The University of Texas (UT) Longhorns entered Saturday’s highly anticipated game against No. 1 Alabama as 20-point underdogs – and while the vaunted Crimson Tide left Austin with another win – it wasn’t the blowout most had predicted.
The Longhorns made incumbent Heisman winner Bryce Young look mortal for much of the afternoon until the 21-year-old junior strung together a fourth-quarter drive that led to the game-winning field goal to down the hosts 20-19 and dashed their hopes of a monumental upset.
“That was a hell of a college football game,” UT head coach Steve Sarkisian said, Austin NBC affiliate KXAN reported. “I thought we played hard and tough and overcame a lot of adversity. We continued to battle and fight. In the end, [Alabama] is the best team in the country. In the end, it still stings.”
A record crowd of 105,213 at Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium braved a heat index of almost 120 degrees to watch what was arguably one of the most entertaining games of the season, per KXAN.
UT began the contest behind Alabama 10-3, but would knot things at 10 by halftime.
Longhorns redshirt freshman quarterback Quinn Ewers kept the offense afloat with 134 yards on 9-for-12 passing until an injury took him out early, thrusting Lake Travis product Hudson Card under center.
Card, a sophomore, had the benefit of the defense snuffing the normally prolific Crimson Tide offense at every turn until late, according to an Associated Press (AP) report that was ran by Austin ABC affiliate KVUE.
Despite the circumstances, the second-string field general filled in nicely for Ewers to the tune of 158 yards on 14-for-22 passing.
Junior running back Bijan Robinson accounted for UT’s lone touchdown.
While the chance of turning the polls upside down slipped out of the Longhorns’ hands, Sarkisian and his program saw plenty of positives in making Alabama work harder for its second win of 2022.
“Nobody gave us a chance in this game … We played like a team that believed they could win this game,” the second-year Longhorns coach said, KVUE reported.
Robinson, a possible finalist for this year’s Heisman, agrees with his coach.
“We’re ready to go against anybody, but I think what the country saw was Texas, they have a different culture, a new brotherhood," the rusher, who ran for 57 yards on 21 carries, said, according to KVUE.
In a rarity for college football, the previously unranked Longhorns jumped into the AP College Football Top 25 Rankings and landed at No. 21, KXAN reported.
UT is reportedly the first team in 25 years to enter in the polls despite a loss.
It hosts University of Texas-San Antonio (UTSA) on Saturday.