TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Alabama football fans experienced a rare occurrence during Saturday's A-Day spring game.
Greg McElroy lost.
McElroy helped the Crimson team take a 17-7 lead, but the White rallied with 16 fourth-quarter points to snag a 23-17 triumph at Bryant-Denny Stadium. Saturday's setback will not count against McElroy's 30-0 record as a starting quarterback that includes last season's 14-game run to the national title and dates back to eighth grade, but he does have to eat beans Monday while White team players get steak.
"I'll eat beans with a smile on my face," McElroy said. "We get our rings on the same day, so at least I'll have something to look forward to."
McElroy completed 11 of 17 first-half passes for 130 yards and had a 39-yard touchdown to Marquis Maze, but he was intercepted by Dre Kirkpatrick, something he didn't experience in any of the final five games last season. McElroy's score put the Crimson up 10-7, and a 60-yard run by Mark Ingram early in the third quarter set up a 5-yard touchdown run by Eddie Lacy that made it 17-7.
A 39-yard touchdown pass from A.J. McCarron to Brandon Gibson on the game's final play resulted in the White victory, but the biggest number of all was the attendance, which was announced at 91,312.
Saturday's A-Day crowd was the second-largest in Alabama history, slightly trailing the 92,138 who packed Bryant-Denny in 2007 -- the first with Nick Saban as coach. Alabama's four spring games under Saban are the four largest in Southeastern Conference history, drawing 345,700 total fans for an average of 86,425 per game.
"It sends a positive message about passion, enthusiasm, tradition and a great place to play," Saban said. "I've been at places where it's tough to get players to finish spring practice. We have to work on our players getting to focus on the last practice or two because the A-Day game is such a big deal. They're looking forward to the game and want to play in the game, and I think that's a good thing."
Ingram, who became the first player in Tide history to win the Heisman Trophy last season, rushed for 90 yards on nine carries and had four receptions for 31 yards. As if he is lacking for hardware these days, he received the Dixie Howell Memorial Award as the A-Day game MVP.
Junior defensive end Marcell Dareus was honored as the Dwight Stephenson Most Valuable Lineman of A-Day after tallying three tackles, 1.5 for loss and a sack.
The Bryant-Denny clock struck 0:00 after McCarron threw deep for Brad Smelley, but Saban did not want the game to end in a tie. The White team scored on the next play.
"We were just going to keep playing," Saban said. "There wasn't going to be any overtime. It was going to be sudden death. Everybody was going to go for it on fourth down. It was getting implemented there with two seconds to go, and the teams were going to take their shots, because somebody is going to eat steaks and somebody is going to eat beans on Monday.
"Other than that, it didn't matter. As the commissioner, I have to represent the winning club, so therefore I have to eat steak."