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1. uthookem said:

   January 7th, 2010 at 10:54 pm

   Good summary, NDS.

   ‘Bama was the best team on the field tonight, and deserved this win.

   That said, I like what’s coming back for us, and I won’t cry one day when Saban kicks the bucket.

2. ctex80 said:

   January 8th, 2010 at 12:31 am

   Kudos, sir. Can’t argue with any of that. Didn’t expect you to root for us, and wouldn’t have wanted you to. The Big 12 is certainly not the SEC. A sickening loss for us. Gonna go cry into my burnt orange pillow.

3. Soonervino said:

   January 8th, 2010 at 8:58 am

   Ditto to the emotion. Not sad they lost, hate the way it happened. I like the “they are OU without Sam Bradford” which is very true. Ridiculous defense, pedestrian offense without their leader.

   As I opined on Nate’s thread, this does allow the santimonious UT fan to say ‘what if’ although they wouldn’t hear of it when Bradford went down. And they will ‘if he had not been hurt’ us to death. If Bradford hadn’t been hurt in the first quarter on October 17? Same argument. You’d have to assume UT plays an entirely different game. If not, we don’t lose by 3. If not, we win, If not, UT doesn’t play for the NC. I don’t play that way. He did go down, we did lose by 3, we did go 7-5, you play the hand you’re dealt.

   As for Colt, how doesn’t he break down in the on the field post game interview. I almost did. What a great competitor, great kid. I can only hope my boys grow up to be like him, outside of his choice of universities, of course.

   I didn’t root for UT, though wouldn’t have been terribly upset had they won. Outstanding performance on the defensive side continuing to prove what a great coach Muschamp is. Hard to rag on Davis with the hand he was dealt, though I’ll bet he wishes he had gotten Gilbert more snaps in the regular season. Kid stared into the eye of the storm and has a lot to build on.

   Congrats to UT for their season. Welcome to 2010 with your version of Landry Jones.

4. cMan said:

   January 8th, 2010 at 9:53 am

   For the most part, your analysis is good. Alabama won and they deserved it. I can take a loss to them a lot better than if it had been somebody like USC, Ohio State, or God forbid, Notre Dame. A couple of their players are punks, but Ingram really seems like a nice guy and showed a lot of heart himself to fight through cramps and still play. I sort of liked the underdog McElroy until I saw him run out onto the field at the end and throw the “horns down” sign. I’m sorry, but only Oklahoma and A&M are allowed to do that. Not even TTech. Plus, he has to be about the flimsiest excuse of a quarterback to win a national title in I don’t know how long.

   Saban revealed his true character when he ran for that last touchdown. Mack Brown has taken heat for years when he empties the bench early and runs dive plays up the middle once his team has a game in hand. On many occasions he has foregone easy touchdowns or even turned the ball over on downs rather than kick a chip shot field goal to get more points. Then, in Saban’s postgame comments on the field, he can’t even find it in him to congratulate Texas and compliment their effort. What an ass.

   However, I do think Texas wins with McCoy (and their starting center). Not to fall into woulda/coulda/shoulda’s, but here are some points. First and foremost, McCoy’s loss put the entire Texas team into a haze for the first half (and not the haze produced by those ridiculous pre-game fireworks). There is simply no accounting for how that changed the game. It’s not like losing your star quarterback and heart and soul of the team after nearly three quarters against BYU in the season opener. They had FOUR PLAYS before Garrett-Deer-In-Headlights-Gilbert gets tossed to the wolves in the FREAKIN’ NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME. Plus, Texas was cruising for a touchdown before the injury. Instead of 6-0, they are likely up 14-0 (or at least 10-0) after the first couple of series. That would have forced Alabama to throw the ball, and Texas would have destroyed McElroy. Even with so few pass attempts by Alabama, Texas had five sacks. Throw in the ill advised fake punt, and Texas had five sacks and an interception. If Alabama is forced to throw 20-25 times, Texas would have tossed McElroy around like a rag doll, probably created some turnovers, and taken Ingram and Richardson out of the game. I like our chances in that scenario a lot better than letting those two studs get their 40-something rushing attempts. Plus, Texas probably uses McCoy’s legs as a weapon, keeping them out of all the third-and-nine-or-tens Gilbert found himself in all night.

   Next, McCoy doesn’t throw that shovel pass in the midst of traffic at the end of the half. Even if Texas is down by the same score, they’re going downfield or to the sideline with the ball. Or they just know they have the better quarterback and a not-insurmountable-deficit to make up, and they take a knee. A bonehead call by the coaching staff which probably lost the game right there.

   McCoy also doesn’t miss a guy completely unaccounted for on the corner when the vaunted Alabama defense got their one sack of the game with three minutes left. Not saying he leads them down to the winning score, but he at least isn’t getting hammered by a guy that nobody even waved an arm at and fumbling the ball inside the five.

   Despite a true freshman at quarterback who makes just his 27th pass attempt of the season in the national championship game, a crazy field position disadvantage the entire game (Alabama was outstanding on punt coverage), and two turnovers in their own end of the field one of which was returned for a touchdown, Texas finds themselves down just three points with three-and-a-half minutes left and a chance to win the game. Not bad at all, and it finally answered emphatically “NO” the stupid question of whether the “true” national championship had been played in the SEC championship.

   Finally, I feel horrible for Colt McCoy. You couldn’t ask for a classier guy, who over four years proved his mettle and so deserved to win this game. It has become almost a cliche for athletes to “Thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” when they win, but 22-year-old McCoy goes out on national TV and says that, even though they lost, he still praises God and knows that there is a reason this happened. He also was man enough to congratulate Alabama and praise their efforts. If only the 58-year-old Saban could learn to do the same.

5. phi gam90 said:

   January 8th, 2010 at 10:13 am

   I don’t know if Texas wins with McCoy. I agree with everyone that it is a shame that one of the game’s best guys goes down like that. The difference in the game was Texas’ inability to stop the run early. I think if McCoy is in, Alabama doesn’t play so conservative on offense. It seemed like Alabama quit taking any risks at all on offense once they got up 14 to 6. Alabama only threw eleven times. That plan almost back fired when Alabama seemed to have so little respect for Garrett’s ability to throw that their secondary got burned on some weak man coverage. Jordan Shippley is way too talented to let him run free like that.

6. UTHornFan014 said:

   January 8th, 2010 at 11:52 am

   I think it was a huge benefit for Bama that McCoy got hurt… And not necessarily because of what UT would have done better on offense.

   If McCoy would have been the game Alabama likely would have passed more (a.k.a. played more ‘aggresive’), which based on the sampling we saw last night wouldn’t have worked well for them at all. McElroy was playing like a true fish out there with his happy feet and indecision. Bama’s OLine couldn’t handle the pass rush of the Texas defense and neither could their senior QB.

   I think that McCoy’s injury helped push Bama toward the only offensive gameplan that would have won the game for them.

   Bama’s defense didn’t really impress me at all – They actually gave up a few big running plays to Texas and couldn’t defend the infamous “WR tunnel screen”. Who does that???

7. GOHORNSGO said:

   January 8th, 2010 at 8:35 pm

   Funny enough, the train of thought reflects my own when Bradford went down against Texas in the cotton bowl. It’s shaming, but I’d add an initial feeling if smugness at an assured victory for my beloved Horns against the hated and feared Sooners without their leader on the field.

   Enjoyable, but petty and best forgotten.

   And it was quickly replaced by the realization of what I was missing as a college football fan by not having the elite of both teams compete without handicap took its place.

   But overall, the difference I have is that I’m not sure I completely agree with the knock on Saban.

   In the third quarter, Alabama had a grand total of 8 yards of offense the whole quarter. And remained scoreless for a whole quarter after entering the second half with a 24-6 lead – to me indicating a prevent strategy against a weakened Texas offense.

   In the 4th quarter Alabama had only one sustained drive for 60 yards (resulting in a missed field goal attempt) before Texas scores yet again, and I think if I’m in Saban’s position I’m probably figuring this strategy may not be working.

   I can understand the perspective on the last Alabama touchdown, but I figure Saban is arguably the best coach now in college football, and the fact that that the only points scored in the second half were from turnovers leads me to believe that there wasn’t any play calling that was for gratuitous scoring – it was closer than the score reflected and I think Saban knew it.

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