• Final Score: Colorado State 23, Alabama 41
• Line: Colorado State +31
• Venue: Bryant-Denny Stadium

We did it. We got through all the losses and we’re ending with the king of moral victories, the 2017 Alabama game. Rams came into this game at 2-1 and would put in a decent showing against the eventual national champion. They’d take the confidence from this game into a bye week, fly to Hawaii, and win four games in a row. The four game win streak tied for Coach Bobo’s longest, a feat he also accomplished to end the 2015 season.

The game didn’t start out that great: Alabama touchdown, Rams three-and-out, Alabama touchdown, Rams three-and-out, Alabama field goal, Rams four-and-out.

So just like that the Rams are down 17-0 in the first quarter, Alabama has the ball at the 50, and our best highlight so far is a monster punt by Ryan Stonehouse:

The tide (tide!) turns with a JK Scott missed field goal and CSU answers with a field goal. Bama goes three-and-out on their next drive and CSU responds with an 11 play, 85 yard touchdown drive that almost didn’t happen if not for this circus grab by Dalton Fackrell on a third and long:

This would eventually lead to the legendary Warren Jackson over Anthony Averett “You Got Mossed!” touchdown:

(Averett would go on to get picked in the 4th round by Baltimore.)

17-10, we’re back in it!!! (Alabama would score the next 24 points and go up 41-10.)

Rams eventually score again in the 4th quarter with an eleven play drive capped off by a Nick Stevens touchdown. Alabama goes three and out and the Rams drive right back down the field and enter the red zone.

On first and goal, Michael Gallup gets his own You Got Mossed! touchdown, but he was robbed by the officials:

That’s a touchdown. Are we trying to protect Anthony Averett’s feelings or something?

Next play we just go back to Warren Jackson who scores over Dallas Cowboy second round pick Trevon Diggs:

Rams go with an onside kick that doesn’t get recovered and Nick Saban is forced to re-insert his first team offense to finish out the game. He was pissed, or at least pretending to be pissed to prove a point. (The message was received as Alabama beat Vanderbilt 59-0 the next week.)

Only three teams scored more than 20 points on that Alabama team: CSU, Mississippi State, and Georgia.

If memory serves me correctly, this was the third time the Rams would play the eventual national champion along with ’84 BYU and ’04 USC. (I’m probably missing one, but I’m too lazy to look it up.)

A condensed version of the game is here:

Tomorrow, the winning starts!!!