Instant Analysis: No. 1 Alabama 20, Texas 19
AUSTIN, Texas — Alabama found itself in a dogfight Saturday. It didn’t go as scripted – 15 penalties, limited running game, mental mistakes – but the end result was what mattered against Texas.
Will Reichard remained perfect on field goals, including the 33-yard game winner with 10 seconds to play for the 20-19 win.
Bryce Young was far from his Heisman Trophy-looking self, but stepped up when it mattered. He led the offense on a 75-yard scoring drive in the fourth quarter to put the Crimson Tide ahead by a point, and later pushed the offense 61 yards down field in just over a minute to set Reichard up for the late heroics.
“Why is [Young so good]?” Saban was asked in the postgame press conference. “If I could actually tell you that, I don't know if I’d be doing this. The guy studies the game, prepares, knows what the defense is in and what they are going to do. He understands protections, knows how to protect himself, he’s athletic enough to extend plays, and he’s very instinctive.”
On the Crimson Tide’s final drive Young displayed his ability to extend a play and turn disaster into new life. Young slipped a sack attempt with under a minute to play and scrambled 20 yards for a first down. The play saved time off the clock and turned a negative play into a positive one.
Young finished 27-of-39 for 213 yards with a touchdown pass. He had 38 rushing yards.
The Alabama defense didn’t have its best game, getting flagged 10 times, including four personal foul calls, but stepped up in the end to limit the Longhorns to three field goals in the second half after giving up more than 200 yards in the first half.
Alabama (2-0) is back home next week for a non-conference game with Louisiana-Monroe.
Check out the video located at the top of the page where Katie Windham, Joey Blackwell and Edwin Stanton break down Alabama's 20-19 victory from Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin.
