Texas Longhorns 21 – Alabama Crimson Tide 37

Jan 7  1  2  3  4  T  

Texas  6  0  7  8  21    

Alabama  0  24  0  13  37  «

But it was alot closer than it originally looked…

PASEDENA, Calif. – The No. 1 ranked Alabama football team beat No. 2 Texas in the BCS National Championship game, played in the Rose Bowl Thursday, 37-21, winning the 13th national title in school history and first since 1992. With the win, head coach Nick Saban becomes the fifth coach to bring a national championship to the Capstone.

“Our message to the team at halftime was that it’s a 60-minute game,” Saban said. “I’m proud of the way we hung in there and bounced back at the end of the game.”

The Crimson Tide defense ended any hopes of a Longhorns comeback when Eryk Anders forced a fumble out of the hands of Texas quarterback Garret Gilbert with 3:08 remaining in the game.

Alabama would force two more turnovers and score two touchdowns to seal the 2009 national championship.

With the win Alabama head coach Nick Saban becomes the first head coach in major college football history to win a national championship at two different schools, also winning the BCS national championship in 2003 at LSU.

Saban also becomes the second head coach to win two BCS national championships, joining Urban Meyer of Florida.

The victory in Pasadena comes 84 years after Alabama won its first national championship in the 1926 Rose Bowl game and makes this the fifth Alabama team to end their national championship campaign at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

Alabama officials are tentatively planning a national championship celebration for Saturday, Jan. 16. More details will be available on RollTide.com in the coming days.

At 3:08, the Longhorns had brought the game back to a nailbiter with a score of 24-21. At that point, honestly, it could have gone either way!

Heisman Trophy winner and Crimson Tide sophomore Mark Ingram sealed the deal with the winning touchdown. Overall, he rushed for 116 yards and scored 2 TDs

It took Mark Ingram nine carries and about 1 1/2 quarters of Thursday night’s Bowl Championship Series title game at the Rose Bowl to run for more yards than the Texas defense had been allowing on average in a game.

Texas came into the game with the nation’s top-ranked unit against the run, giving up only 62.2 yards per game.

Ingram had 90 yards by halftime on his way to a game-high 116 yards on 22 carries with two touchdowns.

His was a performance worthy of a Heisman Trophy winner.