So much is made of McCoy being hurt... That jackass Dodd wrote another turd of an article in which he does his best to take everything away from the game that he can while still trying not to seem like the petty little idiot that he is. Why not write an article about Alabama's Greg McElroy playing the BCS title game with a at least one cracked rib The 'foolish fake punt' that Dodd refers to was a call made by Saban because they were worried that, at any time, McElroy could be knocked out of the game.. Maybe that is something Mack Brown should have prepared for? A better question for me is, rather than lament the loss of McCoy (this is football, that happens)... why not question why the backup only had 26 pass attempts this season with a schedule that included UTEP, La-Monroe, Colorado, Missouri, Central Florida, Kansas and Baylor?? Why was one head coach prepared and taking pro-active measures while the other was riding the one horse he had.. (protip: it's the reason why one guy won the game and the other didn't). Dodd calls Saban foolish... he just can't accept calling him champion. Dodd also goes on to call McCoy while totally ignoring that the other starting QB (the one playing with the cracked ribs) has never lost a game as a starting quarterback. It's sports 'journalism' like this that I just detest. I normally take my shots at Dodd but they are usually dismissed because it's Dave posting something about the Gators.. I just thought I'd take the opportunity to show that I think he's an idiot (especially since I dont have a dog in the fight) just about every time he writes an article. He ignores facts and clearly pushes for certain teams over others.. This has to be killing him. That makes me smile a bit. But seriously.. why not question Mack Brown leaving Colt in for so long? Why try to taint what Alabama accomplished rather than condemn what Brown didn't prepare for?
Hey....I said I agreed with those who said the wind came out of the Texas sails when McCoy went out, the kid gave Bama some easy game deciding points and he put enormous pressure on the Texas D by not moving the offense for more than two quarters. All that said I elevate what Bama was able to focus in on and their ability to apply the kill to a wounded prey. They were ruthless and ultimately victorious.......and deserving National Champions. If my description of the game somehow offends anyone then get a reality check. Otherwise I'll just revert back to my plain vanilla argument of just how great and dominating the SEC was in yet another National Title Game. Take your pick. :wink:
I don't care that much for Dodd either and Alabama won the game, are the NC and deserved the win. However I don't get the domination comment. When you trail 24 - 21 and get the ball back with three minutes to go, you have not been dominated no matter the final score.
I need to restate that for the umpteenth time before I proceed. It seems in the period of time following the game that any other opinion here on Skybox about how the game played out was met with disdain and contempt. But....there was a major event that affected the game's outcome.....McCoy's injury.....and if that can be ignored then I'll just jump to the final score and talk about SEC dominance. The reality of it is that Texas did fight back......did make the score close at the end and there are questions abounding about it affecting the game's outcome including the 2 scores the kid handed to Bama on a silver platter which included the game deciding TO on the 3 with the score 24-21. Would/Could Bama have beaten a McCoy led Texas? It can be debated....visualized etc. but in the end Bama beat what Texas had to offer and the Longhorns did not have McCoy to offer for 95% of the game. Bama beat the players Texas trotted out there and that's all you could ask of the Tide because they couldn't control the rest of the circumstances. We can talk about Clint Stoerner handing Tenn a win in their NC run......we can talk about OSU knocking off AzST in 1996 giving Fla a chance for an NC rematch with FSU...we can talk about the pass interference vs Miami in the OSU OT game in 2002 but in the end.....the teams that won are recognized as the National Champions and that's the way it will stay forever. Texas is even fortunate it was they and not Cincinnati playing Bama in Pasadena.......but it was Texas and that's the way the cards fell the same as McCoy going down. Hail to Alabama........the 2009 National Champion.
With just his first sentence, he loses credibility to me. I wonder, if he met the kid, would he tell him he felt he QB'd like Pee Wee Herman?? I seriously doubt it. Roll Tide!
Well it's a tough situation for a coach with a senior QB who is a Heisman candidate. In today's world the QB needs some stats, and Colt had been getting off to slow starts in games. I think everybody wanted (Mack included most likely) would have preferred that Colt get off to fast starts have great stats and be able to play the kid in the 4th Qtr of games. In looking at the Alabama season stats, I see that Star Jackson appears to have been McElroy's backup QB. He only played in 2 games and threw 18 passes. Your question implied that Saban was better prepared to handle the starter having a problem. I don't see how, as he prepared his backup QB even less than Brown I'm sure there are all sorts of teams out there where the backup QB didn't get much action. John Brantley only played in 6 of the UF games, throwing a total of 46 passes. I'm wondering if there is a program in college football where the backup QB is well prepared other than the guy at Cincinnatti. Who won using 5 qbs last year and had his starter go down this year and won 4 games with the backup while the starter was recovering. Kelly is the only guy I know of who has a prepared backup.
Oh yeah and the Longhorn fans here on the Skybox haven't made any excuses. Alabama won and that's all that counts. I even liked their rammer jammer yellow hammer cheer...good fun.
You are right Terry, none of the Longhorn fans here made any complaints. They are all a lot like you.
Terry, Not arguing, just explaining a couple of your points: While McElroy was a key player for Alabama, he was not the key player like McCoy was for Texas. If you look at Ingram's stats, Richardson probably played about 30% (I haven't look it up) of the games and I think that prepared Richardson to step in if needed. Our receivers were the same way. I think the difference is the Texas offense was much more dependent on McCoy than the Alabama offense was on McElroy. Also, Alabama's second best qb (McCarren) developed late in the season and Saban wanted to preserve his redshirt, and Alabama had so many close games that they really didn't have very many chances to play anyone else. I think a better analogy would have been if Alabama had played Ingram exclusively rather than McElroy. I said before that with our defense and our running game, McElroy's first priority was to not turn the ball over, then if he had a good day passing it only made us better. Having said all of that, I am not one that is criticizing Brown. You have to go with the personell that got you there. I hate that McCoy got hurt. It would have changed the game. Would it have changed the final result? I don't think so, but then I may be a little biased.
I can't imagine criticizing Brown or even the game itself because of McCoy's absence. It's unfortunate that McCoy went down, but there was not a doubt in my mind that the two best teams in college football were playing for the championship. Texas showed great character and grit by coming back to within a field goal in the second half. What I like best about the outcome is the character shown by TOK in accepting the loss. No excuses and profound respect for the winning opponent. That's how it should be done, in direct contrast to what we've seen in recent years from one individual. The follow-up on Skybox to this year's championship game is a welcome change and hopefully sets the tone going forward.
Sid....you're right....when you lose the BCS title game you should be respectful of the winning opponent. That's one reason I always give reverence to that great Nebraska team of 1995..... :wink: That is a true statement. Texas was much more one dimensional and even though they had a great weapon in Shipley they needed McCoy to throw it.
Hit the nail right on the head Doc. Cocahes always stress placing team over individual and then turn around and do the opposite.
Just to be clear, no excuses. I was merely addressing Corey's seeming assertion that Macks lack of prep of a backup QB was somehow bad coaching, and maybe it is, but when looking around college football I find it difficult to find a top team who's backup QB has played very much.
Corey, I did mention the lack of prep earlier, but didn't press it too much since Terry happens to be one of the few t-sippers that's also a good guy. 8) Terry, You are probably right to a point, but only 26 passes in 12 games? Sure... a few of those were probably close enough that Colt needed to stay in (such as the Aggie game), but others were certainly blow outs by the third quarter. Assuming old dogs can learn new tricks, I doubt you'll see Mack go through another season in that position...
I'm sure every coach in america would like to have a well tuned experienced backup QB ready to go, Mack's no different. But the last time he had that it was controversial, Major vs Chris Simms. It's a lot easier to have backups ready at other positions, RB, WR, TE all over the lines. Players can and do rotate through the lineups. But just not that easy at QB. It's further complicated when your QB is a Heisman candidate. The other issue is when they do get in the game, blowouts like was suggested most coaches don't have them running the offense, they just hand off to the RB and try to run the clock. Just to state again, it was football and injuries happen, like all of you guys I like for my teams to have all their best players, but that isn't real life and frequently the team that wins the championship in any league is the team that is the healthiest and playing it's best at the end of the season. Alabama is the Champion, no if's or but's or asterisks needed.
No disrespect to Bama but Jeff Foxworthy has to make a "You might be a redneck if" joke out of this one!
Terry, Where Brown was not prepared, or at least as much as Saban is fairly clear, you're just looking at the wrong examples. First of all, Alabama used a lot more wildcat (granted, Texas didn't have to with a great runner like McCoy) but that was another offensive option that Alabama worked on throughout the course of the year. Second, the early play calling (seriously, Saban runs a fake punt in his own territory in the 1st qtr?) indicated that Saban had prepared and instituted a game plan that was predicated, at least in part, that they may have to make due without their starting QB. While I really don't mean to knock Brown, I was asking the question about this article.. Why knock the Texas backup? (who I think will be a better 'passer' regardless of the numbers than Colt) Why belittle Alabama? Why rip Saban's decision. You may not like the call (because it didn't work) but it's clear proof that the guy had prepared for the possibility of his QB being knocked out. We didn't see such prep from Brown. He just subbed one in for the other and when you're a one horse offense, you're doomed. The shame is, you didn't have to be a one-horse offense. As others have pointed out, you had some tremendous talent. The offense was built around all-things Colt. Again, not knocking the kid, he seems like a great young man. But as gip pointed out.. some coaches preach team and then go right out and do the exact opposite. Tom, I didn't click on the link but I am going to guess it is the BCS trophy being displayed at the Super Walmart stories in T-town?
Good grief, Texas goes to the BCS Championship two times in five years and only didn't go last year because of a strange Big 12 tiebreaker and now he's a bad coach? Not hardly.