touchdowns but saw his Heisman Trophy chances vanish.

“It was emotional,” he said. “It is one of those crazy pays. It’s almost like a video game.”

“Quiet,” wide receiver Kevin Norwood described the locker room after witnessing the equivalent of a full-court buzzer-beater in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, complete with fans rushing the field.

Instead of playing for another crystal football Alabama’s consolation prize was the Sugar Bowl, where the flat Crimson Tide lost to Oklahoma.

“That’s the main reason I came back,” linebacker C.J. Mosley said about trying to three-peat.

5. Pat Trammell

There are too many former Alabama players who died too young and could have made this list (including Derrick Thomas), but quarterback Pat Trammell was truly special.

As a senior he was both a second-team All-American as well as an academic All-American while becoming the first Crimson Tide player to pass for more than 1,000 yards in a season, all while having just two attempts intercepted.

Alabama went 11-0, destroying opponents 297-25 while winning Paul W. “Bear” Bryant his first national championship.

“They play like it is a sin to give up a point,” Bryant commented about his defense, which was led by linebacker Lee Roy Jordan.

Alabama began the season with a 32-6 victory at Georgia, and North Carolina State, led by quarterback Roman Gabriel, managed to score the most points, seven. After Tennessee connected on a field goal in a 34-3 loss the Crimson Tide didn’t yield another point during its five final games of the regular season, recording shutouts against Houston, Mississippi State, Richmond, Georgia Tech and Auburn.

“I don’t know if that’s a great team, but they most certainly were great against us,” Auburn coach Shug Jordan said after a 34-0 loss. “I don’t guess anybody has ever hit us that hard.”

Meanwhile, Trammell was named the Southeastern Conference’s most valuable player and finished fifth in voting for the Heisman Trophy.

“He can’t run, he can’t pass, and he can’t kick,” Bryant once said about him. “All he can do is beat you.”

Trammell went back to school and earned his Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) degree at Alabama, only to be diagnosed with testicular cancer. After the 1968 Iron Bowl, a 24-16 victory for the Tide, players presented Trammell with the game ball. He died a week later, on December 10, at the age of 28.

Bryant called it the saddest day of his life.

6. The comeback

Midway through the second quarter against Auburn in 2010, Alabama was up by 24 points and had outgained the Tigers in yards 314-2. However, things started to turn the other way with running back Mark Ingram, who had lost one fumble during his career, stumbling at the end of a 41-yard reception and having the ball knocked loose by Antoine Carter.

Then safety Mark Barron got beat on a 36-yard touchdown catch by Emory Blake, during which he tore a pectoral muscle. On the second snap of the second half Barron couldn’t lift his arm up for a possible interception as Cam Newton connected with Terrell Zachery for a 70-yard touchdown.

Auburn went on to complete the comeback, 28-27, and went on to win the national championship.

“I thought the difference in the game was the big plays,” Nick Saban said. “The big play on the second play of the second half, we had it defended and misplayed the ball. Explosive plays are something they do extremely well.”

7. Tyrone Prothro’s injury

On October 1, 2005, Alabama was near the end of its biggest victory under Coach Mike Shula, when wide receiver Tyrone Prothro reached up for a pass to put the No. 5 Florida Gators away only to be struck down by a freak injury.

Specifically, on fourth-and-5 at the Florida 33 and nine minutes remaining, quarterback Brodie Croyle looked to Prothro, who had the amazing circus-like incredible catch against Southern Miss when he reached around a defender with both arms to snare a long pass, and scored on Alabama’s first offensive snap against the Gators on an 87-yard bomb at Bryant-Denny Stadium.

However, this time junior cornerback Demetrice Webb came down on his left leg, which shattered just above Prothro’s ankle support. He sustained two broken bones, the skin had been penetrated, and his foot was dangling. Wide receiver Keith Brown was the first person there and quickly looked away, calling for the medical staff.

“It was bad,” wide receiver DJ Hall said. “It was the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Prothro spent months in the hospital undergoing numerous surgeries and endured an infection. The 31-3 victory was the last for one of Alabama’s most electric players.

8. “Punt ’Bama Punt”

After the 1971 Iron Bowl was the only time that Alabama faced its archrival with both teams undefeated (a 31-7 victory for the Crimson Tide), it again had a perfect record when it faced Auburn the subsequent year.

Ranked second, Alabama was making making another run at the national championship, but at 8-1 Auburn was No. 9, and looking to get even for the Crimson Tide ruining the best shot quarterback Pat Sullivan and wide receiver Terry Beasley had at a title.

Alabama dominated early and built up a 16-3 lead when Auburn’s Bill Newton burst into the backfield and blocked a punt, which bounced into the hands of David Langner, who returned it for a 25-yard touchdown.

The Crimson Tide tried to shake off the touchdown, but when the subsequent drive stalled, and Alabama dropped back to punt, the exact same thing happened. Newton, who became an instant legend in the state, blocked the kick, which Langner recovered and returned for a touchdown, this time 20 yards.

The two plays were the difference in the game, and Auburn won 17-16 to kill the Crimson Tide’s title hopes. Alabama went on to the Cotton Bowl, where it lost to Texas, 17-13. Shug Jordan’s favorite team, “The Amazin’s” finished 10-1 and No. 5 in the final AP poll, but Alabama won the next nine meetings, by a combined score of 287-110, with two shutouts.

9. Namath stopped short

Although no one quite knew it yet Alabama was in the midst of a dynasty in the early 1960s, with Paul W. “Bear” Bryant winning his first national championship in 1961 and coming close the two subsequent years.

It was ranked sixth in the 1964 preseason Associated Press Poll, and despite quarterback Joe Namath sustaining a knee injury against North Carolina State that would limit him for the rest of the fall Alabama ran the table during the regular season.

Combined with Notre Dame’s loss to Southern California the Crimson Tide vaulted to No. 1 in the final AP poll (voted before the postseason), and received an invitation to face Texas in the first Orange Bowl played at night. Namath came off the bench to complete 18 of 37 passes for 255 yards and two touchdowns.

However, in the closing seconds, Alabama was down 21-17 and had the ball inches away from the goal line. The call was for a quarterback sneak behind center Gaylon McCollough, who with the snap plowed into the end zone. One official signaled touchdown, but another overruled.

Namath said afterward: “I’ll go to my grave knowing I scored.”

10. Bo over the Top

The 1980 season was Pay Dye’s first coaching Auburn and when the former Alabama assistant was introduced at a press conference he was asked how long it would take to beat the Crimson Tide.

“Sixty minutes,” he said.

Auburn lost the next meeting, 28-17, when his former mentor, Paul W. “Bear” Bryant was going for record-breaking win No. 315, but proved it in 1982. Although Alabama had a lead heading into the fourth quarter Auburn drove 66 yards to score the game-winning touchdown, when future Heisman Trophy winner Bo Jackson reached the end zone for a 23-22 victory.

Although the playbook listed it as “43-over-the-top,” it’s now known as “Bo over the top.”

It turned out to be Bryant’s final Iron Bowl.