no. 1 Alabama staved off a tremendous upset bid from Texas on Saturday as Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Bryce Young engineered two late drives that resulted in 10 fourth-quarter points for a 20-19 Crimson Tide road victory. Kicker Will Reichard drilled a 33-yard field goal with 10 seconds remaining to send the Tide over the Longhorns at Darrell K. Royal Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas.
With the victory, Bama avoided falling for the second time in as many years to an unranked opponent from Texas and dropping a regular-season nonconference game for the first time since 2007. The win marked the 19th consecutive 2-0 start to a season for coach Nick Saban, continuing the nation’s longest active streak.
Despite losing starting quarterback Quinn Ewers late in the first quarter, the Longhorns used four field goals by Bert Auburn — including a 49-yard connection with less than 2 minutes remaining — to jump ahead of the Tide until Young’s final scoring drive. Ewers an upper body injury as the result of a late hit from Bama linebacker Dallas Turner in the red zone and did not return. Ewers was moving the offense with ease, registering 134 yards passing to start the game. From that point, however, the ‘Horns offense struggled to generate consistent opportunities.
Alabama let Texas stay in the game thanks to the most undisciplined game the Saban era. The Tide posted 15 penalties, a sum not previously met in a single game by any of Saban’s teams at Alabama or LSU. All-American linebacker Will Anderson Jr., touted as the best player in college football to start the season, was notably off his game, contributing four costly penalties to only five total tackles.
Backup Texas QB Hudson Card took advantage with 158 yards passing, including a massive 29-yard connection with wide receiver Casey Cain to jump into field goal territory in the game’s final minutes. Auburn’s 49-yard field goal looked to put the ‘Horns on top for good, but fell just short of being a game-winner. Texas running back Bijan Robinson also had several huge runs and catches, finishing with 131 all-purpose yards.
Texas’ defense played a fantastic game with six tackles for loss and a pair of sacks on Young. The ‘Horns also nearly had another sack and safety on Young in the third quarter that would have swung the game, but it was overturned and ruled an incomplete pass. Linebacker Jaylan Ford played a fantastic game with 10 tackles and two tackles for loss.
Young completed 27 of 39 passes for 213 yards, engineering a huge fourth-quarter touchdown drive and the go-ahead field goal drive with 10 seconds remaining. His pass-catchers picked up down the stretch, but one of the reasons Alabama struggled most of the game was due to drops from that unit, which amassed just three receptions for 14 yards entering the fourth quarter.
Keep it locked here with CBS Sports for takeaways from the thrilling Week 2 game.