Tide, rolled

 With just under four minutes left in Tuscaloosa, Ala., last night, Nick Saban's kingdom started to drain itself of red. The residents of Bryant-Denny Stadium -- resplendent in their Derrick Henry jerseys or Jalen Hurts jerseys or, I don't know, Richard Todd jerseys, maybe -- began to head for the exits, first in a trickle and then in a flood.

Roll, Tide, indeed.

And, OK, so that was mean. But out on the field, the Tide was Rollin', though not in the direction 'Bama Nation was accustomed to seeing. They were Rollin' downhill towards an L, with another of college football's corporate giants doing the pushing.

Final score in the mighty clash of titan and used-to-be titan: Texas 34, Alabama 24.

Score when the loyalists began surrendering the field: Also 34-24.

Plenty of time for the Tide to mount a comeback, as they'd already done once Saturday evening. Down 13-6 at the half, they'd rallied to take 16-13 lead at the end of three quarters.

But then Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers threw a touchdown pass to Adonai Mitchell 55 seconds into the fourth quarter, and Jonathon Brooks ran five yards for another score, and then Ewers threw another touchdown pass to Mitchell, his third of the night. And the 'Bama faithful, either quitters or astute readers of the prevailing momentum -- you choose -- had seen enough.

And what did it all mean?

Hard tellin'.

You could say it means Saban's grip on the top rung of college football has finally loosened, but some folks said that the year Johnny Manziel shocked him in Tuscaloosa and 'Bama went on to win the national title anyway. So ... maybe not.

And Texas?

Last night was the biggest road win for the used-to-be titans in close to 15 years, which might or might not mean the Longhorns are back to being their old high-falutin' selves. But we've heard this refrain coming out of Austin before, only to see the Longhorns lose to, I don't know, Baylor or someone. So ... again, maybe not.

All I know is how the Roll Tide delegation voted last night.

With its feet.