'Bama. Defense. Game. National championship winners don't kick fied-goals w/ 1st & goals from gift-wrapped turnovers. A national championship winner should've led 14-0, not 6-0. National championship winners don't give up freak TD's w/ seconds remaining in the half. 24-6 would've been 17-6. National championship teams don't allow TD's after turnovers. Two TD's w/ less than 6 minutes left after a fumble & int' could've been defended better, forcing 1 fg & punt. National championship teams don't incur numerous deadball penalties, regardless of the circumstances. As good as 'Bama is, they also made some silly & stupid plays (fake-punt pick, turnover on kickoff, missed extra-point). Would've-could've-should've have no place in athletics. 'Bama won w/o issue. Damn. 'Bama got some unreal defensive players, hosses/studs/playmakers. . . Congratz' to the Tide!
Bama ran a TD by running the ball up the middle. Texas had stopped that for a while, but then gave way. There is no one to blame but the defense there. Bama has always made a point not to run up the score. We had a lot of the young backups start playing in the 3rd Quarter sometimes this season. But that was a run up the middle. He didn't put Cody back in the backfield then, we just ran it up the middle with our 2nd-string back. Too bad Texas's alleged number 1 running defense couldn't stop that.
Texas could have won it. If only for one thing. Instead of these highpower teams trying to run up big numbers with their starters, they could let the second string in during the 4th quarter blow-outs so the younger guys could get experience. The freshman QB could have had 10 quarters under his belt this year if the coaches would have let him relieve Colt thru out the season. He could has had a lot more confidence; it's Texas' own damn fault.
Tough spot for Texas to be in. If McCoy gets benched every time the games are essentially over, that hurts his stats and Heisman campaign. It might also hurt future recruiting efforts, if players feel like their Heisman efforts will be hindered by similar practices. If McCoy takes all of the snaps and then gets hurt, well we know what happens.
Texas would have lost no matter what. Their players can't handle a SEC team for a whole game. Hell they couldn't handle the way the SEC hits for two series.
Not my point at all. I'm not some rabid SEC fan who believes that the rest of the NCAA is inferior in every way and don't care about that discussion at all. My point was merely that Texas was in a difficult situation, deciding how much to play McCoy this season.
Gilbert did a fine job and I don't think any additional playing time this season would have made a difference. And the rest of the NCAA 's football programs ARE inferior to the SEC programs.
These posts are hilarious to read (esp. on ESPN); much more animated and hateful than the political blogs! Very simply summarized, if Texas beat Nebraska by only ONE point, is it any surprise that it lost to Alabama? Consider that Nebraska was functionally "half" of the 'Bama team (no disrespect intended to these Huskers of mine, but it had NO effective offense for most of the season...until the Arizona game), yet nearly won against the 'Horns; it's anticlimactic of an outcome when these same 'Horns had to play the "whole" (and actual) 'Bama team. It is regrettable for the 'Horns that they did not beat Nebraska decisively, and also regrettable that ‘Bama did not beat the ‘Horns with McCoy all the way to the same bitter end. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be so much of the postgame “what ifs” and “if onlys”. Sure, it would be interesting from my point of view for the ‘Horns to visit Lincoln next year as the defending National Champions, but nevertheless, CONGRATS Alabama: your bowl victory and accomplishments this season speak for you.
I tried to watch the replay on ESPN, without ever knowing the final score. ESPN continued to skip large segments of the game, in an effort to show more commercials. I got fed up towards the end of the 2nd quarter. I shut the tv and logged on to check the score. Texas will be back.
What Saban offers is a process. I'm unsure that his Process would work in the pros due to prima-donna bickering, but it certainly works at the College level. Nonetheless, Alabama went 10 wins under their previous coach Shula, and LSU was able to coast on Saban's process (under replacement coach Les Miles) into their own National Championship...which is to say, even if Saban left Bama, Alabama would still have his Process in play for some years to come, and would be unlikely to fall below Alabama's prior coach's efforts under Shula. While Alabama might find it difficult to repeat back to back national titles at this moment in time, Alabama will be in the Top 10 with or without Saban from here forward through the next 10 years. With the right talent or luck, Bama will score additional national titles in that timeframe. This is roughly the same position that Alabama was in back in 1992 under Stallings, and it was only a series of corrupt Tennessee boosters, coach Fulmer, and a hyper-corrupt NCAA officer who schemed to end Alabama's edge, then. That won't happen to Alabama again. Bama has been slandered by the Saturday Evening Post, twice (and won both lawsuits) in their efforts to take down the Tide, had their 1966 national championship *denied* to them because the sportswriters refused to vote for an all-White football team (even though Bama had won in 1965 so was the defending national championship team, and went undefeated in 1966 for an obvious National Title), and were then attacked by Tennessee and the NCAA in a frame-up job (no credit for full and open self-reporting by Bama for the agent infraction *after* the title game was over) that cost Bama years of scholarships and recruits. If you want to see the double standard, ask the NCAA how Reggie Bush's poor parents afforded to live in their Rose Bowl mansion. USC's answer was that "no would tell us so we can't tell the NCAA" and the NCAA's answer was "No one would tell us." So no probation for USC. No loss of scholarships...even though that infraction was *during* USC's multiple seasons with RBush. With Alabama, the 1993 infraction was *after* the season had ended, and Alabama self-reported it. With USC, the infraction was *during* the season and USC refused to report it. Alabama was punished, USC was not. There's your double standard. And it isn't going to happen to Alabama again. Alabama would do better without Saban, now, than will LSU with Miles. In fact, it will be the *exception* and not the rule for there to be an SEC Championship game over the next decade without Alabama in it. I'd pencil in on the back of a napkin that Alabama will win two more National Championships in the next ten years, as well...with or without Saban.
I don't know why in the world Saban would want to give up his spot at Bama to return to the NFL (not that you're saying he does). Coaches like Saban and Pete Carroll have ideal situations that seem to eclipse anything that they'd have in the pros.
And as soon as I say that, stories begin to surface about Pete Carroll being offered the Seattle Seahawks job. Go figure.
Regarding prominent collegiate jobs vs. pro's, I believe it comes down to: - money (obviously), so a $3-$4 million college coach would likely earn $6-$8 million in the pro's [though the Spurrier-Skins, Saban-Fish, and Petrino-Falcons experiences may have cautioned pro' owners towards such, maybe a little] - responsibilities, as an NFL season is a grind week-to-week w/ a relatively nonchalant & low-key offseason w/ supporting staff such as GM's, personnel directors, and executive presidents handling a lot of stuff; whereas in college it's seemingly a year-round affair w/ intensive recruiting, fund-raising, university/sponsor/booster commitments, appearances, etc' aside from the week-to-week regular season. Add to the latter maintaining "institutional control", academic requirement thresholds, babysitting kids (ie. players) if not being their guardian/authoritative-figure, etc'. Head football coaching truly reminds me of real-life situations where those who graduate w/ a degree or training then decide to remain in an academic setting as staff/researchers/attendees/professors/administrators vs. those who move onto the public/private sector & go corporate/entrepreneur/private-practice/executive/management. Both realms are very similar principally yet very different in execution.
Congrats to Alabama, I'm sure Dr. Tommy had a great time. Sorry to see Colt McCoy get hurt. I didn't bother to watch the whole game, Texas seemed outclassed by the Bama defense. Wayyyy too many dropped passes by Texas receivers to have a chance at winning. Alabama has a decent chance of repeating. I'd be surprised if Florida or LSU makes a run for the title next year, but you never know. FSU has decided to take a simjilar scheduling approach for out of conference to Florida. They will not play anyone from the big 6 conferences in out of conference play besides Florida. Now for a boring 7 months.... GO CANES!!! BT
Nope, nope,nope. You are misinterpreting what I said. I said the result would have looked different. I did not say Texas would have won. Fact is, if you will look at one of my posts just a few back you will see that I said I would be cheering for Texas but did not believe they could hold Alabama. Saban even said at the half that they had to change their game plan when Gilbert was forced into the game. Alabama would have treated it entirely differently with a more experienced qb in the game. So the outcome would have looked different because they would have played it differently. Yes, Mack Brown elected to run McCoy a lot during the season for good reason. It opened up another avenue for Texas to use to mess with their opponents. And yes, they definitely were rolling the dice. But look at what happened in the third quarter for Alabama when Ingram came out with leg cramps. 3 yards rushing in the 3rd quarter. They put him back in in the 4th and the complexion of the game returned to pre halftime dynamics. And as far as both running for over 100 yards against the TExas defense. Yep, they sure did. But Richardson average was skewed somewhat by the fact that he had the one long gainer that scored the touchdown. Take that play out and his average per carry drops a lot. He is still a very strong runner and has loads of future potential and combining the current quarterback and these two running backs to return next year.............Alabama will be in at least the SEC championship game.......and more. I give credit where credit is due. I also know that one game does not make the entire season even though it can break it......TCU proved that and Patterson told them so. He said that if they did not win the Fiesta that all the other games before it meant nothing. TCU was national champion twice and won the Southwest Conference several times also. But, what have you done for me recently? Ancient history from 70 years ago holds no water in discussions about todays teams. I mean, I say congratulations to June Jones and the SMU Mustangs for going to a bowl game for the first time in 20 years or so. It has taken a lot of hard work to get them this far. And Cincinatti had a great season until they played Florida at the Sugar. So what do any of us remember about the rest of their season? Do we remember that they were blowing out most of their opponents? Nope, just that they lost in the Sugar.....If you get there, you have to win the Big ONe. If you do not, be prepared to suffer from all the naysayers looking in retrospect and throwing dirt on the programs of some great schools. Many of them in the process of building a team that could eventually start a tradition. Sure the SEC is a tough conference and if you win it you can really feel good about doing it. I think that speaks loads about the quality of football teams in the South. But, just because the SEC has about 5 or 6 really class teams does that mean they are all head and shoulders above the rest of the nation? Of course not. But if you can win it because of the very good teams that are in it you have accomplished......... Again, congratulations Alabama, you deserve the honors right now for this past season. You can look forward to next year with great anticipation, having a large number of very good returning players. The rest of the SEC should quake in your presence. But you know what? They will still come out and play you hard next time. That is the beauty of college ball. Each year or two we are seeing nearly whole new teams. It is not like the pros with many longtime players on the same team. Look at Florida and it needing to almost start over next year and Bama is returning the most important players on the team. Interesting matchups. I look forward to it. By the way, TCU has offered to be put on the schedules of Texas, Ohio State, Notre Dame, LSU, Texas Tech and many others but in the next 4 years only Texas Tech, Oklahoma and LSU have accepted the contracts. It is hard to gain respect by playing the \"known teams" when they almost refuse to play you. Clemson and Virginia of the ACC accepted this last year and both went away with losses. Hmmmm, looking for an easy win or a better national ranking? But as Patterson says, "you can only gain the respect of others by defeating the other teams you play, no matter who they are. Not by telling everyone how good you are, but going out and showing them every week that you can back up what others may be saying good about you".
Final BCS rankings.......... I am sure not all of you agree but then how many can agree with the BCS anyway. Oh, this is the final top 25 rankings and USC is not in there for all you USC fans..... http://worldsportsbuzz.blogspot.com/2010/01/final-bcs-standings-2010.html
Here are the final AP rankings for 2009/10 on the left, with the AP's pre-season predictions on the right. This is perhaps the worst that the AP has ever forecast a season; fully eight of their pre-season top-25 (two were in their TOP 10!) failed to even finish in the money. Image Unavailable, Please Login
What you talkin' about man, USC is #22 in the linkie you posted ("Final BCS Standings")... hail to Troy, man! (though, the final BCS rankings seem to be identical to the final AP rankings!) tOSU @ #5 being ahead of TCU @ #6 is questionable, indeed. . .
