A few years ago I embarked on a quest to try and compare Alabama teams historically using what stats were available. Yes, it's virtually impossible to compare teams across several decades due to changes in rules, player physique and advancement in equipment but this is an attempt to glean what we can by what information we do have that is consistent historically.

Initially this was for defense and I pored through the rolltide.com archives, media guides and newspaper stat boxes (finally having to go through bound copies at the Tuscaloosa public library to complete the project). After I compiled the defensive stats I saw I could do the same with offense and followed up.

What I produced is a pair of spreadsheets that I've put on Google Drive so anyone can use the data which you can find at the following links:

The Alabama Crimson Tide's Defensive Statistics 2015-1961

The Alabama Crimson Tide's Offensive Statistics 2015-1971

I will update these every Sunday through the course of the season. A few notes on the information you will find therin.

Eventually I ended up having to use data that was found in the AP game stat synopses that was not standardized until the early 1960s. So for defensive stats things like sacks, tackles for loss and such just aren't in there and what is varies wildly.

I do have some of the raw stats for the offensive numbers going back to 1961 but I wanted to have something more robust than just the basic data I have the defensive stats. It worked out well since 1971 was the start of the Wishbone era.

Just for fun, I have all the points allowed totals for Alabama's championship teams on the page "Championship Seasons." It's of questionable value in terms of anaysis but it's pretty interesting to compare, say, the effectiveness of Wallace Wade's defense and Coach Bryant's.