After not fielding a team for the 1918 season due to the effects of World War I, in May 1919, Xen C. Scott was hired to serve as head coach of the Crimson Tide.
After a pair of blowout victories over both Howard and the Marion, Alabama defeated Sewanee, 40–0, in what was the most anticipated game of the season at Rickwood Field.
After the loss, the Crimson Tide rebounded with wins at LSU and Georgia and at Birmingham over Mississippi A&M on Thanksgiving to close the season.
After the departure of Thomas Kelley as head coach of the Crimson Tide following their 1917 season, then athletic director B. L. Noojin was chosen as his successor.
[3] Scott had previously served as head coach of the Cleveland Naval Reserve team that upset the national champion Pittsburgh Panthers to close their 1918 season.
[3] Scott had also previously served as head coach for both Western Reserve University (1910) and the Case Institute of Technology (1911–1913) in Cleveland.
[7] At that time, the Crimson Tide were scheduled to open the season against Kentucky in Tuscaloosa and play Vanderbilt at Dudley Field.
[21][26] Touchdowns in the game were scored twice each by Mullie Lenoir] and Riggs Stephenson and one apiece by Isaac M. Boone, Tram Sessions and Joe Sewell.
[21][12] Touchdowns in the game were scored three times by J. H. Emmett, twice each by Charles Bartlett and Mullie Lenoir, and one apiece by Walter E. Hovater and Morgan.
[32] A week after their victory over Sewanee, Alabama traveled to Nashville where they were defeated by the Vanderbilt Commodores 16–12 on a muddy field for their only loss of the season.
Early in the second quarter, Riggs Stephenson fumbled the ball that was recovered by Tommy Zerfoss and returned 35-yards for a 7–0 Vanderbilt lead.
[33] Alabama rallied in the second half with a pair of two-yards Stephenson touchdown runs in the third and fourth quarter that made the score 13–12.
[21][36] After a scoreless first half that saw two drives end inside the Tigers ten-yard line due to fumbles, Alabama took a 3–0 lead in the third quarter on a 20-yard Joe Sewell field goal.
[36] The Crimson Tide sealed the win with three touchdowns in the fourth quarter scored on short runs by Sewell, Mullie Lenoir and Riggs Stephenson.
[42] They then made the final score 14–6 in the fourth after T. L. Brown blocked an A&M punt that was recovered by Ike Rogers in the endzone for a touchdown.