Daily Dose of Crimson Tide: The Greatest Alabama Play That Didn't Count, 'The Strip'

Need your fix of Alabama sports? BamaCentral has you covered with George Teague's "The Strip"

It was the game that the rest of the college football world didn’t give Alabama much of a chance to win. The Crimson Tide began the 1992 season ranked near the bottom of the top 10, but after a perfect regular season found itself in the national championship game at the Sugar Bowl.

What so many people couldn’t overlook was that Alabama’s opponent was defending champion Miami, ranked No. 1 and riding a 28-game winning streak. The Hurricanes felt the same way too, and didn’t think the Tide posed much of a threat -- so much so that they said openly admitted it in the days and weeks leading up to the game.

One pre-game comment that especially attracted attention was Hurricanes wide receiver Lamar Thomas: “Alabama’s cornerbacks don’t impress me one bit. They’re overrated. Real men don’t play zone defense and we’ll show them a thing or two come January 1.”

After taking a 13-6 halftime lead, Alabama went for the kill. On Miami’s first offensive play of the third quarter, cornerback Tommy Johnson intercepted a pass and returned it to the Hurricanes’ 20. Six plays later, running back Derrick Lassic, who was named game MVP, scored from the 1.

Down 20-6, Miami, and Heisman Trophy quarterback Gino Torretta, was flabbergasted.

“He was so shaken up he couldn’t help but throw it to you,” Johnson said. “The rush was coming and he looked scared. We’d put 11 men on the line and he’d call timeout. He didn’t know what to do.”

On the subsequent possession, Torretta again found himself looking at all 11 defenders on the line, only this time the result was an interception George Teague returned for a 31-yard high-stepping touchdown.

That was followed by possibly the greatest play in college football history that never appeared on a statistics page. When Torretta hit Thomas in stride, the wide receiver appeared to be gone for a long touchdown, but Teague had other ideas. Not only did he chase down Thomas before reaching the end zone, but fluidly ripped the ball away and started running the opposite direction.

Even though it was nullified by a penalty, it’s called the “Play of the Century” at Alabama.

“We had great respect for Alabama, especially its defense,” Miami coach Dennis Erickson said after the 34-13 loss. “We knew they were a formidable opponent. But in retrospect, I think they were a lot stronger than a lot of our people thought.”

Alabama accumulated 267 rushing yards on 60 carries, led by Lassic’s 135 yards and two touchdowns. In contrast, Miami had just 47 yards rushing.

But the buzz of the game was Teague, and how the Tide shut the Hurricanes up, and down.

“It’s better to be seen and not heard,” Lassic said. “They were doing a lot of talking. When you do that, you’ve got a lot to prove. They didn’t do it. They talked about it, but they didn’t walk it. There’s a new king on the throne.

“My hat goes off to Coach Stallings. You couldn’t have written up a better script, winning the national championship during the year we celebrate 100 yards of Alabama football.”

Image courtesy of Jimmy Bank

Some of this post originated from "100 Things Crimson tide Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die," published by Triumph Books