January 7, 2010 Postseason Neutral site Belt defended

Alabama defends the belt, 37–21, at a neutral site over Texas.

Home · Defending Holder

AlabamaAP No. 1 37

Away · Challenger

TexasAP No. 2 21

AP poll, week 15: Texas No. 2 at Alabama No. 1 · No. 1 that week: Wisconsin. The belt vs. the polls →

Belt context

Where this game sits in the lineage

Alabama came in 33 days into reign #271, which began with a win over Florida, with no defenses yet; this was its first defense. Alabama went on to defend it 5 more times before South Carolina took it on October 9, 2010, 308 days after the reign began.

For Texas this was its 6th shot at the belt; it had held the belt 4 times before.

It was the 2nd of 2 belt games between the two; going in, Texas led the belt series 1–0; all-time it is 1–1.

AI-Written

Recap

Alabama's defense dominated the turnover battle, forcing five Texas turnovers to just two of their own, en route to a 37-21 victory that kept the belt in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide struck quickly in the second quarter, with Mark Ingram scoring on a 2-yard rush followed by Trent Richardson's explosive 49-yard touchdown run to build a 23-6 halftime lead. Texas mounted a second-half comeback behind Garrett Gilbert, who connected with Jordan Shipley for two touchdown passes in the third and fourth quarters to cut it to 37-31, but Alabama's defense sealed the game with Javier Arenas picking off Gilbert at the Texas 30 with just over a minute remaining. Despite being outgained 276 to 263 in total yards, Alabama's ball security and defensive opportunism proved decisive, with Marcell Dareus's pick-six in the final seconds of the first half proving particularly demoralizing for the Longhorns.

Trent Richardson's 49-yard touchdown run in Q2 that extended Alabama's lead to 21-6
Marcell Dareus's pick-six with 3 seconds left in the first half, giving Alabama a commanding 34-6 advantage
Texas's two touchdown passes by Garrett Gilbert to Jordan Shipley that made it competitive in the second half
Javier Arenas's late interception of Gilbert at the Texas 30 yard line that sealed the belt defense

Written by Claude from the box score and play-by-play on this page — a plain-English recap of the numbers below, not a substitute for them.

Full Box Score

Team stats

CFBD box score

AlabamaTexas

Total yards263276

Rushing yards20581

Passing yards91209

First downs1615

3rd down conv.2/126/17

Turnovers25

Penalties–yards5–388–77

Time of possession20:1916:21

Full team box score from CFBD’s /games/teams data. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have team-level stats that far back.

Play By Play

Key plays

CFBD play-by-play

When	Team	Yards	Play
Q1 13:01	Alabama	+0 yd	P.J. Fitzgerald pass intercepted by Blake Gideon at the Alab 37, returned for no gain to the Alab 37.
Q1 9:11	Texas	+18 yd	Hunter Lawrence 18 yard field goal GOOD.
Q1 8:04	Texas	+42 yd	Hunter Lawrence 42 yard field goal GOOD.
Q1 0:41	Alabama	+23 yd	Greg McElroy pass complete to Julio Jones for 23 yards to the Texas 12 out-of-bounds, TEXAS penalty holding declined for a 1ST down.
Q2 14:18	Alabama	+2 yd	Mark Ingram rush for 2 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q2 14:18	Alabama	+0 yd	Leigh Tiffin extra point GOOD.
Q2 14:18	Alabama	+20 yd	Leigh Tiffin kickoff for 64 yards returned by Marquise Goodwin for 20 yards to the Texas 26.
Q2 7:59	Alabama	+49 yd	Trent Richardson rush for 49 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q2 7:59	Alabama	+0 yd	Leigh Tiffin extra point GOOD.
Q2 7:12	Texas	+0 yd	Garrett Gilbert pass intercepted by Javier Arenas at the Alab 25, returned for no gain to the Alab 25.
Q2 7:47	Texas	+28 yd	D.J. Monroe rush for 28 yards to the Alab 32 for a 1ST down.
Q2 0:29	Alabama	+23 yd	Leigh Tiffin kickoff for 65 yards returned by Marquise Goodwin for 23 yards to the Texas 28.
Q2 0:29	Alabama	+26 yd	Leigh Tiffin 26 yard field goal GOOD.
Q2 0:03	Texas	+28 yd	Garrett Gilbert pass intercepted by Marcell Dareus at the Texas 28, returned for 28 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q2 0:03	Alabama	+24 yd	Leigh Tiffin kickoff for 64 yards returned by D.J. Monroe for 24 yards to the Texas 45.
Q2 0:03	Alabama	+0 yd	Leigh Tiffin extra point GOOD.
Q3 13:10	Texas	+39 yd	Garrett Gilbert pass complete to Marquise Goodwin for 39 yards to the Alab 38 for a 1ST down.
Q3 1:31	Texas	+44 yd	Garrett Gilbert pass complete to Jordan Shipley for 44 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q3 1:31	Texas	+0 yd	Hunter Lawrence extra point GOOD.
Q4 11:13	Alabama	+52 yd	Leigh Tiffin 52 yard field goal MISSED.
Q4 6:15	Texas	+28 yd	Garrett Gilbert pass complete to Jordan Shipley for 28 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q4 6:15	Texas	+0 yd	Two-point conversion attempt, Garrett Gilbert pass to Dan Buckner GOOD.
Q4 2:01	Alabama	+1 yd	Mark Ingram rush for 1 yard for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q4 2:01	Alabama	+0 yd	Leigh Tiffin extra point GOOD.
Q4 1:48	Texas	+3 yd	Garrett Gilbert pass intercepted by Javier Arenas at the Texas 30, returned for 3 yards to the Texas 27.
Q4 0:47	Alabama	+2 yd	Trent Richardson rush for 2 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q4 0:26	Texas	+0 yd	Garrett Gilbert pass intercepted by Tyrone King at the Alab 31, returned for no gain to the Alab 31.

Scoring plays, turnovers, and gains of 20+ yards, pulled from CFBD’s play-by-play. This section only appears for belt games with play-by-play on file (2003 onward).

Box Score

Player stats

CFBD player stats

Passing

Alabama

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Greg McElroy	6/11	58	5.3	0	0	9.9
P.J. Fitzgerald	0/1	0	0.0	0	1	1.2

Texas

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Garrett Gilbert	15/40	186	4.7	2	4	5.6
Colt McCoy	2/2	9	4.5	0	0	32.2

Rushing

Alabama

Player	YDS	CAR	AVG	TD	LONG
Mark Ingram	116	22	5.3	2	19
Trent Richardson	109	19	5.7	2	49
Roy Upchurch	9	2	4.5	0	5
Greg McElroy	-27	7	-3.9	0	6

Texas

Player	YDS	CAR	AVG	LONG
Colt McCoy	0	1	0.0	0
Tre' Newton	39	14	2.8	16
D.J. Monroe	33	3	11.0	28
John Chiles	8	1	8.0	8
Fozzy Whittaker	5	1	5.0	5
Cody Johnson	2	3	0.7	1
Garrett Gilbert	-6	5	-1.2	5

Receiving

Alabama

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	LONG
Julio Jones	1	23	23.0	23
Trent Richardson	2	19	9.5	11
Mark Ingram	2	12	6.0	7
Marquis Maze	1	4	4.0	4

Texas

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Jordan Shipley	10	122	12.2	2	44
Marquise Goodwin	3	70	23.3	0	39
Malcolm Williams	1	4	4.0	0	4
Tre' Newton	2	2	1.0	0	6
Dan Buckner	1	-3	-3.0	0	0

Show more stats (5 more categories)

Interceptions

Alabama

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Javier Arenas	2	3	0
Marcell Dareus	1	28	1
Tyrone King	1	0	0

Texas

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Blake Gideon	1	0	0

Kick Returns

Alabama

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Michael Williams	2	17	8.5	11	0

Texas

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG
Marquise Goodwin	3	62	20.7	23
D.J. Monroe	2	36	18.0	24
Antwan Cobb	1	8	8.0	8

Kicking

Alabama

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Leigh Tiffin	1/2	50.0	26	4/5	7

Texas

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Hunter Lawrence	2/2	100.0	42	1/1	7

Punt Returns

Alabama

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Javier Arenas	4	19	4.8	12	0

Texas

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Jordan Shipley	5	0	0.0	0	0

Punting

Alabama

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
P.J. Fitzgerald	7	261	37.3	0	0	41

Texas

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
John Gold	4	188	47.0	0	0	53
Justin Tucker	4	155	38.8	0	0	43

Full player stats from CFBD’s /games/players data, split out by team. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have player-level stats that far back. Linked player names go to that player’s stat line in every other belt game they’ve appeared in.

Sources Box score at ESPN · Game record: College Football Data (id 300070333) · This game in the downloadable dataset

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