<P> In 1896 the University's board of trustees passed a rule forbidding athletic teams from traveling off - campus . The following season only one game was played and in 1898 football was abandoned at Alabama . Student opposition to the ruling forced trustees to lift the travel ban and football was resumed in 1899 . The 1918 season was cancelled on account of World War I but the game was resumed the following year . </P> <P> Alabama first gained national recognition for football in 1922 when it defeated the University of Pennsylvania 9 - 7 in Philadelphia . The following season Wallace Wade became head coach and in 1925 led the Crimson Tide to its first undefeated and untied season and its first trip to Pasadena, California with a Rose Bowl invitation . On January 1, 1926 in the Rose Bowl, Alabama came from behind to upset the University of Washington 20 - 19 . </P> <P> Early newspaper accounts of the University's football squad simply referred to them as the "varsity" or the "Crimson White". The first nickname popular with the media was the "Thin Red Line", which was used until 1906 . Hugh Roberts, former sports editor of the Birmingham Age - Herald, is credited with coining the phrase "Crimson Tide" in an article describing the 1907 Iron Bowl played in Birmingham with Auburn a heavy favorite to win . The game was played in a sea of red mud which stained the Alabama white jerseys crimson . The headline for the article was "Crimson Tied", referring to the 6 - 6 tie Alabama had with Auburn who had been heavily favored before the game . </P> <P> There are two stories, perhaps both true, about how Alabama's football squad became associated with the elephant, both dating to the coaching tenure of Wallace Wade (1923--1930). </P>

How did the crimson tide get its name
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