The Alabama National Title That Wasn't Technically A Rose Bowl Win

The Crimson Tide's 2009 national championship was played in Pasadena, but it was called the BCS National Championship Game.

Nick Saban was soaked. His white shirt was half pink from the Gatorade bath he had received, but never to be washed again. Permanently ruined, it was heading straight to a display case in the Paul W. Bryant Museum.

“They're not supposed to hit you in the head with the bucket," the ever-critiquing coach said.

"I mean, that — it was a surprise. I knew it was coming, but I wasn't thinking about it. So the intensity of the dump was the problem."

Fans had wondered how long it might take Saban to deliver the Crimson Tide to the college football promised land, and the answer was almost exactly three years from the day he was hired. The 2007 team had struggled with some issues, and 2008 took huge steps. But in 2009, it all came together with an undefeated season. 

It makes you wonder what Saban was thinking as he held up the crystal football on the midfield stage at the Rose Bowl ... meaning the stadium. It was called the BCS National Championship Game, pairing the No. 1- and No. 2 ranked teams (the 2010 Rose Bowl was played a week previous, with Ohio State defeating Oregon, 26-17). 

Alabama was the first Southeastern Conference team to go 14-0 in winning the championship, Saban became the first coach in the modern era to win titles at two different schools, and the Tide celebrated at the same place it won its first championship 84 years previous.

“I’ll tell you what I told the team, that I’ve never been prouder of a group of guys for their resiliency, their buy in, their hard work, the blood, sweat and tears that they put worth to accomplish what they accomplished this season,” Saban said after beating Texas, 37-21. “I think most of us don’t realize how difficult it is, the togetherness that it takes, the discipline and execution that it takes, and certainly the hard work that these guys did.”

Of course, Julio Jones was a phenomenal wide receiver and Mark Ingram Jr. (he later changed his name to Mark Ingram II) won the Heisman Trophy. But he wasn’t the only player to land a major national honor as 2009 was the season that started the steady stream of national awards to Tuscaloosa.

Rolando McClain, who won the Dick Butkus Award as college football's most outstanding lineman, was the first player at Alabama who Saban referred to as the “alpha-dog” of the defense, the term the Crimson Tide would use to describe someone as being head and shoulders above the rest: “Ro was a special guy that way.”

Alabama ended up with an unprecedented six players named first-team All-American by the Associated Press: Javier Arenas, Terrence Cody, Ingram, Mike Johnson, McClain and Leigh Tiffin, with sophomore Mark Barron a third-team selection. Ingram and McClain finished as unanimous All-American selections while Arenas, Cody and Johnson were consensus picks.

“I think when you’ve got a guy like him up front it changes everything for everybody, for the opponents, you’ve got to go to different things, and for us, it makes it a little bit easier for us,” Arenas said about the player dubbed “Mt.” Cody, the Crimson Tide’s massive nose tackle.

“You know, just him being there week in and week out, you kind of get used to it and you kind of get used to everybody else adjusting instead of trying to run up the middle and shove it down your throat. So it’s good to have him up there. I don't know what it would be like without him, honestly.”

Among the records that fell included Tiffin becoming Alabama’s career scoring leader with 385 points, which ranked second in the SEC and NCAA behind Georgia’s Billy Bennett (409). Arenas finished 10 yards short of the NCAA record for punt-return yards, but set the SEC record for both career punt-return yards (1,752) and touchdowns (seven).

With 116 rushing yards in the national championship game, Ingram finished with 1,640 for the season, shattering Bobby Humphrey’s school record of 1,471 (1986). McElroy set Alabama records for consecutive completions (14 vs. Florida International), highest completion percent in a single game with a minimum of 10 (13 for 15, 86.7 percent against North Texas), and single-season completion percentage at 60.92 (198 of 325) while having just four interceptions. He was one touchdown pass short of trying the Crimson Tide single-season record of 18.

This is what Saban meant when saying that the team was really like a bus, and he was just the driver. With everyone contributing, they could collectively go anywhere, even back to Pasadena.

“Can you believe this?” junior tight end Preston Dial said while running around the Rose Bowl field during the postgame celebration. 

2009-10 Alabama Crimson Tide

14-0, national, SEC champions

Date, Opponent, Location, W/L, score

Sept. 5: vs. Virginia Tech, at Atlanta, W 34-24
Sept. 12: Florida International, at Tuscaloosa, W 40-14
Sept. 19: North Texas, at Tuscaloosa, W 53-7
Sept. 26: Arkansas, at Tuscaloosa, W 35-7
Oct. 3: at Kentucky, at Lexington, W 38-20
Oct. 10: at Ole Miss, at Oxford, W 22-3
Oct. 17: South Carolina, at Tuscaloosa, W 20-6
Oct. 24: Tennessee, at Tuscaloosa, W 12-10
Nov. 7: LSU, at Tuscaloosa, W 24-15
Nov. 14: at Mississippi State, at Starkville, W 31-3
Nov. 21: Chattanooga, at Tuscaloosa, W 45-0
Nov. 26: at Auburn, at Auburn, W 26-21
Dec. 5: vs. Florida, at Atlanta, W 32-13
Jan. 7: vs. Texas, at Rose Bowl, W 37-21

Head coach: Nick Saban
Total points: 449-164 (average 32.1-11.7)
Captains: Javier Arenas, Mike Johnson, Rolando McClain
Major awards: Mark Ingram Jr., Heisman Trophy; Rolando McClain, Butkus Award
Consensus All-American: Mark Ingram Jr., running back; Mike Johnson, guard; Terrence Cody, defensive tackle; Rolando McClain, linebacker; Javier Arenas, cornerback/return specialist.

What Sports Illustrated said about the 2009-10 national title

Story headline: Staying Power

Subhead: With an earnest coach, a wealth of returning talent, unparalleled recruiting and its chief rival in flux, national champion Alabama is just starting to roll

Excerpt (by Austin Murphy): For the second time in six years the stern-looking coach stood on a stage surrounded by overjoyed athletes, holding a crystal football over his head. As Nick Saban dutifully went down the list of dignitaries he needed to thank, the expression on his face could best be described as a kind of semigrimace. At the pinnacle of his sport after leading Alabama to its first national title in 17 years—a 37-21 victory over a wounded Texas team in the BCS championship game last Thursday night at the Rose Bowl—Saban reminded us that those best equipped to win championships are often the least equipped to celebrate them.

"I guarantee you," said a smiling Terry Saban, as she watched her spouse of 38 years, "he's already thinking about next week."

Did the couple have plans? "He said he'll give me two days," Terry said, "and then he has to meet with some of the players about going out for the [NFL] draft."

Two days? "Two days," she repeated. "And I'll take it."

Parts of this story originally appeared in Decade of Dominance: How Alabama's 10-Year Run Was the Greatest in College Football History.

This is the seventh story in a series about Alabama's history in the Rose Bowl as in prepares to face Michigan in the CFP semifinal on Jan. 1

End of an Era? Yes, Alabama's Played in One of Those Rose Bowls as Well