TUSCALOOSA, Ala.—Will Anderson kept coming, kept blasting into the Texas A&M backfield, kept hammering quarterback Haynes King. The Alabama linebacker was credited with an incredible eight quarterback hurries, by far the highest single-game total of his All-American career. “He was taking some hits,” Anderson said with a chuckle.
Yet King kept getting up—albeit more and more slowly. He kept bouncing back, kept standing in against the most fearsome pass rusher in college football, knowing the shots to his body were coming. That was the entire last do-or-die drive Saturday night—Anderson attacking, King slinging, the Aggies moving closer and closer to the end zone—until it came down to a final snap in a stadium dripping with unexpected tension.