Retro: U. of Alabama's 1st National Championship in 17 years

2026 Intro:

The University of Alabama football team, at the time of the writing you're about to read, hadn't won a National Championship in 17 years. I was eight years old the last time they won it. I have a couple really short memories from that game, but not a whole lot. In that span, they came close a couple times, and had an almost resurgence in 2005. But ultimately, it was Nick Saban coming aboard that changed it all. I'm glad I was blogging at the time, because now I have a first-hand account of what it was like seeing them win it all after 17 long years.

Original Post:

Why it surprised me that Alabama decided to receive the ball to begin the game, I don't know.  It worked against Florida, so why not Texas, right?  Well, this time, it almost backfired.

1st Quarter

Alabama's first drive was abysmal.  After a 5 yard penalty and an 8 yard sack, they went 3 & out.  To make it worse, they turned it over by faking the punt, with P.J. Fitzgerald throwing an interception.  It was a decent pass, it was just short.  Either way, Texas dominated Alabama early with some big runs and little chunks of yardage here and there.

Then, at the 11 yard line, Colt McCoy hurt his shoulder after getting hit for no gain.  Nevermind though, because the domination seemed to continue, with Texas RB D.J. Monroe running 10 yards to the 1 yard line.  That's when I thought, "Well, Alabama got the ball first, and now Texas is going to score first, wonderful".

BUT, Alabama held them after a Texas penalty, two stuffed runs, and an incomplete pass to allow just 3 points.  Ok, fine, Texas scored a FG, whatever, right?  Wrong.  Texas suprised everyone with an onside kick that just bounced off an Alabama player, and Texas got it back.  After a three and out, Texas scored another FG.

The next Alabama drive saw Texas getting two sacks on McElroy.  Although Mark Ingram DID get an 18 yard run, they ended up punting.  And no tricks this time, P.J. Fitzgerald actually punted.  During the drive, McCoy went back for X-rays.

If Texas would've scored here, Alabama might have been in trouble, but Alabama's defense held.  In three plays, Texas got a total of -6 yards, then punted.  Alabama's next drive was the beginning of the end for Texas.  They were clicking, finally, with Mark Ingram pulling off 3 runs for 26 yards and Julio Jones getting a 23 yard catch.

1st Quarter Review

Texas absolutely DOMINATED the first quarter, aside from Alabama's last drive.  Colt McCoy leaving the game on their first drive sparked Alabama's entire team.  

Score: 6-0 Texas

2nd Quarter

Just two plays into the quarter, Mark Ingram scored by practically just walking into the endzone.  And after stalled possessions twice for Texas and once for Alabama, Alabama got the ball again, this time letting Trent Richardson take off.  The drive lasted two plays, each a run by Richardson: first a run for 0 yards, and then a 49 yard TD run.

In Texas' previous four drives, they had run 13 plays for a grand total of -6 yards.  Yes, negative six yards.  Their next drive wasn't as good, as they got one big play, but then threw an interception to Javier Arenas two plays later.  Alabama couldn't capitalize, as they had to punt, but they did pin Texas at their own two yard line.  It helped Bama though, because when Texas punted soon after, Bama had great field position.  Alabama couldn't score a touchdown, but did add a FG to make it 17-6.

If the half would've ended there, I would have been happy.  Two plays later, Alabama was up 24-6.  After a run and a timeout, Garrett Gilbert went back for a pass, but got hit, which jarred the ball loose, landing right in the hands of LB Marcell Dareus.  He took it 28 yards for a TD to end the half on a high note for Alabama.

2nd Quarter Review

Alabama started the domination at the end of the 1st quarter and continued on throughout the entire 2nd quarter.  Texas had 15 plays for only 42 yards in the second quarter.  Alabama had 20 plays for 117 yards.  At this point, I thought Bama had the game under wraps, I was almost mad that it wasn't going to be a competitive game, I was mad, but happy that Alabama was going to win.  

Score: 24-6 Bama

Then came the 2nd half...

3rd Quarter Review

Alabama came into the 2nd half playing conservatively.  I pretty much thought that if they just didn't try too hard on offense and played cautiously, they'd have the game won.  Case in point: The first 3 drives for each team saw 6 punts and nearly 12 minutes taken off the clock.  The sole scoring possession came from Texas when Garrett Gilbert passed to Jordan Shipley for a 44 yard touchdown.  They kicked and recovered an onside kick, but ended up punting.

Though debatable, I say Alabama won the 3rd quarter.  Yeah, Texas scored the sole touchdown in the quarter, but Alabama played conservatively and helped take 12 minutes off the clock to begin the half.  That helped control the sparking Texas offense that would be a little bit of trouble for Bama in the 4th.  Not counting Texas' scoring drive, the teams combined for 31 plays for just 40 yards.

Score: 24-13 Bama

4th Quarter

After a Bama drive that included their first 3rd down conversion of the game, and two 15 yard Texas penalties, Texas got the ball back after a missed 52 yard FG.  They promptly took it in for the score, taking five minutes off the clock and chewing up Bama's defense.  After they scored, they went for and got a 2pt conversion.

At this point, I was scared.  I just couldn't believe I had waited 17 years for this game, and Bama is going to let it slip away.  The first Alabama national championship game I can remember watching all the way through, and I'm going o have to watch them screw it up.  And Colt McCoy wasn't even PLAYING!!  Garrett Gilbert was getting comfortable, Jordan Shipley was catching everything thrown to him, and it seemed like Alabama was playing without worry.

When Alabama got the ball back with 6 minutes left and up by just three points, I thought, great, they just have to hold the ball, and it's over.  Or at worst, they will start playing better and we'll get an overtime National Championship game.

But they gave the ball back to Texas with just 3 minutes left.  THEN, I was on the edge of my seat.  I kept on saying to anyone that would listen that I wanted a competitive game, but now I was regretting wanting to see it.  But it was happening.

Texas started on their own 7 yard line, so I was relieved a little bit.  Alabama got a defensive holding penalty on the first play of the drive to help Texas out, but the next play...FUMBLE!!!!  Eryk Anders sacked Gilbert for a loss of 14 yards and the fumble.  Three plays later, Mark Ingram scored his second touchdown of the day.

Even though there were two minutes left when Texas got the ball back, and they were down by 10 points, I still was apprehensive about celebrating.  With Texas recovering TWO onside kicks, and Gilbert playing incredibley well, it still could turn out bad.  But on the second play, once again, Alabama came up with a huge play, with Javier Arenas intercepting Gilbert.

Alabama didn't just down the ball to win, they scored another touchdown, by way of Trent Richardson again.  When Texas got the ball back, it didn't matter, I knew it was over, and I was celebrating.  But when Gilbert completed another pass to an Alabama player, it was over.  One kneel down was all it took.

4th Quarter and Game Review

Alabama definitely won the 4th quarter.  Enough said.

The game that I originally thought I wanted competitive ended up almost giving me a heart attack.  I almost thought that Bama was reverting back to their '05 and '08 days.  But with 2 touchdowns each for Ingram (a sophomore) and Richardson (a freshman), and a ferocious defense, they pulled it out.  The interview with Colt McCoy afterwards was priceless.  He was speechless.  And on the verge of tears.  The second QB in as many games that Bama has forced to cry.  Wonderful.

Alabama is #1 once again, and will be that way until someone can beat them.  Is it feasible that they could go all the way next year?  Yes.  But I'm just going to be happy with what I have right now.

Roll Tide!!!  14-0, 13 National Championships, 24 straight regular season victories...

Until next year...