Fiesta Bowl Game of the Week: Alabama at Texas
A look at this week’s game that likely will have the greatest impact on the road to the College Football Playoff semifinal game Dec. 31 in the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl.
No. 1 Alabama at Texas
Time/TV: 9 a.m. Saturday/Fox
Line: Alabama -20½
Ties that bind: Steve Sarkisian left his job as an Alabama assistant to be the head coach at Texas in January 2021 and quickly blazed a 735-mile trail from Tuscaloosa to Austin for others to follow. The core of his offensive coaching staff made the trek and a handful of players looking for fresh starts or more playing time have been trickling in ever since. Sarkisian has three top assistants who were on the Alabama sideline when the Crimson Tide won the 2020 national championship. Is he building Alabama West? The early returns – a 5-7 season in 2021 – have so far been rather un-Bama like.
Sarkisian often credits Alabama’s Nick Saban as a major force in restoring his coaching career after he was fired at Southern California midway into the 2015 season and went into alcohol rehabilitation treatment. Working under Saban first as an analyst in 2016 and then returning as Alabama offensive coordinator in 2019 and 2020 allowed Sarkisian an insider’s view of what Saban demands from his staff, as well as what he could demand from himself. “We could be up here for hours talking about things that I learned from him … and what he’s done for guys like myself,” Sarkisian said this week, also recalling the sting of Saban’s rebukes when something went wrong. “If he’s yelling at you, you probably didn’t reach a level of expectation. When you can meet his expectations, you are doing something right.” Sarkisian said. “I loved my time with him.”
Last meeting: Sarkisian doesn’t recall watching the last time Alabama and Texas met on the field, and most of the Longhorns were too young to remember much of anything about that game. But to a man, they pretty much all know this about the Crimson Tide’s 37-21 victory to win the 2009 season national championship: That’s the game where “Colt got hurt.”
Those three words describe the early injury to standout quarterback Colt McCoy — now the Cardinals' backup to Kyler Murray when healthy — and the ripple effect it had through more than a decade of “What ifs…” within a Texas program that floundered while Alabama established perhaps the greatest dynasty in college football history.
Saturday is the first meeting since that January 2010 matchup. Beat the heavily favored Crimson Tide and Texas could take a huge step in what Longhorns fans hope is a rebuild back into a championship contender.
“Ultimately, this is about us,” Sarkisian said. “Teams can sometimes be enamored with an opponent. We need to be enamored with us.”
Key stat: Seven Alabama receivers caught at least two passes in the 55-0 blowout of Utah State last week, led by Traeshon Holden, Kobe Prentice and Jermaine Burton with five each. Who emerges as Bryce Young’s most reliable targets?
The pick: Two storied programs getting together on campus is always interesting, but let’s be real: This is not so much about whether Sarkisian’s Longhorns can beat ‘Bama as it is getting a gauge on where the rebuild stands in Year 2. Alabama 42-14.
—Associated Press
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Fiesta Bowl Game of the Week: Alabama at Texas
