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The Tuscaloosa News
Alabama football QB Ty Simpson makes more two-minute magic to spark win | Goodbread
- Story byThe Tuscaloosa News
- Alabama football QB Ty Simpson makes more two-minute magic to spark win | Goodbread
When Ty Simpson surveyed the Vanderbilt defense and calmly took a shotgun snap to begin the drive, there was 1:22 left in the first half, not game.
But Alabama football's hopes of extending a three-game win streak were at stake just the same.
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Behind by a touchdown and with every bit of momentum positioned squarely on the Vanderbilt sideline, Simpson went to work on a six-play, 78-yard touchdown drive that tied the score, sparked the win and might've saved a season all at once.
Alabama 30, Vanderbilt 14.
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There wasn't a more important sequence in the Crimson Tide handing the 5-1 Commodores their first loss of the season than Simpson's half-ending heroics. The fourth-year junior began the possession with a 13-yard completion to Isaiah Horton . After a sack for a loss of 2 yards, he found Ryan Williams for 10 to set up a critical 3rd-and-2 situation. But with the clock dwindling, 2 yards weren't enough. With 0:34 left, Simpson hit Williams for 17, Germie Bernard for 13, then Bernard again for a 27-yard score that pivoted the entire contest.
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With that, Alabama entered the half at 14-14, and Simpson extended what has become a remarkable run of success in executing the Crimson Tide's two-minute offense.
Across Alabama's four-game win streak, it marked the fourth time Simpson has led a touchdown drive in the final minute of the first half. He threw for a 29-yard score to Horton with 31 seconds left in the half against ULM, found Horton for a 13-yard TD pass with 0:45 left before the half against Wisconsin and ran for a 2-yard touchdown against Georgia with 0:38 left. That's 28 points claimed in the closing moments of four first halves, the last two of which have come in hotly contested games. It's been downright Brady-like, and if it continues, the Crimson Tide will be much more difficult to beat.
In this week's edition of Simpson's Sensational Second-quarter Stands, the Commodores had just taken a 14-7 lead and had sucked an awful lot of air out of Bryant-Denny Stadium. Barely a minute of game clock later, Simpson had the Crimson Tide in the end zone with renewed vigor. Not surprisingly, Alabama followed with a strong showing to open the second half, sandwiching a field goal for a 17-14 lead between two much-needed defensive stops.
But the two-minute offense sparked it all.
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And Alabama has a quarterback who can squeeze every point to be had out of two minutes.
Tuscaloosa News sport columnist Chase Goodbread.
Tuscaloosa News columnist Chase Goodbread is also the weekly co-host of Crimson Cover TV on WVUA-23. Reach him at cgoodbread@gannett.com. Follow on X.com @chasegoodbread.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama football's Ty Simpson makes more two-minute magic to spark win
