I see plenty of prep from Brown. Saban had to prepare for alternatives because of a known issue. I have not heard of Colt having problems with that shoulder. Maybe I missed that through the season with other issues (read Tennessee fan) clouding my view. But unless I missed it, Mack did not have the same indication that Saban did where it would be of supreme importance to make up for a possible hurt QB. Now for a funny piece: I noticed that my spell checker did not recognize Saban as a correct spelling. I started typing Nick Sab and the first thing that popped up was Nick Saban arrested. I clicked on the link to find that it was from September 2008. Read the whole blog
Terry, I was not criticizing Brown or the Longhorns. I was just pointing out that the situation at Alabama was different from the situation at Texas. Alabama's running running backs were our primary source of offense, and our quarterback's main job was to supplement that. So it was more important to Alabama to have experienced depth at rb than at qb. Star Jackson was 2nd string until about midway through the season, then McCarron won that role but by that time Saban wanted to save his redshirt. That's why Jackson got the snaps in the UTChattanooga game late in the season. Alabama just didn't have too many run away wins this year.
My point is that a position like RB is almost universally handled where the backups get plenty of playing time. There was a time in college football where backs got 30-40 carries/game but there aren't many backs who get that these days. Most programs even if they have one back who is really good also give the backup meaningful caries during the game, they don't wait till it's a blowout before the backup gets some snaps. QB's are handled completely differently. There are exceptions of course, like the QB's at UC the last 2 years, where due to injuries the backups get lots of snaps during the season. Or at Texas Tech where again due to injuries the backup got lots of reps/snaps. I think Mich State never could settle on who was the #1 QB so they divided the snaps. But at most places there is a #1 and that guy gets the reps in practice and the meaningful snaps during the games. When the backup gets in to do mop up duty then he usually is trrying to run the clock not run the offense. If somebody knows of a program that gives their backup QB meaningful reps during practice and gets him in the game and runs the offense to prepare him for either "next year" or injury to the #1 then I'm all ears.
No Bill, No. That is quite a leap you are making there but nice try. Because one coach is better prepared than the other does not mean the other guy is bad... it means one guy one and the other lost, most likely for those very reasons mentioned above. Mack's a fine coach.
First of all, your team was a one-trick pony (offensively) which was a waste of talent and left you very exposed to QB injury. From play calling on down, there is clear evidence that Saban altered their approach to this game to address the injury situation. This nonsense about 'no one saw McCoy's injury coming' is just that...nonsense. The better and more physical (read SEC-like) defenses that Texas played this year effectively shut down McCoy and the Texas offense. (Texas 16 OU 13, Texas 13 Nebraska 12 and then of course... the NC game) The only adjustment we saw from Brown was to swap one QB for another and then just ask the kid to hand it off... which you wouldn't even have Colt do..
So you're saying having Star Jackson at QB from the 5th play on wouldn't have impacted the game at all?
I am betting they would have gone wildcat, and were prepared to do so. They rotated all 3 RBs at that Tebow-esque 'fullback/quarterback' spot in the single wing.. (Upchurch, Ingram and Richardson). I am sure it would have had an effect still. As KP mentioned, I believe the real #2 QB this year was not Jackson. We saw the fake punt, we also saw some really goofy stuff out of Saban in the 1st qtr that he hadn't done in years (let alone this year). Alabama had a few options ready to go. As we saw, Texas did not. It doesn't make Mack a bad coach. It just means one guy was more prepared than the other.
Mack may have thought or been duped to think that kid could handle it. For almost three quarters he was awful and then at the very end when the Texas D had kept them in the game he coughed it up for the fatal blows. After the first series he was in it was painfully obvious Texas was doomed and the only surprise was the 24-21 score in the 4th....which was actually quite surprising.