USC vs Alabama 2016: Revisiting Bama's annihilation over Trojan's feat. Jalon Hurts, Blake Barnett, and more
Hardcore fans will remember the USC vs. Alabama match in the 2016 season opener. The mighty No.1 Crimson Tide against the No.20 Trojans was a match to remember.
The game ended in the favor of college football's boogeyman Alabama. Let's revisit the game.
USC vs Alabama in Arlington
This historic game had seen Jerry Jones lend the Cowboy's magnificent AT&T Stadium in Arlington Texas, in his never-ending bid to promote America's team, for the most marketable season opener college football can offer: USC vs Alabama.
USC vs Alabama: The game
Things started with a fake promise for the Trojans, getting ahead with a 46-yard field goal in the first quarter. From there, it was all about Alabama. USC would only score another field goal attempt in the third quarter only to be smashed by Alabama with 17, 21, and 14 points in the second, third, and fourth quarter, respectively for a final score of 52-6.
Although Alabama was led by Blake Barnett who was in his redshirt freshman year, it also had future NFL star and true freshman Jalen Hurts on its bench. Given the comfortable lead for the Crimson Tide, Saban decided to experiment with Hurts mid-game. Barnett would lose the starting position and Hurts would go on to be selected the SEC's Offensive Player of the Year and SEC's Freshman of the Year. In that game, Hurts threw for 118 yards with 2 TDs and 1 interception and Barnett for 100 yards with 1 TD.
USC vs Alabama: How their seasons went
The Trojan defeat would go down in history as one of their worst alongside their loss against California rival the University of Stanford 55-21 in 2009. Their worst defeat was by rival Notre Dame 51-0 in 1966. Nonetheless, USC somewhat recovered with a 10-3 record and an invitation to the Rose Bowl, where they were defeated by Penn State.
Alabama would go on to have a great season with a 14-1 record and an SEC Championship with a victory over Florida only to be defeated by Deshaun Watson's Clemson Tigers in the College Football Playoff Final.
