Alabama answers with a field goal: Tide up 6-3

When Alabama takes the field this evening for the NCAA National Championship game, they’ll do so led by 20-year-old sophomore quarterback Bryce Young, the latest name from an impressive list of Crimson Tide superstars to have been handed the Heisman Trophy.

Awarded to the nation’s top overall player, the Heisman has made its way to Tuscaloosa four times in the last 12 seasons, including one year ago when former ‘Bama wide receiver, and Young’s teammate, DeVonta Smith, earned the honor.

But does the individual honor automatically spell success on college football’s biggest stage?

Prior to Young, six of the last seven Heisman Trophy winners have appeared in the College Football playoff, with three — Derrick Henry in 2015, Joe Burrow in 2019, and Smith a year ago — ultimately adding a team title to their personal list of accomplishments.

If you go back to 2009 and the BCS era, former Tide running back Mark Ingram also completed college football’s most iconic double play, capturing the Heisman Trophy in December, and then leading Alabama to a Championship Game victory over Texas one month later.

Young has a chance this evening to become the fifth Alabama signal-caller in the last 13 seasons to win the national championship as a first-year starter. Should he complete the feat, it will mean that all four of the Crimson Tide’s Heisman winners went on to win a National Championship, though Young would be the only signal-caller to tackle the task.

So, basically, no pressure.