Houston Hard Scrabbles Against Certain Loss

The BCS Championship was a Nick Saban blowout. It was boring; a grinding testament to the fact that no team can survive losing their star quarterback. Somehow, Texas scraped together an offense and made a run in the fourth quarter. It wasn't a statistically dominant showing by the Longhorns defense, but it was a gutty performance, and without time even to breath between drives, defending short fields, they fought their hearts out and almost, almost made a game of it.

1. 1st and 10 at TEX 29 Mark Ingram rush for 6 yards to the Texas 23 out-of-bounds.

RDT, 3-tech, 3 down linemen. Houston is pushed back, but continues to pursue the run right. He eventually sheds left tackle James Carpenter and lunges for Ingram but misses.

2. 2nd and 4 at TEX 23 Mark Ingram rush for 5 yards to the Texas 18 for a 1ST down.

LDT, 3-tech, 4 down linemen. Slow off the snap, pushed back, sheds but misses the tackle.

3. 1st and 10 at TEX 18 Mark Ingram rush for 2 yards to the Texas 16.

LDT, 3-tech, 4 down linemen. Ok off the snap, sheds a right tackle-right guard double team, Houston closes on Ingram but loses the tackle.

(Timeout, Alabama)

4. 2nd and 8 at TEX 16 Trent Richardson rush for 1 yard to the Texas 15.

RDT, 3-tech, 3 down linemen. Left guard-left tackle double team, Houston holds his ground, pushes away from Carpenter and sinks to tackle Richardson.

5. 3rd and 7 at TEX 15 Greg McElroy rush for 6 yards to the Texas 9.

RDT, 3-tech, 3 down linemen. Houston swats Vlachos, disengages but does not pursue as McElroy boots left. McElroy very nearly rushes for the first. Very rare low-motor moment for Houston, and notable because he looks fresher and faster at the start of third quarter.

(Halftime)

1. 1st and 10 at ALA 20 Mark Ingram rush for no gain to the Alab 20.

RDT, 3-tech, 3 down linemen. Stands up, pushes back Carpenter, separates and fights into the play.

2. 2nd and 10 at ALA 20 Mark Ingram rush for no gain to the Alab 20.

LDT, 3-tech, 3 down linemen. Houston forces back and sheds Carpenter, penetrates into the backfield, slows, contains and tackles Ingram for a loss (recorded as no gain).

3. 3rd and 10 at ALA 20 Greg McElroy pass complete to Mark Ingram for 5 yards to the Alab 25.

NT, motions right, 3-tech, 3 down linemen. Push, club, fights towards McElroy, but is squeezed and tripped by the pile.