Throwback Thursday: 1937 Kentucky at Alabama

In some ways college football has completely changed over the years, but in others it's pretty much stayed the same.

The Alabama-Kentucky series is a good example.

On Oct. 30, 1937, Alabama welcomed Kentucky to Denny Stadium for homecoming and under the direction of Frank Thomas the Crimson Tide was making a run for another national title.

At that point, Alabama had only lost once in the series, which dated back to 1917. Even with a 6-0 defeat in 1922, the Crimson Tide had still outscored the Wildcats 310-68 overall. It was looking for its 14th-straight win against Kentucky.

Alabama was 5-0 heading into the game and had notched four shutouts, but the schedule was about to get much tougher.

The entire Crimson Tide roster was listed as such:

Ends: E.T. Warren, Perron Shoemaker, Eugene Blackwell, Hayward Sanford.

Tackles: James Ryba, James Tipton, Walter Merrill, Robert Woods, Jake Redden

Guards: Leroy Monsky, Lewis Bostick, Jess Foshee, Grover Harkins

Centers: Carey Cox, Albert E. Macktolff

Backs: Joe Kilgrow, Hal Hughes, Henry Cochran, Johnny Roberts, Victory Bradford, Alvin Davis, Charlie Holm, George Zivich, Silas A. Beard, Hershel Mosley, William Slemmons.

The game attracted 13,000 fans and pretty much went as expected. Holm scored on a 27-yard touchdown run to set the early tone, and in the second quarter three more touchdowns were scored by Blackwell on a six-yard run, Kilgrow on a 20-yard run and on a 10-yard Mosley pass to Roberts.

Alabama eventually pulled out a 41-0 victory.

Thomas led his team through a perfect regular season and Southeastern Conference title, but it never enjoyed another blowout win. In November, Alabama squeaked out a 9-6 victory over Tulane, followed by a 7-0 win over Georgia Tech and survived 9-7 against No. 12 Vanderbilt.

Sandy Sanford kicked Alabama’s ticket to Pasadena, with late game-winning field goals against Tulane and Vanderbilt. However, Alabama’s fifth trip to the Rose Bowl resulted in its first loss there, 13-0 to No. 2 California.

Heading into this weekend's game at Bryant-Denny Stadium, Alabama leads the series with Kentucky, 37-2-1. The Wildcats' other win in the series was led by quarterback Tim Couch 1997, 40-34 in overtime.

Alabama has never lost to Kentucky in Tuscaloosa (10-0), which helps explain why it was the homecoming opponent in 1937.

Going back to the roster, of note was the Alabama coaching staff, which included the person who set the record for coaching wins at both schools and at the Division I level: Paul W. "Bear" Bryant. Thomas' other assistant coaches were Paul Burnum, Tilden Campbell, Hank Crisp and Harold Drew.