Alabama barely beats Texas 20-19
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Longhorns sent shock waves throughout college football by stopping No 1 Alabama for the entire game, then with 10 seconds left in the game Alabama kicked a field goal to win 20-19.
Think about this for a minute. Texas went head-to-head with No. 1 Alabama. Texas’ defense held (better put, STOPPED) Alabama to 374 total yards (213 passing, 161 rushing) while Texas’ offense had 371 total yards (292 passing, 79 rushing) all while losing starting quarterback Quinn Ewers late in the first quarter.
Texas had 25 first downs to Alabama’s 16. Quinn Ewers, before going down, went 14-22 for 158 yards, then Hudson Card, spotlighting his preparedness, went 9-12 for 134 yards.
[UPDATE on Ewers] It is being reported that Ewers has a SC sprain and will be out 4-6 weeks.
In the post game player interviews, Bijan Robinson shared that when Card was called in for Ewers, he quickly pulled Card aside and said to him, “you got this, we believe in you”, then Robinson led Card in a quick prayer before he took the field to be Texas’ quarterback for the rest of the game.
Jordan Whittington was asked how he thought the team responded when Quinn went down and said, “I think we responded the way we are trained to … next man up mentality.” Whittington continued saying, “I made sure I grabbed him, I told him I trust him, we trust him, let’s get going.”
Robinson had 130 total yards (57 rushing, 73 receiving), and one touchdown. Whittington had seven catches for 64 yards averaging 9.1 yards per catch.
Xavier Worthy had 107 total yards (97 receiving, 10 on a punt return). Roschon Johnson, who could and may be needed as a quarterback in the future, had 75 total yards (16 rushing, 20 receiving, and 39 on a kickoff return).
Big plays came from offense and defense like Casey Cain’s 29 yard reception in the 4th quarter. Texas quickly lined up in a no huddle-shotgun formation, Card completed a deep pass in the middle to Cain for a Texas first down to the Alabama 31 yards line with 3:55 on the clock.
Daniel Trejo, in the 3rd quarter with the score tied 10-10, punted the ball 50 yards and put the ball on the Alabama one yard line. Three plays later, Bryce Young was tackled in the end zone by T’Vondre Sweat. This was the play where DeMarvion Overshown was flagged for targeting Young, but the flagged was picked up after a review of the play. It looked clear that Young committed intentional grounding, but was not flagged for that, nor was a safety called.
Sarkisian said in the post game that the referees had a discussion with him and said, “They can’t review intentional grounding.” Because no official signaled Young for grounding and no one signaled safety, they just signaled targeting, and by rule can only review targeting. If they had ruled intentional grounding, then it could have been discussed.
Sarkisian said, “First of all, I think our defense did an unbelievable job.”
Texas’ defense STOPPED the No 1 team in the country.
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Go field-level w/ Don Bender of Horns Illustrated
The defense had 59 total tackles, 33 of them solos, six tackles for a loss, seven quarterback hurry-ups, and two sacks. Linebacker Jaylan Ford led Texas with 10 total tackles (6 solo) and a sack. Anthony Cook had nine tackles (6 solos) with two for a loss. Jerrin Thompson had seven tackles (four solo). Ovie Oghoufo had the team's other sack.
Texas fans also set a record by filling DKR with 105,213 fans who made a noticeable impact on the game. Sarkisian commented on the fans, players commented on it, and even Nick Saban commented on the impact the Texas fans had on the game.
Going into the game supposedly Texas was a 20 point underdog. Well, it sure is a good thing the Texas football team was not listening to all the talking heads and experts.
