Throwback Thursday: 1942 Cotton Bowl, Alabama vs. Texas A&M
This is one of those times in which the statistics didn't tell the whole story.
The sixth Cotton Bowl was played in the early days of World War II, so the nation's attention was understandably focused on other things when Alabama and Texas A&M played a game that was somewhere between unusual and downright bizarre.
No. 20 Alabama won the first meeting against its future Southeastern Conference foe, 29-21.
However, most of the numbers were in the Aggies' favor:
• Alabama was outgained 309-75. It punted 16 times.
• The Crimson Tide made just one first down, although that's a little misleading. The game was played under Southwest Conference rules, which stipulated that touchdown plays were not counted as first downs. So officially, Texas A&M had a 13-1 edge.
• Texas A&M ran 81 offensive plays, compared to Alabama's 33.
• The Crimson Tide built up a 29-7 lead in the fourth quarter before the Aggies made a ferocious comeback. What a lot of accounts fail to mention was that the Alabama coaching staff put in the third stringers after taking such a big lead.
The No. 9 Aggies had the nation's top passing attack and had outscored its opponents 260-46.
However, here's the only real number you need to pay attention to from the game: Alabama picked off seven passes and made five fumble recoveries, for a total of 12 turnovers.
Jimmie Nelson led the Crimson Tide's efforts.
After Texas A&M scored first on a 12-yard pass from Leo Daniels to Herman Cowley following a 44-yard punt return, Alabama quickly countered off a turnover. Shortly after Don Whitmire's fumble recovery, the Crimson Tide scored on an 8-yard reverse with Russ Craft reaching the end zone.
With Nelson making an interception in the end zone just before halftime, the Crimson Tide took over following the break. His 72-yard kickoff return for a touchdown put Alabama up for good, 13-7.
Another Daniels fumble, this time on a punt return with Sam Sharp recovering, set up a 21-yard Nelson touchdown run.
An interception was converted into a 31-yard field goal, and later a deflected ball landed into the hand of Holt Rast, who returned it 12 yards for a touchdown.
“Now when they tell me Southwest Conference football is better than ours, I’ll just laugh at them,” Crimson Tide coach Frank Thomas was quoted as saying afterward. “They play good football but we play a better brand.”
