At halftime of Saturday’s game in Tuscaloosa, The Citadel Bulldogs had done something unthinkable.

The scoreboard read Alabama 10, The Citadel 10, with the Bulldogs battling the No. 1 team in the country to a draw through the first 30 minutes of play.

Alabama pulled away in the second half, but The Citadel added a second touchdown to make the final score 50-17. After the game, QB Brandon Rainey had some strong words for The Citadel’s critics (via AL.com):

“Before the game, (SEC Network analyst Tim) Tebow was saying (Alabama’s) practices were more intense than this game is going to be,” Rainey said. “I hope now he realizes it was a little bit of a false statement and gets us a little more respect than that.”

RB Dante Smith, who scored both touchdowns for the Bulldogs, said the last-second field goal in the second quarter gave his team a huge spark:

“We realized we could actually do this and shock-the-world-type of deal,” said Smith. “Tie game at halftime, not many teams could do that against Alabama and we had the opportunity. It was a great feeling.”

Obviously, the second half didn’t go as well as the first, but it was still a great showing for The Citadel, who should be a tough team to play moving forward.