CHICK-FIL-A KICKOFF GAME
Who: Alabama vs. Virginia Tech
When: 5:30 p.m. Aug. 31
Where: Georgia Dome
TV: ESPN
Tickets: Sold out
Last season's records: Alabama 13-1 (7-1 SEC); Virginia Tech 7-6 (4-4 ACC)
Series record: Alabama leads 11-1
Most recent meeting: Alabama won 34-24 in 2009 Chick-fil-A Kickoff game
ALABAMA’S C.J. MOSLEY
Position: Linebacker
Height, weight: 6-foot-2, 232 pounds
Class: Senior
Hometown: Theodore, Ala.
Career: Has played in 38 games (20 starts) in past three seasons
2012 accolades: Butkus Award finalist, consensus first-team All-American, first-team All-SEC
Numbers game: Had 107 tackles last season, 48 more than the next highest total on Alabama's team
The play that Georgia football fans, coaches and players can barely bear to recall brings a big smile to the face of Alabama linebacker C.J. Mosley.
“It felt like I got my whole hand on it. But, obviously, the way the ball went, I guess I just got a fingertip,” Mosley said. “But it got the job done, so I’m not complaining.”
Mosley’s fingertip on a pass by Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray in the final seconds of last season’s SEC Championship game not only redirected the football, but maybe the national championship. Instead of perhaps finding its way to intended receiver Malcolm Mitchell in the end zone for a game-winning 8-yard touchdown, the tipped pass made it only as far as another UGA receiver, Chris Conley, who instinctively caught it and fell to the turf inbounds at the Alabama 5-yard line.
So ended Alabama’s 32-28 victory, putting the Crimson Tide in the BCS title game, where it routed Notre Dame.
And so ended Georgia’s 32-28 loss, depriving the Bulldogs a shot at their first national championship since 1980.
“That’s really true — if they had scored a touchdown right there, they probably (would have won the BCS title),” Mosley said of the Bulldogs. “They were 5 yards away. But everything happens for a reason.
“Actually, we messed up a few coverages for them to get down there in that (last-minute drive). If it wasn’t for us, they wouldn’t have been down there. At the end of the day, we got the job done and went on to the national championship. We’ve got to make sure we do that again if we’re in that situation.”
As a new season — his senior season — approaches, Mosley ranks the play against Georgia as the second biggest of his college career.
The biggest?
“I’d say catching my first interception against Florida and running it back (for a touchdown) my freshman year. That kind of set my role on the team as a player.”
It’s a role he cemented last season.
He was a finalist for the Butkus Award, which goes to the nation’s top linebacker. He was a consensus first-team All-American. He had 107 tackles, second most in the past quarter-century by an Alabama player.
“C.J. Mosley is a fantastic player, has made a tremendous amount of plays,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said.
Mosley resisted the NFL draft to return for his senior season. It was an easy decision, he said, because he wants to leave college with a degree and a third consecutive BCS championship.
“It would be a great honor to three-peat,” he said.
The road begins at the scene of Mosley’s famous tipped pass, the Georgia Dome, where Alabama will open the season Aug. 31 against Virginia Tech in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff game.
Then, in its second game and SEC opener, Alabama plays Sept. 14 at Texas A&M, the only team to beat the Crimson Tide last season.
Alabama looks to Mosley to assume the leadership role on its vaunted defense, which lost four starters (cornerback Dee Milliner, safety Robert Lester and linemen Damion Square and Jesse Williams) from last season’s unit.
“That is one of the concerns — who will step up on the defensive side of the ball and provide the leadership?” Saban said. “Just because you’re a good player doesn’t mean you’re necessarily going to be a good leader. Now, C.J. has certainly tried to take the bull by the horns and be a good leader for our team. It’s very critical how the players respond and come together on defense with the leadership.”
Something tells you they’ll be OK.
“One thing myself and C.J. have preached is purpose,” said Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron, the leader of the Crimson Tide offense.
“It’s Alabama. That’s why we have the players that we have,” Mosley said. “Everybody has to be accountable for their jobs. If one person leaves, the next person has to step up.”
As a matter of fact — even though Mosley said Alabama “had the most respect for Georgia, even before that game” — he is convinced that if hadn’t leaped high enough to get a fingertip on Murray’s pass behind the line of scrimmage, someone else would have done something to preserve the Alabama victory.
“I have confidence that, whether I tipped it or not, we were going to make the play,” Mosley said.
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