1992 Alabama Crimson Tide football team The 1992 Alabama Crimson Tide football team represented the University of Alabama in the 1992 college football season . This was the team ' s third season under head coach Gene Stallings . They played their home games at both Bryant - Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa , Alabama and Legion Field in Birmingham , Alabama . They finished the season undefeated with a record of 13 – 0 ( 8 – 0 in the SEC ) and as National Champions . The team was noted especially for its strong defense , which led the nation in fewest points allowed ( 9 . 2 per game during the regular season ) and , in a strong bowl game performance , prevented defending national champion Miami from scoring an offensive touchdown . The 1992 Crimson Tide won their twentieth Southeastern Conference title by defeating the Florida Gators by the score of 28 – 21 on December 5 in the inaugural SEC Championship Game . The team then capped off Alabama ' s eighth perfect season by winning the 1992 national football championship , defeating the heavily favored Miami Hurricanes by a score of 34 to 13 in the 1993 Sugar Bowl on January 1 , 1993 , a matchup which marked the first ever Bowl Coalition national championship game . The Alabama Crimson Tide celebrated 100 years of Alabama Football in the 1992 season . Game notes . Vanderbilt . In the opener , freshman Michael Proctor , kicked four field goals and Alabama defeated Vanderbilt 25 – 8 despite the absence of star WR / KR David Palmer , then serving a suspension for a drunk driving arrest . One Alabama touchdown came after Tide pressure caused the Vanderbilt punter to fumble the ball at his team ' s 6 - yard line and the other came on an interception return in the fourth quarter . Southern Mississippi . Alabama held the Golden Eagles to only 54 yards of total offense and three first downs . Alabama had 383 yards total offense , but lost two fumbles and an interception and struggled to score . Alabama ' s only TD in the first half came on a fake punt . When the Golden Eagles tipped a pass by Alabama quarterback Jay Barker in the air in the third quarter , intercepted it , and ran it back 18 yards for a touchdown , the game was tied 7 – 7 . On the next possession Alabama fumbled the ball away to Southern Mississippi at its own 18 - yard - line . After the Golden Eagles subsequently kicked a field goal , they led 10 – 7 despite a total inability to move the ball on offense . It was the first of only four times all year that Alabama trailed in a game . Towards the end of the third quarter , Southern Miss returned the turnover favors , fumbling the ball away to Alabama at its own 20 . Michael Proctor ' s field goal tied the game up with 38 seconds to go in the third . Finally , in the fourth quarter Alabama put together its only sustained drive of the game , a 63 - yard march that ended with a 1 - yard Chris Anderson TD . Alabama won , 17 – 10 . Arkansas . New SEC member Arkansas ( the Razorbacks joined the conference along with the South Carolina Gamecocks for the 1992 season ) proved no match for the Tide . Derrick Lassic scored on a 33 - yard TD run on Alabama ' s first play from scrimmage , the Tide was up 28 – 0 halfway through the second quarter , and from there Alabama cruised to a 38 – 11 victory . Jay Barker threw for 192 yards and three touchdown passes , and Alabama had 467 yards in total offense . Arkansas governor and Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton was in attendance . Louisiana Tech . Alabama had its worst offensive game of the season against Louisiana Tech . The Tide mustered only 167 yards of offense in the game . In the first quarter a drive to the Tech 19 ended in a field goal . In the second Bama started a possession on the Louisiana Tech 30 after a short punt and a penalty , but again could muster only a field goal . In the third Tech nearly took the lead after a 62 - yard pass completion ( more than half of their 117 yards total offense for the entire game ) advanced the ball to the Alabama 9 , but the Bulldogs could not punch it into the end zone and a field goal attempt missed . In the fourth quarter , with Alabama still clinging to a 6 – 0 lead , David Palmer ran a punt back 63 yards for a touchdown , making the final score 13 – 0 . It was his first game after sitting out the first three games of the season due to his drunk driving arrest . South Carolina . The other new arrival to the SEC proved to be even less of a challenge . By the time South Carolina got its first 1st down , late in the second quarter , Alabama was ahead 38 – 0 . Alabama gave almost all of its starters the second half off , and still managed to rack up 485 yards of total offense while limiting USC to one touchdown and nine first downs . The Tide won 48 – 7 . Tulane . One year after Alabama annihilated the Green Wave 62 – 0 , Tulane put up stiffer resistance against the Tide , in the first half at least . Alabama penetrated inside the Tulane 25 three times in the first half but came away with only two field goals . Tulane lost a touchdown when the lineman carrying the ball on a fumblerooski touched his knee to the ground as he picked the ball up . A third field goal put Alabama up 9 – 0 in the third , and after another Tulane drive ended in an interception at the Tide 2 , Alabama pulled away , scoring four touchdowns in the third and fourth quarters to win 37 – 0 . Tennessee . Alabama dominated the Third Saturday in October matchup with Tennessee , outgaining the Vols 355 yards ( 301 on the ground ) to 194 , but nearly blew the game late after taking a 17 – 0 second quarter lead . Proctor missed two field goals , then , late in the third , Bama had the ball up 17 – 3 and with a 4th and goal at the Tennessee 2 . Coach Stallings elected to go for it , but Derrick Lassic was tackled for a 1 - yard loss . Heath Shuler ' s touchdown pass with 12 : 53 to go cut the deficit to 17 – 10 , and a Tide fumble at the Tennessee 48 with 1 : 33 left gave UT one last chance . However , Shuler threw an interception two plays later and the Crimson Tide escaped with a victory , its seventh in a row over Tennessee . Lassic rushed for 142 yards and both Alabama touchdowns . Tennessee backup quarterback Jerry Colquitt , who came into the game in relief after a hit forced Shuler to the sideline , said of the Alabama defense that " These guys are unbelieveable . They beat you to the pocket . " Mississippi . Against Ole Miss , the usually dominant Tide running attack was held to 83 yards after averaging 241 yards per game going in , but Jay Barker responded by completing 25 of 39 passes for 285 yards , all career highs , and the Tide rolled over the Rebels 31 – 10 . Kevin Lee had 82 yards receiving and David Palmer had 67 yards as well as a touchdown reception . LSU . Chris Anderson ran for 149 yards on only 15 carries to help lift Bama to an easy 31 – 11 victory over LSU after starting tailback Derrick Lassic left the game with a shoulder injury in the first half . LSU had only 22 yards rushing . LSU ' s field goal on the first possession of the ball game was only the second time all season that Alabama had trailed . Mississippi State . The Bulldogs gave Alabama its hardest test of the entire season . In the first half it did not appear that would be the case . Alabama ' s first drive was an easy 67 - yard march ending in a 23 - yard shovel pass from Barker to Lassic for a touchdown . Mississippi State got the ball back , went nowhere , and attempted to punt , but Antonio Langham blocked the punt , recovered it at the MSU 5 and scored a touchdown to put Bama up 14 – 0 . In the second quarter the Tide kicked two field goals and the Bulldogs kicked one , making the halftime score 20 – 3 . Alabama , which had not allowed any opponent to score more than 11 points in a game , led by 17 at the half . Then Mississippi State caught a break , picking off a Barker pass and returning it to the Alabama 11 . A touchdown and a two - point conversion followed to make it 20 – 11 . Bama went three and out on its next possession , the Bulldogs got the ball at the Tide 47 , and they capitalized with a quick TD drive . Suddenly the score was 20 – 18 . Bama got one first down , then punted again . Mississippi State drove down to the Alabama 1 , but an illegal participation penalty pushed the ball back to the 16 and the Bulldogs settled for a field goal . Eighteen unanswered third quarter points gave the Bulldogs a 21 – 20 lead . It was only the third time all year Alabama had trailed , and it was the only time in the 1992 season that they trailed in the fourth quarter . An interception ended one Alabama drive and a sack ended the next one . Finally a Mississippi State fumbled punt gave Alabama momentum . Barker completed a 24 - yard pass to Prince Wimbley to advance the ball to the Bulldog 16 , and a 26 - yard field goal by Proctor made the score 23 – 21 with 8 : 10 left . Shortly thereafter George Teague intercepted a pass by MSU ' s Greg Plump , giving Alabama possession at the Bulldog 20 . A five - play drive ended in a Chris Anderson TD run made the score 30 – 21 with 5 : 07 to go . Alabama stopped two Mississippi State drives in the waning minutes and the Tide escaped Starkville with a 30 – 21 victory . Auburn . In the Iron Bowl finale against Auburn , the Tide offense struggled . Jay Barker threw two interceptions , including one on 2nd and 11 at the Auburn 16 , and the game was scoreless at the half . Auburn got the ball to start the second half , but Antonio Langham intercepted a pass by Auburn ' s Stan White and returned it 61 yards for the first points of the game . Barker ' s struggles led Stallings to direct an ultra - conservative game in the second half , as the Tide attempted only one pass after halftime . That one pass , a 20 - yard completion from Barker to Curtis Brown , set up a Michael Proctor field goal that stretched the lead to 10 – 0 . A 16 - yard Auburn punt gave Alabama the ball on the Tiger 40 as the third quarter ended , and the clinching touchdown in a 17 – 0 victory followed . Auburn had only eight first downs and 119 yards of total offense . It was Alabama ' s third shutout of the season , the most since the 1980 team also recorded three . Florida . As champions of the SEC Western Division , the Crimson Tide faced off in the first - ever SEC Championship Game against the Eastern Division champion Florida Gators . It was a tight contest . Florida QB Shane Matthews passed for 287 yards against a Tide defense that had been averaging 126 passing yards allowed per game . Florida scored a touchdown on the game ' s opening drive , driving 77 yards on an array of short passes completed by Matthews . It was the only first - quarter touchdown yielded by Alabama in all of 1992 . Alabama responded immediately with a 72 - yard drive that ended on a 5 - yard TD run by Lassic . Jay Barker ' s 30 - yard pass to Curtis Brown put Alabama out in front 14 – 7 in the second quarter . In the third quarter , a 39 - yard completion from Barker to David Palmer was the key play in a drive that put the Tide ahead 21 – 7 . Florida rallied , going on 68 - yard and 51 - yard marches to tie the game up with 8 : 09 left . Alabama ' s perfect season hung in the balance , until Antonio Langham picked off a Matthews pass with 3 : 16 to go for the game winning touchdown , and another Matthews interception at the 2 : 54 mark sealed the victory . Palmer had 101 receiving yards and Derrick Lassic rushed for 117 yards . It was Alabama ' s 21st SEC Championship . Miami . Alabama faced # 1 Miami in the Sugar Bowl for the national championship . The result was an emphatic 34 – 13 Alabama victory that completed the perfect season and won a national championship . Jay Barker managed only 18 yards passing in the Sugar Bowl and threw two interceptions , but the Tide running game punished Miami for 267 yards , including 135 rushing yards by Derrick Lassic . 1992 Heisman Trophy winner Gino Toretta threw for 278 yards but , critically , also threw three interceptions , all of which led to Alabama touchdowns . On the opening possession Alabama drove deep into Miami territory but could not get into the end zone , settling for a Michael Proctor field goal and a 3 – 0 lead . A 34 - yard pass from Toretta to Kevin Williams set up a 49 - yard field goal that tied the game . Jay Barker threw an interception in the first quarter that gave Miami the ball at the Alabama 39 , but Lamar Thomas fumbled it right back after catching a pass from Toretta and the opportunity was wasted . Barker ' s second interception killed a drive at the Miami 23 before the first quarter ended . In the second , Alabama drove down to the Miami 1 , the key plays being runs of 24 yards and 10 yards by Lassic and a six - yard pass from Barker to Palmer to move the chains on a third down . However , after Lassic ' s 10 yard run he and Alabama were penalized 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct ( Lassic spun the ball on the ground as he got up ) , and the Tide was pushed back 15 yards . Alabama settled for another Proctor field goal and a 6 – 3 lead . Sam Shade intercepted a Toretta pass in the second quarter and returned it to the Miami 31 , setting up a five - play drive that ended in a 2 - yard TD run by Sherman Williams , putting Alabama ahead 13 – 3 . A late Miami field goal made it 13 – 6 at the half . Early in the third , Tommy Johnson intercepted a Toretta pass and returned it 23 yards to the Miami 20 yard line . A Lassic TD followed soon after . On the first play from scrimmage after Lassic ' s touchdown , George Teague picked off another Toretta pass and ran it back 31 yards for another touchdown and a 27 – 6 Alabama lead . Later in the third , Toretta hit Lamar Thomas on what briefly appeared to be an 88 - yard touchdown pass . George Teague somehow caught Thomas from behind , so the play briefly appeared to be an 82 - yard completion , but instead Teague actually stripped Thomas of the football . Miami retained possession of the ball due to an offsides penalty on Alabama , but Teague ' s feat in catching Thomas and stripping him of the ball prevented a Hurricane touchdown and sent the ball back deep in Miami territory . Miami was forced to punt three plays later . Kevin Williams ran a punt back 78 yards for Miami in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to 27 – 13 , but Derrick Lassic ' s four - yard run with 6 : 46 to go for his second touchdown of the game closed the scoring . Alabama beat Miami 34 – 13 and finished 13 – 0 . It was Alabama ' s twelfth national championship and seventh by vote of either the AP Poll or Coaches ' Poll . It was the first 13 – 0 season in Alabama history , and it was the eighth perfect season in Alabama history , following the perfect seasons of 1925 , 1930 , 1934 , 1945 , 1961 , 1966 , and 1979 ( the 1897 season consisted of a single game which Alabama won ) .