Texas football finished as the 1981 national runner-up after its 14-12 Cotton Bowl victory against Alabama — the last time the Longhorns beat the Tide.
Although most of us remember the 2009 BCS national championship game well between Alabama and Texas football — a heavyweight bout that turned out to launch Nick Saban’s dynasty in Tuscaloosa — the Longhorns haven’t beaten the Tide in 40 years.
However, it’s interesting to note that the 2009 title game victory was Alabama’s first win against Texas in nine meetings between the two teams. Having first met 120 years ago, the Longhorns own a 7-1-1 series advantage and are certainly one of the few programs that can claim a winning record against the Tide.
The last Texas victory — and the most recent meeting between these two teams before that 2009 title game — was when the Longhorns defeated Alabama at the conclusion of the 1981 season in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Day of 1982.
A Texas squad coached by Fred Akers beat a Bear Bryant-led Alabama 14-12. It would be the final game of Bryant’s second-to-last season in charge in Tuscaloosa — he would pass away from a heart attack less than 13 months later on Jan. 26, 1983, after the conclusion of the 1982 football season.
The 1981 season marked the last SEC championship for Bryant in his storied coaching career — his 14th conference title overall. His Crimson Tide teams won six national championships during his tenure as coach from 1958 to 1982.
Bryant had already become the winningest head coach in college football history with Alabama’s Iron Bowl win just several weeks before this game (315 wins), and he would finish his head coaching career with 323 overall wins.
No. 6 Texas of the Southwest Conference and No. 3 Alabama of the SEC entered the 1982 Cotton Bowl with identical 9-1-1 records. After the Longhorns’ win, Texas would finish the year ranked No. 2 in the country behind Clemson, which finished undefeated after its Orange Bowl victory against Nebraska en route to winning the national championship. It was the Tigers’ first national title, coming a year after Georgia had won the 1980 title.
Texas trailed 10-0 in the fourth quarter before scoring two late touchdowns and giving up a safety near the game’s end to walk away with the 14-12 triumph. Terry Orr‘s eight-yard touchdown run with 2:05 remaining sealed the victory for the Longhorns.
Texas defensive lineman Kenneth Sims would go on to become the No. 1 overall selection of the 1982 NFL Draft that spring before playing an eight-year NFL career with the New England Patriots.
Twenty-seven years later, the 37-21 Tide victory for the 2009 national title came after Texas quarterback Colt McCoy left the game with an injury in the fifth play of the game. It’s fair to ponder the numerous what-if scenarios in the game’s aftermath.
If McCoy hadn’t suffered the injury, would the Longhorns have entered the 13-year tailspin of relative mediocrity in which they’re currently mired? Texas has had five losing records in that span and has reached double-digit victories only once. Four different Texas head coaches have led the Longhorns since that game.
And on the flip side, would Alabama have launched arguably the greatest college football dynasty ever under head coach Nick Saban without the McCoy injury? There are a lot of assumptions to make in these hypothetical scenarios, with one considering that the Longhorns could have actually beaten the Tide under different circumstances.
No. 1 Alabama will face Texas at 12 p.m. ET on Sept. 10.