Sun Bowl : Alabama Wins, 29-28, as Smith Turns Tide

EL PASO — David Smith passed for 412 yards and 2 touchdowns to rally Alabama to a 29-28 Sun Bowl victory over Army Saturday.

Smith led a 54-yard drive for the winning touchdown that ended when David Casteal leaped 2 yards to score, putting the Crimson Tide ahead, 29-28, with 4:01 to play. Two tries at a 2-point conversion failed.

Smith completed 33 of 52 passes to break the Sun Bowl record of 23, set by Stanford’s Guy Benjamin in 1977. Army, which tried only 6 passes, completed none.

The Cadets rushed for 350 yards, led by Ben Barnett, who had 177 yards in 14 carries.

Smith battled back from two key defensive plays by Army, which had led from the start.

With Army ahead, 28-20, Greg Gadson sacked Smith on third-and-2 for a 13-yard loss, forcing Alabama to settle for a 32-yard field goal with 7:30 remaining.

And Smith threw his only interception to free safety O’Neal Miller, who returned it 58 yards to score with 7 seconds left in the third quarter.

“We came right back (after the interception) and moved the ball,” Smith said. “That showed we could play under pressure.”

Alabama was unable to stop Army’s wishbone attack in the first half, giving up 232 yards on the ground.

“It was the first time we had faced the wishbone in several years, so it took us a whole first half to get used to it,” Alabama Coach Bill Curry said.

While the rest of Curry’s defense was puzzling over the wishbone, All-American linebacker Derrick Thomas blocked two field goals in the first half.

“If we could have kicked a couple of field goals we would have won,” Army Coach Jim Young said. “We could have won. I don’t know about should have.”

Alabama’s defense stalled Army’s last-chance drive with two consecutive tackles for losses. George Bethune sacked McWilliams for a 3-yard loss, and then the Army quarterback was dropped again by Thomas for another loss of 3.

Gerald Gardner’s interception of McWilliams’ sixth pass of the day ended the Cadets’ hopes with the Crimson Tide gaining possession at Army’s 37.

Both teams finished the season at 9-3.

It was the first time since Young took over as coach 6 years ago that Army had lost a game when it threw 6 or fewer passes. They had won 25 games throwing that number of passes.

The win was Alabama’s 23rd in postseason against 15 losses and 3 ties.