Perhaps it was a dark day in Pasadena when the Alabama Crimson Tide first came to town: now, this Rose Bowl Friday entry examines the Granddaddy of Them All that may have changed everything. The Tide would return a handful of times to the Rose Bowl before the arrangement between the Western Conference and the Pacific Coast Conference was finalized in a few decades, but damage already may have been done.

Alabama beat Washington, 20-19, in the game held to cap off the 1925 regular season in a battle that was back and forth until the end. The Huskies built a 12-0 halftime lead before the Tide roared back with 20 unanswered points in the third quarter. Washington scored a touchdown in the fourth quarter to make it a close game, but Alabama held on for its first Rose Bowl victory and its first mythical national title. Ooomph.

Ironically, the Crimson Tide wasn’t even the first choice of the game’s selection committee: it actually invited Tulane University first, but the school declined, stating it did not want to compromise academic priorities for a football game. Let that sink in for a moment, if you can. As a result, Alabama finished the season 10-0 and No. 2 in the SRS, so the Tide may not have won our MNC, that’s for sure. Just statin’ fact.

For the record, the 19 points scored by the Huskies were the most put up against Alabama’s defense all season, as the Southern Conference champions had coughed up just 7 points all season—and that total came against small-school Birmingham-Southern in the second game of the season. The Crimson Tide actually ran the table with shutouts in all eight of its conference matchups, which is pretty insane, really.

How bad was that conference?! We know that the Huskies played a schedule with five PCC opponents, Nebraska, and five other small-time teams on its way to a 10-0-1 record before the Rose Bowl. Alabama’s SOS ranking was much better than Washington’s SOS mark, but clearly the Huskies gave the Tide all it could handle in Pasadena as they finished No. 7 in the SRS. About 55,000 fans saw this fact in person, too.

Regardless, Alabama would return to the Rose Bowl in 1927, 1931, 1935, 1938, and 1946 before the game became a traditional matchup between the Midwest and Pacific Coast schools. After that agreement dissolved due to the corrupt College Football Playoff, the Tide wouldn’t come back to Pasadena until 2021 under extremely dubious circumstances. It would be 11 seasons before the Huskies returned themselves.