It’s been called one of the greatest plays in college football history, but may have ended up being more important to Donna Smith than anyone.

She almost missed seeing it, too.

When the University of Alabama football team went to overtime against Georgia in the National Championship Game, Smith was helping her son get into bed as the hour had grown late. She had just gotten back to her television in time to see the sack, and like so many other people thought “Well, that’s that.”

Then Tua Tagovailoa to DeVonta Smith happened on second-and-26, and it changed her life.

Per tradition since the horrific tornadoes ravished both Tuscaloosa and the state in 2011, when the Crimson Tide wins the national championship the Nick’s Kids Foundation and the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity team up to build a house for a family in need.

Every time they do so, the project has to be renamed. It’s now up to “17 for 17.”

The program has been so successful that it’s gone beyond the original goal of rebuilding a neighborhood in Holt, a few miles east of campus. The last couple of title-themed houses have been constructed in the suburban area of Tuscaloosa known as Alberta City.

It’s where the Smiths now call home.

“It’s surreal,” Smith said. “I keep pinching myself that it’s real. It just doesn’t seem real yet.

“I don’t know if there are words to say what’s in my heart.”

Nick Saban announced that another house would be coming during the national championship celebration in January, and 17 for 17 had a presence in the Crimson Tide’s parade. The recipients were subsequently selected and work began in February.

The football team also contributed. On a Saturday prior to the start of spring practices the coach and a group of Crimson Tide players showed up to help out the project financed by the foundation named in honor of Saban’s father. Specifically, Nick’s Kids raises $100,000 toward construction of the home built by Habitat of Humanity, with the receiving family getting both what they need and a favorable mortgage.

It wasn’t a small group, either, and they weren’t there for a photo op.

While Saban helped with the foundation and frame for part of a deck in the back, even at one point going back and forth with a large bucket of water to help set the cement, out front some offensive linemen were making cuts on a table saw.

On the northern side, a group of defensive players were using a nail gun to add some supports to the roof frame.

"Raekwon [Davis] was the ladder," senior linebacker Jamey Mosley joked about the 6-foot-7 defensive lineman. “It’s awesome. It’s beautiful.

The contingency included starters like linebackers Anfernee Jennings and Christian Miller, guard Ross Pierschbacher and tight end Hale Hentges, and no one was talking football.

“I just think that’s really what it’s all about, using the platform that you have to help bless others and bring a smile to others’ faces,” said quarterback Jalen Hurts, who had already met some of the Smith family at the Tim Tebow Foundation’s annual Night To Shine event, a special-needs prom that had been recently held.

“It’ll totally change their life and that’s what we like to do,” Terry Saban said while her husband continued to work. “This house represents, to me, a lot more than that gold trophy does."

Of course, no one was smiling more than Smith.

The single parent of two is a survivor of open-heart surgery. She and her 20-year-old daughter Megan were both attending nursing school and had evening jobs. Her 19-year-old son, Andrew, had spina bifida, which is when the spine and spinal cord don’t form properly, or fully close an area of the spinal column. It happens approximately a month following conception, and the exposed nerves can cause paralysis.

Consequently, this championship house was a little different from its predecessors. In addition to being completely wheelchair accessible it featured wider doors, a special bathroom and an extra door added to Andrew’s room so he and his service dog Kendra had easy access to the back yard.

“I kept showing him pictures and he would see steps and say ‘Mom, I’m not going to be able to get up there,’” Donna Smith said. “‘Yeah, you will be, there’s not going to be any steps in our house.’ So he’s finally convinced of that.

“It’s taken several, several weeks for him to see the process.”

It was particularly fitting she used the word that may be most associated with Saban, who has led Alabama to five national titles since 2009.

Two months later, the house was dedicated on a picturesque spring day. With Donna Smith having yet to see the finished product it was similar to the reveal on a reality TV show, with the overwhelmed owner letting out a loud "Oh, my God" amongst a lot of tears.

"I don’t know what to say but thank you from the bottom of my heart," she said.

Of all the new homes Nick’s Kids had been associated with, this was the fastest to come together. The process began immediately after Alabama won 26-23, on Jan. 8, and was completed within five months.

Terry Saban mentioned during the ceremony that the coaches’ wives had always helped with the landscaping, and the group had become more efficient through the years. She said she’d like to try to continue to improve on their technique, but that meant her husband will have to come through with another championship.

"If we could get one more ... "

The coach was non-committal. He did let out a “Roll Tide,” though.

"There have been two houses to commemorate each of the national championships, the White House and the Habitat for Humanity house," Terry Saban added. "They are both equally as important to us."

Some of the players who came back for the dedication heard that, and were in full agreement.

“There’s nothing better than serving others," Mosley said.