Gino Toretta walked toward the locker room inside the Superdome, holding a mouthpiece in one hand and his pride in the other.

Miami’s Heisman-winning quarterback had just been shoved to the turf countless times in the Sugar Bowl, the Hurricanes’ unbeaten season dashed in the national championship game by second-ranked Alabama.

The nation’s No. 1 defense saved its most dominant performance of the 1992 campaign for its final outing, a rhythmic, 34-13, wallop of the defending national champions who had won their previous 29 consecutive games under coach Dennis Erickson.

John-CopelandAnchored by consensus All-American pass rushers and first-round draft selections Eric Curry and John Copeland on each end of the defensive line, the underdog Crimson Tide pounded one of the nation’s top offenses into submission and kept Toretta on his heels.

Constant pressure from arguably the SEC’s most dominant defensive line in league history led to three interceptions from Toretta who had thrown previously thrown only seven all season.

Toretta told the New York Times before the game of Alabama’s unstoppable bookends: “If I had three and a half seconds to throw in the Sugar Bowl, I’d take it any day of the week.”

The Crimson Tide’s physical front seven limited Miami to just 48 yards, 42 of which came on the Hurricanes’ final drive against a group made up mostly of Alabama’s second-teamers.

The win was an ideal punctuation to a memorable season during Gene Stallings’ third-year as coach. Alabama led the nation in fewest points allowed per game (9.2) during its 100th season and beat three nationally-ranked teams on its way to New Orleans.

A total of six players from Alabama’s defensive line group that season would eventually be drafted after finishing their careers, but Curry and Copeland were the notables.

There are a couple other units, not as noteworthy with a national champions tag, in consideration for the SEC’s best defensive line ever:

  • 1994 Florida (Kevin Carter, Ellis Johnson first-round picks)
  • 1998 Florida (Jevon Kearse, Reggie McGraw first-round picks)
  • 2000 Georgia (Richard Seymour, Marcus Stroud first-round picks)
  • 2001 Tennessee (John Henderson, Albert Haynesworth first-round picks)