1/19 Top 10 Plays
I don’t know about you, but I can’t get enough of Alabama’s 2009 National Championship season! Couple my desire to continue talking about this season with my love for Top 10 lists, and I simply couldn’t resist putting together my “Top 10 Plays of Alabama’s 2009 Season.” I’m sure that you’ll disagree with me on some of them, but keep in mind that it’s strictly my opinion, so feel free to chime in if you have other ones that you think should have been included. Let the fun begin!
10) PJ Pins ‘em Deep – This is a play that will be forgotten because of the other plays that happened soon after, but the national championship was in great jeopardy when this play occurred. The Texas Longhorns had cut our lead from 24-6 to 24-21, and with 3:20 left in the game, we were forced to punt the ball back to them. Their QB was absolutely on fire at this time, and if they got the ball in decent field position, I didn’t like our chances. However, punting from the 37 yard-line, PJ Fitzgerald skied a beautiful punt (under pressure, by the way), forcing the ultra-dangerous Jordan Shipley to fair-catch it at the 7-yard line. In my opinion, pinning them deep was monumentally important, and set the stage for the dramatics that came soon after.
9) McElroy to Maze Part 1 – Not many people are going to remember this play, because it occurred in a 35-7 blowout over the Arkansas Razorbacks, but briefly, early in the second half, this game got tight. We were ahead 14-0 at the half, but on their first possession of the second half, Arkansas’s high-powered offense started clicking, and they marched down the field easily, scoring a TD and closing the gap to 14-7. I was concerned, but on our first play of our next possession, McElroy hit Marquis Maze streaking down the right sideline for an 80-yard TD pass. Maze made a phenomenal catch, adjusting beautifully to the slightly underthrown ball in very tight coverage.
8) McClain Backs ‘em Up! – Actually, I could almost as easily have picked the phenomenal play by Kareem Jackson on the play before this one, but the situation was as follows. We trailed Auburn 21-20 with 10:37 left in the game. They got the ball at our 44-yard line. After two plays (including the aforementioned play by Kareem), we had pushed them back to the 50-yard line, where they faced 3rd and 16. On the next play, Rolando McClain forced his way around (actually through) the right tackle, and sacked AU QB Chris Todd for a loss of 10, forcing them to punt from their own 40-yard line. Note that on the previous drive, they punted from our 46 and pinned us at the 3. This time, since they got pushed back, they had to punt from their own 40, and after a 39 yard punt, we were able to start that legendary drive at our own 21.
7) Tiptoe Through the Razorbacks – This was one of the most beautiful runs I’ve ever seen. With about 9 minutes left in the second quarter, the score was still 0-0, and quite frankly, we couldn’t budge the ball on Arkansas’s defense. However, Trent Richardson evidently got tired of getting drilled at the line of scrimmage, and decided to take matters into his own hands. Trent broke at least 6 tackles (several in the backfield) on his way to a 52 yard TD run, putting us ahead 7-0, and giving our offense some desperately needed life.
6) McElroy to Maze Part 2 – You can look at this play a couple of ways. You can either believe that since we were dominating this game so thoroughly from a statistical standpoint, it was inevitable that we would eventually break through. Or you can believe that we had blown so many opportunities that the game was starting to slip away from us. Personally, I tend towards the latter, and therefore I think this was a huge play. With 12:51 left in the game, we trailed the 7th ranked Virginia Tech Hokies 17-16. We had just dodged a huge bullet on VT’s previous possession, and they were forced to punt. Javier Arenas made a nice return to our 46-yard line, and on the first play of our possession, McElroy went deep to Marquis Maze. It was a good (not great) pass, and Maze made a great adjustment to catch the ball all the way down at the VT 6. Ingram scored on the next play, and we held the lead for the rest of the game.
5) PJ Takes Down BJ – This was a huge play. At the beginning of the second quarter in the SEC Championship game against Florida, we held a 9-3 lead, but were forced to punt. Florida speedster Brandon James received the punt along the right sideline, and somehow broke back across the field leaving our coverage team in the dust. As he reached the left sideline, nothing stood between him and a Florida lead except for punter PJ Fitzgerald. I still can’t believe it happened, but PJ dropped James with a beautiful open field tackle that would have impressed me even had it come from a safety or linebacker. From a punter it left me speechless. Florida didn’t score at all on that possession, and ultimately, they never led during the entire course of the game.
4) Julio to the House – LSU was playing us tough, and with about 11 minutes left in the game, they held a 15-13 lead. McClain and Cody made a great stop of third and one, forcing them to punt, and we took possession at our own 27-yard line. On the first play of our drive, McElroy flared it out to Julio Jones on a screen pass on the left sideline. The LSU defender took a poor angle on the tackle, and once Julio got through the line of scrimmage, he was gone for a 73-yard TD! We had some tense moments later in the game, but we never relinquished the lead, and won 24-15.
3) Eryk Anders, Coming Through! – With 3 minutes left in the game, the Alabama defense needed one big play to win the national championship, and it came on the drive’s second play (the first play was a penalty). On first and ten from the Texas 17 yard-line, Texas QB Garrett Gilbert dropped back to pass. However, our Jack Linebacker Eryk Anders came free off of Gilbert’s blind side, and hit him full stride. Gilbert fumbled, and Courtney Upshaw out-hustled the Texas WR to recover the ball at the Texas 3. Three plays later, Mark Ingram powered in from the 1 to clinch the national championship for the Alabama Crimson Tide!
2) Cody 5 – What a play! We were down 21-20, and we had the ball 3rd and 3 from the Auburn 3 and a half, and there was 1:29 left in the game. The call came in to run Trent Richardson, make Auburn burn their last timeout, and kick the field goal to take a 23-21 lead. However, evidently Saban heard my screams, and called a timeout himself to rethink that strategy. Instead of running the ball, we lined up Roy Upchurch in the FB position, and faked the ball to Trent Richardson. Upchurch got a semi-free release and had a step on the defender. McElroy was pressured, but stepped back to avoid the pass rush, and hit Upchurch in the end zone. We took the lead and ultimately won the game 26-21. It should be noted that Auburn was in long field goal range at the end of the game, but since we scored a TD instead of kicking a FG, they were forced to throw a Hail-Mary pass instead of kicking the FG. I love having a coach that understands the basics of football!
1) Rocky Block – What do I have to say about this one? After string of costly errors, we found ourselves only a 45-yard field goal away from losing to our hated rival, the Tennessee Volunteers. However, Cody would have none of it, and he managed to extricate his left arm from the line and raise it just as the Vol kicker made contact with the ball. You can argue that Lincoln would have missed the kick anyway. You can argue that one of the other Bama players would have blocked it had it made it past Cody. You can’t be sure either of those would have happened, but it doesn’t matter, because Cody’s heroic effort ended it right then and there.
Told you this would be fun! I know there were lots and lots of plays that I could have included but didn't. I’m sure lots of you are wondering how I could have left off Dareus’s interception return for a TD, or Upchurch plowing over the VT defender for Bama’s first TD of the year, or McElroy’s pass to Peek that made the cover of Sports Illustrated. The list goes on and on, and I’m really curious to see what you guys think should have been on here, so send them my way. I can never get enough of reading about our championship season!
I’ll blog again soon, so keep checking back. Until then, feel free to send me any questions or comments.
Roll Tide!
Kenny
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