Crimson Tide voted No. 1
January 9, 2010
It’s unanimous. Alabama is back on top in college football.
The Crimson Tide was voted No. 1 in The Associated Press poll early Friday to earn its seventh AP title after beating Texas 37-21 in the BCS championship game.
Only Notre Dame has more AP national championships, with eight. Oklahoma also has seven.
The Crimson Tide (14-0) hadn’t finished No. 1 since 1992, but in just three seasons under coach Nick Saban, the South’s most storied program has returned to greatness.
“Third year and we’re already national champions?” Alabama nose guard Terrence Cody said. “That’s hard to believe.”
Texas (13-1) is No. 2 in the Top 25 and Florida (13-1), last season’s champion, was third.
The only other unbeaten team in the nation, Boise State (14-0), wound up fourth. It was the Broncos’ best finish in the AP poll. Back in 2006, the last time Boise State busted the BCS and went undefeated, the Broncos ended up fifth in the final rankings.
Only four points separated Florida and Boise State.
The USA Today coaches’ poll had the same top five as the AP, but the gap between No. 3 Florida and No. 4 Boise State was 11 points.
The Tide is the fourth straight Southeastern Conference team to win the national title. No league had ever captured three straight before last season. Alabama is the first unanimous No. 1 in the final Top 25 since Texas in 2005.
Ohio State finished fifth followed by TCU, Iowa, Cincinnati, Penn State and Virginia Tech, giving the Big Ten three top 10 teams, the most of any league.
Poor postseason showings in recent years have hurt the Big Ten’s reputation nationally, but this season Ohio State and Iowa won BCS games as underdogs and Penn State beat LSU in the Capital One Bowl.
Pac-10 champion Oregon starts the second 10, followed by BYU, ACC champion Georgia Tech, Nebraska and Pittsburgh.
For the Cornhuskers, it’s the best final ranking since 2001, when they finished eighth.
No. 15 Pittsburgh, along with Wisconsin, Utah, LSU, Miami and Mississippi complete the top 20. The Hurricanes hadn’t finished a season ranked this high since they were No. 17 after the 2005 season.
The final five were Texas Tech, Southern California, Central Michigan, Clemson and West Virginia.
USC’s victory in the Emerald Bowl against Boston College helped the Trojans avoid ending a season unranked for the first time since 2001, coach Pete Carroll’s first year.
Alabama won five AP championships under Bear Bryant, three in the 1960s and back-to-back titles in 1978 and ‘79.
After Bryant retired in 1982, Alabama couldn’t keep up with the high standards he set. Gene Stallings, one of Bear’s Boys, came the closest, winning a national title in 1992.
But in the late 1990s and earlier this decade there were some lean — and at times embarrassingly bad — seasons for Alabama.
The Tide lured Saban away from the NFL after the 2006 season. He had ‘Bama back in the national title hunt last season and completed the journey this season.
“I’ll tell you what I told the team,” Saban said, “that I’ve never been prouder of a group of guys for their resiliency, their buy-in, their hard work, the blood, sweat and tears that they put in to accomplish what they accomplished this season.”
Tags: Alabama, bama, coach nick saban, Crimson Tide, fourth quarter, greg mcelroy, Insider, julio jones, leigh tiffin, mark ingram, Tide, touchdown pass, yard field goal, yard touchdownRelated posts
Saban accepts championship hardware
January 9, 2010
Nick Saban is thrilled to have brought another title to Alabama and a lot of joy to everyone involved in the Crimson Tide program.
Saban spoke at a news conference on Friday, sitting alongside four trophies crowning Alabama as the national champion following a 37-21 victory over Texas.
The Associated Press trophy honored the Crimson Tide for being voted No. 1 at season’s end. The others were from the National Football Foundation, the Football Writers Association and the crystal BCS trophy he received on the field Thursday night.
His wife reminded him this morning that a statue of him will be going up outside the stadium in Tuscaloosa. He says he hopes it serves as a model of the reward for working hard.
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Dareus deals dual blows to Horns
January 9, 2010
Like a baseball hitter who knows when he gets a hold of one just by the way his hands feel on contact, Marcell Dareus knew he’d tattooed Texas quarterback Colt McCoy.
What he didn’t know was that it would be the final play of McCoy’s brilliant career.
“I didn’t want him to be out for the game. You never want to hurt anybody, and you always want to beat teams at their best,” said Dareus, Alabama’s sophomore defensive end.
“But I knew I’d got him by the way the hit felt and by the way his head rocked back. I got a clean shot on him, and those are the kind of hits you can feel.”
It was also the hit that paved the way to Alabama’s 37-21 win and its first national championship in 17 years.
McCoy never returned from the pinched nerve he suffered on Texas’ fifth offensive play of the game. His backup, true freshman Garrett Gilbert, played valiantly, but he also wasn’t the real McCoy.
“That comes with the game,” said Dareus, named the Most Outstanding Defensive Player of the Citi BCS National Championship Game. “Sometimes you miss. Sometimes you land a good one. The main thing is that we made enough plays to walk out of here with a championship.
“That’s what we all came here for, to get this program back to winning championships. It still hasn’t sunk in. It probably won’t for a while.”
Dareus’ night was far from over after knocking McCoy out of the game. In fact, he would strike again in the first half with a play that completely turned the game in Alabama’s favor.
With 15 seconds remaining and Alabama leading 17-6, Texas coach Mack Brown decided not to play it safe.
Instead of taking a knee and going into the half down 11, the Longhorns tried a shovel pass from their own 37. The ball deflected off of Texas receiver D.J. Monroe’s hands, and Dareus was there for the carom.
“It almost seemed like slow motion,” Dareus said. “I saw it hanging there and knew I had to get it.”
Dareus might be a 6-foot-4, 296-pound defensive end, but he looked awfully comfortable toting the rock.
He stiff-armed one Texas player and then did a little pirouette on his way to a 28-yard interception return for a touchdown.
“All I was thinking about is Mark Ingram and Javier [Arenas] and just doing moves I didn’t think I could do,” Dareus joked. “I was like, ‘I can’t believe I pulled off that screen.’ I saw the lineman coming for my legs, and my first reaction was to spin.
“I looked to my left and saw Eryk Anders. I knew it was a touchdown. I could not wait to get to the end zone.”
Dareus’ return made it 24-6 going into halftime and totally changed the complexion of the game.
And with the way Texas battled back in the fourth quarter, who knows where the Crimson Tide would have been without Dareus’ defensive touchdown?
Or his only tackle.
That’s right, the only tackle he was credited with was the one on McCoy.
“That put a dagger in them. You could see it in their faces,” Alabama nose guard Terrence Cody said. “The game started going downhill for them from there. They came out after halftime and fought back, but we had to finish. That’s what we do.”
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Walmarts to host Bama’s BCS trophy
January 9, 2010
The University of Alabama is going to display its new national championship football trophy at a place where most anyone can see it: Walmart.
The school says the Coaches’ Trophy will be on display at a Walmart Supercenter in Tuscaloosa on Saturday and another Walmart store in Gardendale on Sunday.
Fans will be able to get their picture taken with the actual Coaches’ Trophy that was presented after the BCS win over Texas. The $30,000 trophy is topped with a football made of Waterford Crystal.
The school will permanently display the trophy on campus. The Walmart stops are part of a sponsorship deal.
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Saban already ‘thinking ahead’
January 9, 2010
Though other current coaching giants who also won two national titles in the last decade may be leaving the college game or temporarily stepping aside — see Southern California’s Pete Carroll and Florida’s Urban Meyer— Alabama coach Nick Saban isn’t going anywhere.
His likeness will be immortalized in a statue at Bryant-Denny Stadium along the Walk of Champions in the stadium’s north end. Alabama athletic director Mal Moore didn’t have any further details on Friday, but Saban is expected to join the Crimson Tide’s coaching pantheon of Wallace Wade, Frank Thomas, Paul “Bear” Bryant and Gene Stallings.
“I guess that when you’re driven and you put as much into what you do as we have, not just for this year but or 30-some years, you would hope that something you do leaves a mark that is positive, that maybe could affect someone in a positive way in the future,” Saban said the day after his team won the Bowl Championship Series title after beating Texas 37-21 at the Rose Bowl. “That would be the most significant thing I would see from something like that.”
In the statue, Saban probably won’t be smiling. His focus will be intense, perhaps looking to what lies ahead, just as he did less than 12 hours after hoisting the crystal trophy.
Already, his message was clear: “I’m always thinking ahead, anticipating problems. Every success brings a new set of problems. Every success brings a new set of issues — the attitude of next year’s team, development of the players for next year, issues that you have from a staff standpoint or player standpoint, personnel standpoint, recruiting standpoint.
“There’s really no time to sort of let your guard down. And being able to manage that is what allows you to be successful with more consistency.”
Alabama will likely begin the season ranked No. 1, given much of its offense returns next fall, including running backs Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson, quarterback Greg McElroy and receiver Julio Jones. Defensively, the Tide will lose nose guard Terrence Cody, cornerback Javier Arenas, two starting defensive ends, Lorenzo Washington and Brandon Deaderick, and likely junior linebacker Rolando McClain, who expected to declare early for the NFL draft. Also gone will be All-America kicker Leigh Tiffin and punter P.J. Fitzgerald.
As Saban ticked off all the players the Tide will lose, he downplayed expectations in hopes of keeping the players focused and lofty projections in check.
“I think that people who make those statements sort of just look at the periphery. You’ve got to build a team. We play 50 or 60 guys through the course of the season, and like I always say, the bottom 40 guys on your roster usually determines how good that team really is. I don’t want to criticize the media or anything, because God knows I get punished enough by you guys, but you guys will look at the top four or five guys (returning) on the team and make your determination.”
Indeed. Expect the Tide to start the season just as they finished: No. 1.
Tags: Alabama, BCS Bowl, champs #1, coach nick saban, Crimson Tide, game, greg mcelroy, julio jones, mark ingram, SEC, yard touchdownRelated posts
Bama vs Texas in title game
December 15, 2009
There were five undefeated teams and only two spots in the title game.
Alabama and 
Texas came out winners in that bit of BCS math, while TCU, Cincinnati and Boise State were left with nice consolation prizes.
The imperfect method of choosing a national champion paired top-ranked Alabama against No. 2 Texas in the BCS title game – a Jan. 7 meeting that will bring together Heisman Trophy hopefuls Colt McCoy of the Longhorns and Mark Ingram of the Crimson Tide.
And, of course, Sunday’s bowl bids also produced plenty of fodder for second-guessing.
No. 3 TCU, No. 4 Cincinnati and No. 6 Boise State also finished undefeated. All three were included in the BCS, but none will play for the championship – a predictable result that will renew the annual debate about college football’s way of determining the best team in the land.
“We absolutely recognize that there were five undefeated teams that had very good seasons, and the fact is, only two could play in the game,” BCS executive director Bill Hancock said.
Seeking its first national title since 1992, Alabama opens as a 3-point favorite for the game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. That’s the place where Vince Young almost single-handedly led Texas to a victory over Southern California in 2006 to claim the national title.
The other BCS matchups: Oregon against Ohio State in the Rose Bowl; Iowa against Georgia Tech in the Orange; Florida against Cincinnati in the Sugar and TCU against Boise State in the Fiesta.
The TCU-Boise State game also will pit a pair of undefeateds against each other, two teams from small conferences that don’t always get automatic spots in the BCS. This is the first time in BCS history that two of the small schools have been selected. Both should be expected to use the title-game snub as motivation.
“We’re here to prove a point,” TCU coach Gary Patterson said. “I voted for us No. 2 in polls today when we voted. We believe we have a great football team and we’re out to show we could be the No. 1 team in the nation.”
The Longhorns (13-0) have been on both sides of the BCS debate.
Just last year, their chances for a national title were squashed when they lost a three-way tiebreaker for the Big 12 South title.
This time, Texas defeated Nebraska 13-12 in the Big 12 title game to secure its spot in the national championship, though the less-than-dominating performance certainly left things open for debate.
Still, there was a big gap between Texas and TCU in the BCS rankings, the coaches’ poll and The Associated Press poll, which is not included in the BCS formula. The AP awards its own national championship.
Alabama, meanwhile, got 113 yards rushing and three touchdowns from Ingram to defeat Florida 32-13 in the SEC championship game, an overwhelming victory over the defending national champions that made the Tide (13-0) an easy choice for No. 1.
But is anything really clear-cut when it comes to the BCS?
TCU was ranked 17th in the preseason polls and never really had a chance to rise above the bigger, more traditional programs that were ahead of them.
Cincinnati made it through the Big East, one of the six so-called power conferences, and needed a 21-point comeback against Pittsburgh on Saturday to move to 12-0. The Bearcats finished third in the BCS rankings and would’ve taken Texas’ spot had the Longhorns not pulled out their last-second win.
“We were within one second of playing for a national championship,” coach Brian Kelly said. “It’s not crazy (for Cincinnati) to play for a national championship.”
Boise State finished its fourth undefeated regular season in the last six years, but still found itself ranked behind No. 5 Florida, in large part because it plays in the Western Athletic Conference.
A perfect scenario for an eight-team playoff, perhaps, but that’s years off. The current system is set for the next four years. And to hear the BCS officials tell it, there’s nothing really wrong with their system, anyway.
“We do feel like it’s working and college football is thriving,” Hancock said. “We recognize there are elements in each constituency that don’t like it, but the fact is, it has a consensus. The critics, the playoff proponents, do not have a consensus.”
Certainly, he’ll get no argument from Texas or Alabama, who meet for the first time since the 1982 Cotton Bowl – a 14-12 Longhorns win over the Tide and Bear Bryant.
“The system put us in the game,” Texas coach Mack Brown said. “We were told for the last three weeks if we won, we’d be in the game. We did that.”
Not by much, though.
It took a 46-yard field goal from Hunter Lawrence with no time left to lift the Longhorns to the victory over Nebraska. Now it’s Brown, formerly known for not being able to parlay all that Texas talent into a national title, who’s a win away from taking his second in five years.
Alabama, meanwhile, is in the midst of a resurgence brought about by Nick Saban, who three years ago took over a program in turmoil and now has the faithful believing again.
“There’s so much tradition and so much passion,” Saban said. “There are great expectations for what people like to accomplish around here, and it’s a feeling of tremendous self-gratification for everyone involved in the program.”
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Ingram wins Alabama’s 1st Heisman
December 13, 2009
Mark Ingram dabbed his eyes, took a deep breath and tried to steady himself. All set, he accepted the Heisman that completes Alabama’s trophy case.
The tough-running tailback turned tearful after winning the Heisman Trophy on Saturday night in the closest vote in the award’s 75-year history. Next, he’ll try to lead the most storied program in the South to a national championship.
Ingram finished 28 points ahead of Stanford running back Toby Gerhart.
The sturdy, 212-pound Ingram took a moment to get composed before starting his speech. Dressed in a dark suit with blue pinstripes, his voice wavered throughout.
“I’m a little overwhelmed right now,” he said. “I’m just so excited to bring Alabama their first Heisman winner.”
Ingram received 227 first-place votes and 1,304 points. Gerhart got 222 first-place votes and 1,276 points, while Texas quarterback Colt McCoy, last season’s runner-up, received 203 and 1,145.
Ingram said later he was feeling relaxed — right up until the winner was announced.
“When he started reading that letter, my heart started beating and I could feel it beating real fast,” he said. “When he called my name I was excited, then I saw my mom crying and it kind of made me break down, too.”
His father, a former Super Bowl star, was a few miles away. Incarcerated on bank fraud and money-laundering charges, he watched his son’s biggest moment on a prison television.
Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh was fourth and Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, who won the 
Heisman two years ago, was fifth.
The previous closest vote in Heisman history came in 1985, when Auburn’s Bo Jackson beat Iowa quarterback Chuck Long by 45 points.
Ingram won four of the six regions. Gerhart took the far west and Suh won the southwest.
“I appreciate the way he plays,” said Gerhart, who ran for 1,736 yards and scored 26 touchdowns. “The passion for the game. I’m a physical guy, he’s a physical guy. I feel we’re similar in a lot of ways. I’m proud of him and honored to be included with him.”
Ingram has been the backbone of Alabama’s offense, rushing for a school-record 1,542 yards, gaining 6.2 yards per carry and scoring 18 touchdowns.
And in his final chance to make a case for the Heisman, facing Florida’s then-top-ranked defense, Ingram ran for 113 yards and scored three touchdowns to punctuate his season.
The win sent the top-ranked Crimson Tide to the BCS national title game against McCoy and No. 2 Texas on Jan. 7 at the Rose Bowl.
“This is a great, special moment for me but at the same time you’ve got to move forward,” Ingram said. “We still have a national championship game to play in.”
He is the third consecutive sophomore to win the Heisman since Tebow became the first in 2007 and he will be the sixth winner in the last seven years to go on to play in the BCS national championship game.
Few college football teams can match Alabama’s history of success. The Crimson Tide dominated the Southeastern Conference for decades. With six AP national championships, only Notre Dame and Oklahoma have won more.
But at Alabama, it’s a coach who has towered over the program more than any player.
Bear Bryant led some of college football’s greatest players — from Joe Namath to John Hannah, Ken Stabler to Ozzie Newsome — but never had a player even finish in the top three of the Heisman voting over his more than three decades at Alabama.
“The legacy of Alabama football certainly had a void filled,” Tide coach Nick Saban said.
David Palmer, the shifty receiver and return man, was third in the Heisman voting in 1993, the best finish by a Crimson Tide player.
Alabama sophomore running back Mark Ingram became the 75th recipient of the Heisman Trophy and first Crimson Tide player to ever take home the honor. Here’s a look at the past six winners:
Year Winner 2009 Mark Ingram, Alabama 2008 Sam Bradford, Oklahoma 2007 Tim Tebow, Florida 2006 Troy Smith, Ohio St. 2005 Reggie Bush, USC 2004 Matt Leinart, USC
No major college program had won more games without a Heisman winner.
“Everybody that’s been in the Alabama family has been supporting me,” Ingram said before hoisting the bronze statue. “Walking to class, students flashed me the Heisman pose.”
Now he can take his place among Alabama’s greats and the Paul W. Bryant Museum has a new piece of a hardware to display.
“I’m sure it’ll be in the trophy cases with all those national championships and all the other awards people have won,” he said later.
The announcement that Ingram had won came minutes before the Alabama men’s basketball team was set to host No. 5 Purdue, prompting an immediate roar from the mostly full Coleman Coliseum.
Even though the presentation wasn’t shown on the videoboard, fans instantly found out the news. The public-address announcer congratulated Ingram early in the game, bringing another big ovation. One young fan sat at courtside sporting a 22 jersey — Ingram’s number — with “Heisman” across the top.
By midway through the first half, Heisman T-shirts were already on sale at the arena.
Ingram came to Tuscaloosa from Flint, Mich., the son of the former Michigan State and NFL receiver of the same name. Saban had been a coach at Michigan State when the elder Ingram was in college.
Mark Ingram Sr. starred for the New York Giants, but last year he was sentenced to almost eight years in prison. Then he did not show up at the federal prison in Kentucky to serve his sentence, which might cost him even more time.
He was found hiding out in a Michigan hotel the same day his son played Utah in the Sugar Bowl last season.
He has been serving his time in a New York City holding facility, where he’s been able to watch his son play.
“My father has been a great influence on my life and I love him to death,” Ingram said on the podium.
The father has seen his son quickly blossom into a feature back. As a freshman last season, Ingram was Bama’s No. 2 back, with a nose for the goal line. He ran for 728 yards and a team-high 12. This season, he’s been the best weapon on an offense with a first-year starting quarterback and a rebuilt offensive line.
And he’s been at his best against most of Alabama’s best competition. He opened the season with 150 yards rushing and two TDs against Virginia Tech, had 172 yards rushing at Mississippi, and set a Bryant-Denny Stadium record with 246 yards versus South Carolina.
In what was billed as the year of the quarterback — with Tebow, McCoy and last year’s Heisman winner Sam Bradford — all returning to college, Ingram emerged as the Heisman front-runner at midseason.
His only poor game, a 30-yard rushing performance against Auburn on Nov. 27, came at the worst time and in front of a national television audience.
But with the Tide playing in the biggest game of the season, a No. 1 vs. No. 2 SEC championship against Florida, Ingram had one more chance to impress voters — and he delivered.
Tide fans like to say their team is about winning championships, not Heismans.
Thanks to Ingram, Alabama might get both this season.
Tags: Alabama, alabama football, coach nick saban, College Football, Crimson, Crimson Tide, football team, heisman trophy, Ingram, mark ingram, Quarterback, ranked defense, running back, saturday night, SEC, SEC, sec championship, sugar bowl, title gameRelated posts
Saban a sound investment
December 11, 2009
The University of Alabama won its bet on Nick Saban.
In fact the gamble — a $32 million, eight-year deal that made Saban the highest paid college coach — paid off better than anyone might have hoped.
Records from the U.S. Department of Education show Tide football made nearly enough money in the 12 months ending June 30 — $38.2 million — to cover not only the $4 million per year of Saban’s orginal contract, but also the one-year extension he recently signed that upped it to $4.7 million annually.
“That makes it pretty much an open-and-shut case,” said James Cover, an economics professor at the university.
Especially considering it is an almost 40 percent gain from the year before Saban was hired in 2007. By comparison, domestic corporate profits in the United States have plummeted 27 percent since 2006, according to statistics from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
This year could be even better than the last for Alabama, with the Crimson Tide set to play Texas in the Bowl Championship Series title game on Jan. 7. Fans barely recall those pre-Saban days when Alabama was an also-ran in the national title discussion.
Along with BCS bowl money, Alabama will rake in cash from the Southeastern Conference, sales of licensed Tide merchandise, tickets and donations. Florida’s football revenues jumped $7.2 million to $61.3 million this year after it won the national title last season, records show.
Alabama officials raised more than a few eyebows when they opted to make Saban the nation’s highest-paid college coach almost three years ago, signing him after he left the NFL ranks and the Miami Dolphins. At the time, Oklahoma’s coach Bob Stoops was reportedly the highest-paid college coach with a contract worth just under $3.5 million in 2007.
Saban is proving to be worth the money. He has led Alabama to two straight SEC title games and two straight lucrative BCS bowls while compiling a 25-2 record over the last two seasons. The school may have raised the salary bar to new heights, but it’s hard to question whether it was a good financial investment.
Football continues to pay the bills for other varsity sports and the department still wound up with a $22.1 million profit last year.
Recession-plagued construction is at a standstill in some areas, but huge cranes stand over Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa. It’s being expanded to raise its capacity to 101,000 at a cost of more than $80 million.
Alabama’s jobless rate climbed to 10.9 percent last month, but the waiting list for Crimson Tide football tickets is more than 10,000 names long.
On University Drive, stores are selling Southeastern Conference championship shirts as quickly as they can get them after ‘Bama’s 32-13 convincing win against Florida last week.
David M. Jones, who runs Alabama Bookstore, said he has been swamped with fans buying hats and T-shirts ever since the SEC title game. Excitement over Alabama football has helped his business weather the recession.
“We call it the Saban effect,” Jones said. “It was a great investment three years ago, and he’s continuing to pay dividends.”
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Alabama finishes off Florida for berth in BCS title game
December 6, 2009
ATLANTA — Mark Ingram and Greg McElroy sliced up the fearsome Florida defense and Tim Tebow finally met his match, no matter how hard he tried to fire up his teammates. With an emphatic 32-13 chomping of the Gators, the Crimson Tide again stands atop the Southeastern Conference. More important, Alabama is just one win away from an even bigger title — its first national championship since 1992, led by a coach who believes in “The Process” instead of the houndstooth.
Ingram, making a strong bid to claim the school’s first Heisman Trophy, rushed for 113 yards and three touchdowns. McElroy was 12 of 18 for 239 yards and a touchdown to show he’s no weak link and No. 2 Alabama rekindled memories of Paul “Bear” Bryant with the convincing victory Saturday.
Alabama (13-0) moves on to Pasadena for the BCS championship game. Tebow and the Gators (12-1) will likely settle for the Sugar Bowl, denied a shot at their third national title in four years.
When it was over, there were a range of emotions.
Nick Saban, the no-nonsense, process-oriented coach who needed only three years to bring Alabama all the way back from a miserable era, looked totally out of character as he leaped up to bump shoulders with Ingram on the sideline.
Tebow found himself in an unusual position, too: sitting on the bench and appearing to wipe away tears as the clock ran out.
The Tide led all the way, establishing its will on the very first drive. In the second half, Alabama shut ‘em down.
Trailing 19-13 at the half, Florida took the third-quarter kickoff and came up a yard short on Tebow’s third-and-7 pass to Riley Cooper. The Gators didn’t know it at the time, but it was over.
Ingram carried it three straight times before McElory went down the right sideline to Maze for a 28-yard pass. A silly penalty on Jermaine Cunningham — he shoved McElroy in the back two steps after the quarterback threw the ball away — set up a perfect throw and catch.
McElory rolled to his right, stopped suddenly and lofted the pass in the other direction, the ball dropping right over Colin Peek as he extended his arms to haul in a 17-yard touchdown.
Ingram finished it off with his third TD early in the fourth, powering over from the 1 to cap an 88-yard drive — the Tide’s longest of the season.
Tebow, who came back for his senior year in hopes of winning another title, was 20 of 35 for 247 yards but his last gasp was picked off in the end zone.
“It’s tough. You know it’s not how you want to go out,” Tebow said, struggling to contain his emotions. “They were just better than us today, offense, defense, special teams.”
Alabama made up for its 31-20 loss to Florida in last year’s SEC title game, a result that was on their minds every step of the way.
“Everything we did all year long was to beat them, to be better than them,” Ingram said.
Saban led LSU to a share of the 2003 national title and, after a brief, unhappy stint in the NFL, he returned to take over an Alabama program that had gone through four coaches in seven seasons. It didn’t take long for Saban to realize just how passionate the Tide faithful are about their football — more than 90,000 fans turned out for the spring game.
Saban’s first year was a struggle (Alabama even lost to Louisiana-Monroe) but it was clear he had the program back on the right track. In Year 2, the Tide ripped off 12 straight regular-season wins before Florida ruined their title hopes, rallying for a 31-20 victory in the SEC title game.
Turns out, Saban’s team was merely putting things off for a year. Alabama went 12-0 in the regular season again, and this time not even Tebow and the mighty Gators could stem the Tide.
As the new SEC champions celebrated, “Sweet Home Alabama” blared over the speakers at the Georgia Dome.
“Roll, Tide, roll!” the fans cheered along.
Florida was short-handed for a game that has seemed preordained from the very first practice of the season. Carlos Dunlap, the team’s best pass rusher, couldn’t play after being arrested on drunken-driving charges Tuesday. Another key player, receiver-returner Brandon James, was hobbled in the second half and couldn’t return.
At end of third quarter, Alabama celebrated with its crimson-clad fans, while Tebow called all of his teammates around him at the 40-yard line, exhorting them to pull off another fourth-period comeback. That’s what the Gators did a year ago, scoring two TDs in the final 15 minutes to overcome the Tide.
Not this time.
The Tide held the ball for nearly 40 minutes and piled up 490 yards against a defense that was ranked No. 1 in the country, allowing less than 10 points and about 233 yards per game.
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Final: Alabama 32, Florida 13
December 6, 2009
ATLANTA – Alabama overwhelmed Florida from the outset and won its first SEC championship in 10 years Saturday with a 32-13 victory over Florida in the Georgia Dome.
CrimsonTide
Here’s an instant analysis from the game:
How the game was won: Alabama won the battle in the line of scrimmage — both offensive and defensively. The Crimson Tide carved apart the Gators’ defense both running and passing and smothered Tim Tebow with relentless pressure and never allowed him to find any rhythm.
Turning point: After Florida had pulled within 12-10 in the second quarter, Mark Ingram took a screen pass 69 yards on Alabama’s next offensive play and scored from the 3 on the play after that, taking away Florida’s short-lived momentum. Alabama never really looked back after that.
Stat of the game: Florida’s defense had only given up nine touchdowns in 12 games prior to Saturday’s SEC championship game, but gave up four to Alabama in seeing its 22-game winning streak snapped.
Player of the game: It’s probably going against the grain not picking Ingram, because he had a huge game coming off the hip pointer and ran with a vengeance. But the nod goes to Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy, who outdueled Tebow and was flawless in running the Crimson Tide’s offense. He made every key pass, scrambled for yardage when he needed to and was in command the whole way.
Unsung hero of the game: We’ve got to go heroes here and not just one hero. Alabama’s offensive line absolutely took over the game in the second half and turned in its best overall performance of the season against the best defense it’s faced. The five unsung heroes were left tackle James Carpenter, right tackle Drew Davis, left guard Mike Johnson, right guard Barrett Jones and center William Vlachos.
Second guessing: Wonder what Carlos Dunlap is thinking? You certainly can’t blame this whipping all on him, but his arrest on alleged DUI charges earlier this week and subsequent suspension sure didn’t help the Gators on or off the field. They didn’t look like the same defense without him.
What it means: Alabama locked up a spot in the BCS National Championship Game in Pasadena on Jan. 7. The Crimson Tide will face Texas provided the Longhorns take care of Nebraska in Saturday night’s Big 12 championship game. Alabama will be vying for its first national title in 17 years.
Tags: Crimson Tide, game winning streak, georgia dome, going against the grain, greg mcelroy, hip pointer, instant analysis, line of scrimmage, mark ingram, offensive line, pass 69, relentless pressure, SEC, second guessing, tim tebow, unsung hero, unsung heroesRelated posts
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