September 4, 2010 Week 1 · Regular Season Belt defended

Alabama defends the belt, 48–3, at home over San José State.

Home · Defending Holder

AlabamaAP No. 1 48

Away · Challenger

San José State 3

AP poll, week 1: San José State unranked 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 273 days into reign #271, which began with a win over Florida, with one defense already behind it; this was its second defense. Alabama went on to defend it 4 more times before South Carolina took it on October 9, 2010, 308 days after the reign began.

For San José State this was its 3rd shot at the belt; it had never held the belt. It still hasn’t: 3 attempts in all, every one of them a loss or a tie.

This is the only time Alabama and San José State have met with the belt on the line.

AI-Written

Recap

Alabama dominated San José State from start to finish, establishing control with an early touchdown drive capped by Trent Richardson's 4-yard rush in the first quarter. The Crimson Tide's offense was relentless, with Greg McElroy connecting with Marquis Maze for a 48-yard touchdown pass and A.J. McCarron finding Julio Jones for a 29-yard score, both in the first half. San José State managed only a 31-yard field goal and briefly threatened with a 49-yard completion to Noel Grigsby in the second quarter, but failed to capitalize when Harrison Waid missed a 41-yard field goal attempt. Alabama's ground game took over in the second half, with Eddie Lacy scoring twice on short rushing touchdowns in the third and fourth quarters, while the defense recorded an interception return for 15 yards. The 48-3 final score reflected Alabama's complete dominance in every phase of the game.

Trent Richardson's 4-yard touchdown rush (Q1 11:38) -- established Alabama's early momentum and started the onslaught
Greg McElroy to Marquis Maze 48-yard touchdown (Q1 5:02) -- demonstrated Alabama's passing efficiency and made it 14-0
Jordan La Secla interception to Robert Lester (Q1 4:04) -- prevented San José State from sustaining their only promising drive
Eddie Lacy's two rushing touchdowns (Q3 10:31, Q4 14:04) -- sealed the game with Alabama's ground dominance in the second half

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

AlabamaSan José State

Total yards591175

Rushing yards25789

Passing yards33595

First downs307

3rd down conv.7/111/13

Turnovers11

Penalties–yards4–405–35

Time of possession18:4217:58

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 11:38	Alabama	+4 yd	Trent Richardson rush for 4 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q1 11:38	Alabama	+0 yd	Jeremy Shelley extra point GOOD.
Q1 10:45	San José State	+32 yd	Brandon Rutley rush for 32 yards to the Alab 32, ALABAMA penalty 15 yard face mask accepted for a 1ST down.
Q1 7:26	San José State	+31 yd	Harrison Waid 31 yard field goal GOOD.
Q1 7:26	San José State	+34 yd	Harrison Waid kickoff for 66 yards returned by Trent Richardson for 34 yards to the Alab 23, ALABAMA penalty 15 yard personal foul accepted.
Q1 5:02	Alabama	+48 yd	Greg McElroy pass complete to Marquis Maze for 48 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q1 5:02	Alabama	+0 yd	Jeremy Shelley extra point GOOD.
Q1 4:04	San José State	+15 yd	Jordan La Secla pass intercepted by Robert Lester at the SJSt 34, returned for 15 yards to the SJSt 19.
Q2 14:11	Alabama	+39 yd	Trent Richardson rush for 39 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q2 14:11	Alabama	+0 yd	Jeremy Shelley extra point GOOD.
Q2 11:48	Alabama	+29 yd	A.J. McCarron pass complete to Julio Jones for 29 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q2 11:48	Alabama	+26 yd	Cade Foster kickoff for 70 yards returned by Brandon Rutley for 26 yards to the SJSt 26.
Q2 11:48	Alabama	+0 yd	Jeremy Shelley extra point GOOD.
Q2 5:49	San José State	+49 yd	Jordan La Secla pass complete to Noel Grigsby for 49 yards to the Alab 30 for a 1ST down.
Q2 3:26	San José State	+41 yd	Harrison Waid 41 yard field goal MISSED.
Q2 0:32	Alabama	+23 yd	Greg McElroy pass complete to Darius Hanks for 23 yards to the SJSt 40 for a 1ST down.
Q2 0:00	Alabama	+42 yd	Cade Foster 41 yard field goal GOOD.
Q3 15:00	Alabama	+26 yd	Cade Foster kickoff for 61 yards returned by Brandon Driver for 26 yards to the SJSt 35.
Q3 12:08	Alabama	+25 yd	Greg McElroy pass complete to Julio Jones for 25 yards to the 50 yard line for a 1ST down.
Q3 10:31	Alabama	+37 yd	Eddie Lacy rush for 37 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q3 10:31	Alabama	+0 yd	Cade Foster extra point GOOD.
Q3 4:38	Alabama	+24 yd	Cade Foster 24 yard field goal GOOD.
Q3 4:38	Alabama	+24 yd	Cade Foster kickoff for 68 yards returned by Brandon Driver for 24 yards to the SJSt 26 out-of-bounds.
Q3 6:45	Alabama	+34 yd	A.J. McCarron pass complete to Darius Hanks for 34 yards to the SJSt 27 for a 1ST down.
Q4 14:04	Alabama	+10 yd	Eddie Lacy rush for 10 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q4 14:04	Alabama	+24 yd	Cade Foster kickoff for 60 yards returned by Brandon Driver for 24 yards to the SJSt 34.
Q4 14:04	Alabama	+0 yd	Cade Foster extra point GOOD.

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	13/16	218	13.6	1	0	96.6
AJ McCarron	9/14	116	8.3	1	0	95.2

San José State

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Jordan La Secla	7/14	85	6.1	0	1	17.6
Matt Faulkner	1/5	1	0.2	0	0	10.4

Rushing

Alabama

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Eddie Lacy	13	111	8.5	2	37
Trent Richardson	10	66	6.6	2	39
Demetrius Goode	11	66	6.0	0	13
Julio Jones	1	13	13.0	0	13
Greg McElroy	3	7	2.3	0	6
AJ McCarron	1	-2	-2.0	0	0

San José State

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	LONG
Brandon Rutley	13	52	4.0	32
David Freeman	5	20	4.0	8
Lamon Muldrow	7	12	1.7	4
Matt Faulkner	1	7	7.0	7
Wade O'Neill	1	1	1.0	1
Jordan La Secla	2	-3	-1.5	6

Receiving

Alabama

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Julio Jones	6	93	15.5	1	29
Marquis Maze	3	68	22.7	1	48
Darius Hanks	3	66	22.0	0	34
Trent Richardson	3	46	15.3	0	19
Brandon Gibson	3	21	7.0	0	14
Preston Dial	1	19	19.0	0	19
Earl Alexander	1	9	9.0	0	9
Brad Smelley	1	9	9.0	0	9
Eddie Lacy	1	3	3.0	0	3

San José State

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	LONG
Noel Grigsby	2	55	27.5	49
Chandler Jones	3	20	6.7	9
Jalal Beauchman	1	5	5.0	5
Kyle Nunn	1	5	5.0	5
Lamon Muldrow	1	1	1.0	1

Show more stats (5 more categories)

Interceptions

Alabama

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Robert Lester	1	15	0

San José State

No recorded stats in this category.

Kick Returns

Alabama

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Trent Richardson	1	34	34.0	34	0
Michael Williams	1	9	9.0	9	0

San José State

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG
Brandon Driver	5	119	23.8	26
Brandon Rutley	1	16	16.0	16
Dominique Hunsucker	1	15	15.0	15

Kicking

Alabama

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Cade Foster	2/2	100.0	41	2/2	8
Jeremy Shelley	0/0	0.0	0	4/4	4

San José State

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Harrison Waid	1/2	50.0	31	0/0	3

Punt Returns

Alabama

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG
Marquis Maze	3	8	2.7	5
Darius Hanks	1	1	1.0	1
Julio Jones	1	0	0.0	0

San José State

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Brandon Rutley	1	0	0.0	0	0

Punting

Alabama

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Cody Mandell	3	122	40.7	0	0	52

San José State

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Harrison Waid	9	374	41.6	0	0	50

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 302470333) · This game in the downloadable dataset

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