PASADENA, CA. – The No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide defense knocked Texas Longhorns quarterback Colt McCoy out of
the BCS title game early Thursday night, then made a big play to save the win late, going on to a 37-21 victory for their first national title since 1992.
McCoy injured his throwing shoulder on the Longhorns fifth play and watched most of the loss from the sideline. “I would have given anything to be out there,” said McCoy. “Because it would have been different.”
Garrett Gilbert, a highly recruited freshman who is the Longhorns’ quarterback of the future, had only thrown 26 college passes coming into the game and was thrown into a pressure-packed situation, stepping in for McCoy in the national spotlight. He responded well, throwing two touchdown passes to All-American Jordan Shipley to trim the deficit to 24-21 with 6:15 left.
After an Alabama punt, Gilbert and his Longhorns had the ball at the 7-yard line, 93 yards away from one of the most incredible comeback stories in the history of the game. But that changed when Tide linebacker Eryk Anders forced a fumble on a blindside sack of Gilbert with 3:02 to play and the ball was recovered by the ‘Bama defense.
Three plays later, Ingram, the offensive MVP, took it in from the one yard line for a 10-point ‘Bama lead. A few minutes later, after Gilbert threw his third interception of the night, Richardson scored another to make it 37-21, making a close game look like a blowout on the scoreboard.
Ingram finished with 116 yards rushing and two touchdowns, and Richardson had 109 yards and two scores, earning the fourth straight national title for the SEC.
“I don’t think anybody in the country worked harder than us,” Ingram said. “We played a great game today.”
Texas (13-1) went into the game ranked No. 2 and got there due to the play of McCoy. After the injury, McCoy was asking to go back in to finish his last college game but Texas coach Mack Brown decided to err on the side of caution, and McCoy spent the second half wearing a headset on the sideline while Gilbert took the snaps.
“It’s a hard learning curve but [Gilbert] learned fast,” Brown said. “At one point, I thought he was going to win the ballgame.”
Alabama coach Nick Saban became the first coach since the polls began in 1936 to win national titles with two schools. He won the 2003 BCS championship with LSU.
“Everybody has made a great team and that’s why this team is good,” Saban said. “It’s not just because of me. I’m proud of the team and proud of the way they played today and I’m really proud of the state of Alabama.”
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