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.
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.