1922 Alabama Crimson Tide vs. Penn Quakers football game | |||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
Date | November 4, 1922 | ||||||||||||||||||
Season | 1922 | ||||||||||||||||||
Stadium | Franklin Field | ||||||||||||||||||
Location | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | ||||||||||||||||||
Referee | E. J. O'Brien | ||||||||||||||||||
Attendance | 20,000 |
The 1922 Alabama vs. Pennsylvania football game, played November 4, 1922, was a college football game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and Penn Quakers. Beating one of the "big 4" Ivy League institutions in a major upset, it is considered one of the most important wins in Alabama football history, [1] [2] giving the team some of its first national recognition. [3] [4] One writer called the game the hardest fought battle on Penn's field in seven years. [5]
It was the second game at the newly renovated Franklin Field; the first an important victory for Penn over Navy. [6]
John Heisman's Penn team was highly favored. Noted sports columnist Grantland Rice predicted a 21–0 Quaker victory. [7]
Alabama quarterback Charles Bartlett set up the winning touchdown with a dash from the 35-yard line to the 6. [5] College Football Hall of Fame inductee Pooley Hubert was a freshman at fullback.
After the game, when the news reached Tuscaloosa, "they started burning red fires and celebrating in a manner that Tuscaloosa had never seen before in its history." [8]
Bartlett received Walter Camp's All-America honorable mention, [9]