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.
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.
The Crimson Tide next defeated Miami on homecoming and set up a match-up between undefeated teams for the first time in the history of the Iron Bowl to close the regular season.
[3][4][5][6] While the Crimson Tide finally fielded Black Players, they lost the National Championship to a well Integrated University of Nebraska team.
[11] During the second summer session at the University, both Moore and Sharpe began to work with players on the offensive change, and in August Royal and Bellard traveled to Tuscaloosa and led a coaching clinic for the Alabama staff on the wishbone.
[11] Alabama later opened the season with an upset victory over USC that was credited to the surprise switch to the wishbone that caught the Trojans off-guard.
[10][11] [12] After the NCAA enacted a rule that allowed its member institutions to schedule an eleventh regular season game, in January 1970 the Crimson Tide agreed to a home-and-home series with the University of Southern California (USC).
[13][14][16] The Crimson Tide took a 10–0 lead in the first quarter behind a 13-yard Johnny Musso touchdown run and a 37-yard Bill Davis field goal.
[16][18][19] Johnny Musso gave the Crimson Tide a 14–0 lead with touchdown runs of one-yard in the first and 16-yards in the second quarter.
[18][19] The Crimson Tide extended their lead further to 35–0 with third quarter touchdowns scored on a four-yard Joe LaBue run and a 25-yard Benny Rippetoe pass to William Wood.
[24] Against the Gators, Johnny Musso scored four rushing touchdowns en route to a 38–0 shutout at Florida Field.
[22][23] Alabama then closed the game with an 11-yard Billy Sexton touchdown pass to Dexter Wood that made the final score 38–0.
[26][27] Alabama responded with an 11-yard Terry Davis touchdown pass to David Bailey that made the halftime score 13–6.
[26][27] The Crimson Tide then closed the game with touchdown runs of 15-yards by Steve Bisceglia and 14-yards by Butch Hobson that made the final score 40–6.
Ellis Beck scored on a one-yard run and Terry Davis threw a nine-yard touchdown pass to Jim Simmons in the third quarter.
[37] Against the Volunteers, Alabama ended a four-game losing streak that dated back to their 1967 season with this 32–15 in their annual rivalry game.
However, the Crimson Tide closed the game with a 39-yard Bill Davis field goal and five-yard Johnny Musso touchdown run for the 32–15 victory.
[40][41] The Crimson Tide responded with a pair of Terry Davis touchdown passes to David Bailey from 10 and 25-yards that gave Alabama a 20–7 halftime lead.
[46] At Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium, the visiting Crimson Tide did not allow an offensive touchdown and defeated the Bulldogs 41–10.
[16][48][49] Bill Davis scored all of the first half points with his field goals of 29 and 38-yards that gave Alabama a 6–0 halftime lead.
[16][52][53] Mike Burke scored the only Miami points with his 42-yard field goal in the first and gave the Hurricanes their only lead at 3–0.
[57] In what was the first Alabama–Auburn game that featured two undefeated teams, the Crimson Tide defeated their rival 31–7 and captured the outright SEC championship for the 1971 season.
Auburn responded with a 31-yard Harry Unger touchdown pass to Terry Beasley in the second quarter that made the halftime score 14–7.
After Bill Davis connected on a 41-yard field goal, Johnny Musso scored on touchdown runs of 12 and six-yards in the victory.
[59][60] However, the Cornhuskers closed the game with a 21-yard Rich Sanger field goal in the third and a one-yard Van Brownson touchdown run in the fourth that made the final score 38–6.
[63][64] The Alabama freshmen squad was led by coach Clem Gryska for the 1971 season and finished with a record of four wins and one loss (4–1).
[66] The Baby Tide extended their lead to 21–13 after Bob Holmes scored on a three-yard run on the first drive of the third quarter.
[66] In their only home game of the season, the Baby Tide ran for 359 yards and six touchdowns en route to a 41–7 win over Vanderbilt on a Friday afternoon.
[69] The Vols tied the game 7–7 early in the second quarter on a 35-yard Condredge Holloway touchdown pass to John Yarbrough.
[65] Freshman "Baby Tide" roster: Danny Ridgeway/QB/#10, Mark Prudhomme/QB/#11, Duffy Boles/HB/#20, Ricky Davis/HB/#21, Mike Washington/HB/#24, James Taylor/FLK/#25, Bob Holmes/FB/#30, Randy Billingsley/HB/#31, Steve Ford/HB/#40, Mike Riley/HB/#41, Ralph Stokes/HB/#42, Gary Yelvington/HB/#43, Drew Cook/HB/#44, Ray Maxwell/LB/#45, Dwight Brown/LB/#46, Dennis Durrance/LB/#48, Mike Dubose/LB/#50, Dudley Sheppard/C/#51, Robert Brophy/E/#53, James Braasch/LB/#57, Steve Kulback/G/#60, Richard Whitley/G/#62, John Lewis/G/#63, Rodney Brown/G/#64, Rudy Wooten/T/#70, Barry McGee/T/#71, David Hagan/T/#72, John Hollis/T/#73, David Capan/T/#74, Lamar Langley/T/#75, Randy Hall/T/#76, Bob Bryan/T/#77, Rick Meadows/T/#78, Ronnie Barnes/E/#80, Terry Mager/E/#81, Joe Dale Harris/E/#82, Gene Lunceford/E/#83, Tom Nelson/E/#84, Glenn Turley/E/#85, Sylvester Croom/C/#87.