With a 20-19 road win against Texas, Bryce Young’s late-game heroics salvaged No. 1 Alabama. With 10 seconds remaining in the game, Alabama kicker Will Reichard clinched the victory with a 33-yard field goal. The field goal came at the end of a chaotic fourth quarter that included two field goals for Texas, Bryce Young’s first throwing score, and an Alabama turnover on downs with less than four minutes remaining.
Though Young struggled through the first three quarters of the game, due in part to drops, his fourth-quarter performance was enough to secure the victory. Young worked his magic on an 11-play, 75-yard drive that ended in a touchdown, going 6 for 8, passing for 51 yards with 17 yards rushing, one fourth down conversion, and a 7-yard touchdown pass to Jahmyr Gibbs. Young’s incredible fourth quarter helped redeem his stats, as he finished with 251 total yards and one score.
Gibbs finished with 74 yards on nine catches, while RB Jase McClellan, who scored Alabama’s only other touchdown of the day, finished with 97 yards rushing.
Though Alabama won, it was not a pretty victory. Alabama committed 15 penalties during the game, the most in Saban’s tenure, and nearly avoided an upset thanks to a valiant effort by Texas.
Despite the setback, the Longhorns made an impression on the world. Quinn Ewers went down early with an apparent left shoulder injury after completing 9 of 12 passes for 134 yards. But then his backup appeared. Hudson Card, the Longhorns’ sophomore quarterback, led multiple touchdown drives and ended the game 14 for 22 for 158 yards. With 1:29 remaining, kicker Bert Auburn, who had four field goals, hit the game-winning field goal.
This addition to the stat sheet, however, left too much time on the clock for Nick Saban and the Tide, who eventually stormed down the field and recorded a game-winning field goal from Reichard, taking with it the possibility for a “(Bert) Auburn seals upset against No. 1 Alabama” headline. Instead, Alabama won the first regular-season encounter between the two programmes since 1922.
Texas will seek to rebound from today’s setback against UT San Antonio next week at home. Alabama improves to 2-0 on the season and returns to Tuscaloosa for a Week 3 game with UL Monroe.
