National Championship: What Most People Believe But Are Afraid To Say

I believe it, but I’m not going to say it.

And I realize that it’s about the biggest possible “but, if” imaginable, but I just can’t stand the “but, if”s in sports. Perhaps it’s because I associate them with texas a&m.

The reason I believe and say it is because you could see the Bama team having a meltdown as we scored that 2nd FG. Saban’s face looked like a sun-dried lemon.

So many “ifs.” We had 7 taken off the board because someone didn’t line up correctly. If we’re up 10-0 game is probably different. If Davis doesn’t prefer his nuts tucked away in his taint, then maybe Gilbert gets rolling sooner than the 3rd Quarter. There’s nearly a dozen very big “what ifs” for this game.

Not to mention two real big ones that go back in time, i.e. what if we have a good running game? What if we had given Gilbert more “real” game experience during the season.

That’s one of the major stories of this game. So many “what ifs.” More than your usual game. Because of that, this championship will always be tainted.

Does 2 uses of “taint” qualify me for free membership on BC?

What will haunt us Texas fans for years to come is this: the Texas team that showed up last Thursday was the same one that showed up against Arzona state in 2007, against OU and Mizzou in 2008, against OSU and Mizzou in 2009. The not-give-fuck-pissed-off-yet-laser-focused team that we only get to see a couple times a year if that. That said, I agree, what-ifs are for aggies.

The other thing that will haunt me forever is the fucking 5-wide set on 1st down from the 17 after the defensive holding penalty. Against that defense, in that situation, w/a true freshman at QB. Whether we actually go down and score, well, who knows, but to come out in that idiotic formation was simply not fair to the kids who played their asses off in order to get back in the game. Nice one, Greg, and by extension Mack. I for one will never be able to swallow that fucking call.

I believe it, and I’m not afraid to say it. It’s impossible to say with any degree of certainty that Texas would have won with McCoy in the game. And it really doesn’t matter. What happened happened.

But, based on the limited relevant evidence we have available, I have to give a decided advantage to the Horns. First, McCoy was moving the ball at will in his few plays. Second, Texas played with much more passion than did Bama – not just in the first quarter, but throughout the game. Third, Texas dominated on special teams. Fourth, outside of the first half, Texas’ defense dominated; the first-half problems had more to do with fatigue due to our offensive 3-and-outs than anything else. Fifth, a 10 or 14 point lead would have changed the complexion in Texas’ favor. We crushed Bama’s passing game, and they would have been forced to rely on it more heavily. Texas would not have been forced to go ultra conservative on offense, and thus our defense would not have been as worn out. Also, we would not have called a desperation shovel pass with the clock running out on the first half.

Sure, the game would have changed completely in ways impossible to predict. But, in my estimation, the game would not likely have changed in any way that would have benefited Alabama.

The ironic truth that a playoff system would bring home is that there’s a lot of accident and luck in sports no matter what the format.

I say “ironic” because while we pretend that we dislike arguing about sports, it’s what we enjoy almost as much as watching them.

The jag, by the way, is Rob Parker, who was just fired from his newspaper job in Detroit:

At a postgame news conference on Dec. 21, Parker asked Lions coach Rod Marinelli whether he wished his daughter had married “a better defensive coordinator.”

Fox television showed the question, prompting analyst Terry Bradshaw to say: “You know, Rob, you’re an idiot. You’re just a flat idiot.”

http://www.mije.org/richardprince/columnist-rob-parker-out-detroit-news

Make that a year ago that Parker was fired.

Skip Bayless comes across as a complete douchbag even when he’s saying something I agree with.

I don’t care. It was a great season anyway. I’m not disappointed in the slightest. I do think Texas would have won with Colt McCoy healthy, but it’s not like he injured his shoulder sleeping on it wrong the night before. He was hit on a running play by Dareus. The hit put him out of the game. It’s a part of it.

What irks me are any comments about how great the Alabama defense was, Greg McElroy as MVP, or anyone wanting to say Alabama was just more talented. No, they won the game fair and square in part because they put the Texas starting QB on the sidelines on the fourth play of the game.

I would have gladly taken a national championship if the reverse were true.

Not to throw anyone or anybody under the bus, because by the end of the game I was extremely proud of the team’s effort to come back from the 17-6 deficit, but if the defense is able to hold Alabama to a 3 and out when Texas had pinned them to their own 8 yard line with 6:15 left to go, Texas is likely 10 to 15 yards away from the tying field goal. Instead, Alabama converts two crucial 3rd down plays for first downs, then is the beneficiary of 30 yards of questionable penalties, which allows them to down a punt on the two.

They had their chances to come out on top even with all the mishaps. I refuse to be bitter.

Wow. I never would’ve thought in a million years that I would agree with a damn thing that goofy-ass Skip would ever spout.

“I would have gladly taken a national championship if the reverse were true.”

The equivalent would be knocking out Ingram, Richardson, and their entire starting o-line.

Had a friend tell me…Texas lost to an inferior team in the Rose Bowl, just like 4 years ago.
I had no response to that.
Fact is you can’t have it both ways and to say things would have been different means that a Bama fan could say what if they had a QB who could throw? It goes on forever and to play the what if card is very A&Mish. I dont want to see another UT fan bring it up. I am happy to have Gilbert QB next year and AW is an all american and should have been this year if it weren’t for the the conference giving head to Stoops and his players. That was a great injustice and I for one hope he gets the recogintion he deserves. Hook’em.

Haha! Probably so. That’s part of the advantage of relying on a power running game, I guess.

Hell, I feel worse for Colt McCoy than I do for me as a fan. A lot worse. With the way Mack Brown has the football program geared, Texas looks like it will be back in the running for a potential appearance in the national championship game real soon. These opportunities shouldn’t be taken for granted, since it’s so tough to get there, but as a fan the future sure looks shiny.

I have no idea how this will benefit Colt McCoy in the future. Maybe he will be able to reach someone that needs him in a way he wouldn’t have been able to without having this experience. Maybe it benefits him in some tangible way. I don’t know. It’s not an experience I would have wished on him, though.

Also, I wouldn’t feel nearly this sanguine without 2005. Let’s make no mistake about that.

“Fact is you can’t have it both ways and to say things would have been different means that a Bama fan could say what if they had a QB who could throw?”

And then we could turn around again and say Well what if our entire team had superpowers due to harnassing the rays of our yellow sun? And so on and so forth.

Skip Bayless is only saying that because he goes the opposite on everything. He has zero credibility. He’s only saying that to piss off the Bama crowd.

He’s not agreeing with us, he’s just going opposite all the other talking heads.

“Had a friend tell me…Texas lost to an inferior team in the Rose Bowl, just like 4 years ago.
I had no response to that.
Fact is you can’t have it both ways and to say things would have been different means that a Bama fan could say what if they had a QB who could throw? It goes on forever and to play the what if card is very A&Mish. I dont want to see another UT fan bring it up.”

This makes no sense to me. It doesn’t go on forever. To lose a piece as big as Colt McCoy on the 4th play of the game…there is no equivalent. Like Nordberg says, the equivalent was for Alabama to lose Ingram, Richardson, and their whole offensive line. Maybe a bit of hyperbole, but it’s easy to get the point. The whole offense revolved around McCoy. We could sit here and argue about the efficacy of that, but his importance absolutely can’t be argued. Losing McCoy was at least as critical as losing Vince Young on the fourth play against USC would have been, at least for the offense.

It’s not “A&Mish”. This is a stupid, easy, McCarthyish way of dismissing a point of view. It’s a typical fan view of a game. It’s universal, not something that the Aggies have some kind of patent over. Heck, it makes me want to throw it in your face as much as possible just because you’ve let me know it bothers you so much.

I’m not going to say that we would have beaten them or not. Who knows what happens. Fact is, we went toe to toe with the SEC Champ with a True Freshman and basically only played a half of football.

What pisses me off is living in SEC country and putting up with their shit. I actually got asked by an LSU fan the morning after “well I guess you found out what’s it like to play against the SEC.” I asked if he even watched the game. That kind of comment drives me bat shit crazy.

Hey SEC, SEC, SEC, color me completely unimpressed!

seriously, analysis from a dude that didnt know the name of the texas QB who played 98% of the national championship game. i’m hanging on his every word

Fine, whatever. I’m over this game. And for what its worth SL I agree with most pretty much everything else you have posted to date.
However, what would you say to an Ohio State fan about Beany Wells going out? I would tell that person to get over it, we won and they had their chances and when it came down to it, the better team won, and so on.

Its just the weakest form of an arguement (if the premise of this particular post is one) happens to be hypotheical situations. You wont find many who disagree with McCoy getting injured was a huge blow and cost us a title, but what Skip said was right…we will never know. So why harp on it? Is it for piece of mind or what?

Agreed on whomever that baffoon was. Doesn’t know GG name? Really ESPN? Daniels? Moron, he sounded like Emmitt Smith. Cant even form complete sentences

Actually, I would enjoy arguing with the Ohio State fan if that’s the position he wanted to take.
’
There can be more than one perspective. I don’t have to swallow an Alabama fan’s, or anyone else’s view of the game if I don’t want to.

The reason to harp on it is because it was the national championship game. It’s a pretty big deal. We’ll be bringing this up for the rest of our lives and beyond. I still talk about poor Craig Curry’s fumble of the Georgia punt, and Blake Gideon’s drop of a potential interception. I’m sure as shit going to talk about Colt McCoy going out with a stinger that incapacitated his throwing arm on the 4th play of what turned out to be a tightly contested game.

I’m emotionally invested in Texas football on a level which most outsiders would view as mentally unhealthy. I don’t mind. I like it that way. It’s been like that practically my whole life. Discussing this stuff is part and parcel with that world view. I’m just glad that because of the internet, I’ve found a slew of other sickos who share the same kind of mental imbalances I do, at least as it revolves around UT football.

Uh, by “beyond”, I don’t mean we’ll be having this conversation in the afterlife. I mean the conversation will continue to occur among the living, even after as individuals we’ve passed on.

But maybe we’ll be discussing this in the afterlife, too. It seems worthy enough of our attention, IMO.

I was on the field for this game and Texas DOES NOT beat Bama with Colt McCoy they BLOW THEM OUT. I totally agree with you.

Longhorns dominated that game. I also went back and forth with an ESPN radio announcer saying that Alabama’s intensity was not the same at 24-6 and they took it “easy” in the 2nd half. That is the most ridiculous think I’ve ever heard. Who loses intensity in a National Championship game. Baloney!

Let’s see what Bama can do next year when they face a Sophomore Quarterback.

SLX I’m not really interested in heaven if I’m prohibited from talking about Texas football.

What on God’s green earth is conservative about calling a fake punt from your own end of the field in the first quarter? The "Foot Off the Gas" theory is a dismissive and cursory analysis of the actual events made worse by its regurgitation by the parroting common football fan. Alabama was 2-12 on third down, we had more sacks on McElroy than he had completions. They did not choose anything, we forced them to run by completely shutting down the pass. Attempting to pass would have only aided our comeback. They found out real early that this Texas team was not who they thought they were. I don’t think Alabama was conservative, I think they were scared. Ask anyone there. In the fourth quarter when the noise from the Longhorn fans became absolutely deafening after Gilbert’s second TD pass to Shipley, I saw the faces of the Alabama fans and the look in their eyes, it was utter defeat. They were beaten, without hope, and 3 minutes away from the biggest choke job of all time and the greatest, most improbable comeback in the history of college football.

All this careful avoidance of Aggies-esqueness is unnecessary.

Colt plays the whole game, we win.

Colt didn’t, we lost.

On to next year.

“I’m emotionally invested in Texas football on a level which most outsiders would view as mentally unhealthy. I don’t mind. I like it that way. It’s been like that practically my whole life. Discussing this stuff is part and parcel with that world view. I’m just glad that because of the internet, I’ve found a slew of other sickos who share the same kind of mental imbalances I do, at least as it revolves around UT football.”

I love you man.

I think a lot of the nation agrees that Texas would have been the better team that night at full strength. I am a little surprised that so few except for Bayless (who I hate) and Freeman (CBS) have broached the subject. Seems like it would be a great debate to have for networks and “sports news” sites to drum up considering they thrive on dissension.

Also, Colt is was the most important player in college football last year. I’m not trying to start this as a Heisman or MOP debate, but he’s the most valuable. Everything in our offense, for good or bad (probably bad), was predicated on McCoy and how he played and what decisions he made. To not only lose him, but lose him in-game (it’s not like we game planned to be without him like if he got hurt in the Big12 Championship) and on the first possession (so we got little of him) was a killer. That simple. I believe most informed college football fans that aren’t affiliated probably know this. It’s akin to the Colts losing Peyton Manning in the Super Bowl. Do you think that has an impact? Would you expect them to win, even if they controlled the first quarter? Regardless, not Bama’s fault what happened and they did what they were supposed to. I believe we were the better team at full strength that night. We just weren’t full strength. It happens.

53% of the country thinks we would have won the game that night with Colt, yet I don’t think 53% of the press is having this debate. And yea, I don’t put too much stock in that type of poll either, but it’s fun to talk about: (top right hand of link)

http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/polls

“SLX I’m not really interested in heaven if I’m prohibited from talking about Texas football.” – nordberg.

Awesome.

If you had a choice between talking about UT football in Hell, or never talking about it Heaven, which would you choose?

Good beer conversation.

Would I still get to watch the games in heaven?

The fact that Saban took the ball first, and did a fake punt from his side of the field on the first posession of the game, means he KNEW that Texas was ready for that game, and he knew that he had to try to do something to get the momentum back on bama’s side.

I’m not gonna say what if’s because we all KNOW that we were the better team, because anytime texas has a month to prepare and be told that they aren’t good enough.. we KICK ASS.

So bama can be proud of their title cause hell I would be proud of ours if the role reversed, but till the day I die… I will always consider Colt Myboy a champion and these 2008-2009 texas teams gave me some of the best years I’ve ever had watching UT sports.

I will always remember them as nothing less than champions

I’m not really interested in heaven if I’m prohibited from talking about Texas football.
if there’s no Texas football, you might be in the, er, wrong place…
if there’s football, but OU is winning, you can be sure of that.

Your neighbor would have saved that game.

That dipshit arguing against Skip is the one who appears to be arguing for the sake of arguing. He doesn’t believe what he’s saying – well, maybe he does a little bit – and he’s stumbling for words.

A friend of mine who is a Sooner fan scared me off of the “we would have definitely won” meme, but just barely. Bama won the game and part of winning the game, part of football, is injuries and knocking opposing players out of the game. You can’t definitively say we would have won, but you can definitively say that it would have been a much different game.

Skip is right, though, that it’s obvious to anyone outside of SEC country that knocking Colt out was the best thing that could have happened to Bama that night. All this bullshit about the result being the same regardless is just that, bullshit. Bama did not regularly knock opposing quarterbacks out games this year, so you can’t tell me it was “just part of playing such a good defense.” It was a lucky break that benefited them immensely.

Next year’s schedule is much tougher than this year’s. I think Gilbert will be good and I’m not as scared of the trips to Lincoln and Lubbock and Dallas as I would have been otherwise, but asking him to take us back to the BCS Championship is asking a lot.

That said, our #2 ranking ensures we’ll be relatively high again in the preseason polls and we can control our own destiny. Give Gilbert a year running the offense, let us gameplan around him, and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE GOD give us a rematch. Bama will be returning essentially the same team on offense and our defense would blow them up all over again.

I want redemption.

We couldn’t be more on the same page here if we were clones. Thank God we’re not. I’m sure you agree.">)

All the pregame preparations and speculations went out the window on both sides of the ball when Colt was injured. Strategies changed in a blink. Because of that I have no stones to throw at our staff at all for any of the decisions made after the injury.

I haven’t posted a word about the game on any board until now. You inspired me.

And as Mack was overheard after the game in a private moment which bacame public…….“Without the injury it wouldn’t have even been close.”

He’s right.

But we move on. And I like where we’re moving in Austin a lot. I wouldn’t trade places with any other program in the country at this time. It is going to be very good and very much fun to be us for several years to come.

Can I correct at least one meme here? Saban did not call the fake punt.

It was an automatic read – the gunner on the left was completely uncovered, and the punter is supposed to check for that. Turns out the gunner WAS covered, and the punter was baited into it.

Now, should a special teams coach have made it totally clear that no checks or audibles were to be followed? Probably. But saying it was Saban’s call (or even fantasizing that it was part of a game plan) is more than a reach.

Rewatched the game a couple times this morning and we had receivers running wide open all over the field. With exception of Jackson and Arenas, Bama’s DB’s have average speed.

In the first half, check out Gilbert’s first full possession on the third and 10 throw. He has Dan Buckner wide open in the middle of the field after a fake wide reciever screen, but GG never diverts his eyes and McLain is able to jump up at the LOS and bat the ball down.

Another example in that second quarter is the third and 5 throw that results in GG’s first interception. He stares down Shipley and misses Buckner wide open in the middle of the field. Had he come off his first read it’s at least a twenty yard pickup.

These are just a couple of many examples, but if McCoy is playing, both of these plays are made and they’re huge gainers.

Not to take anything away from Gilbert, but take Magic Johnson off of that Michigan State squad and they get rolled by Indiana State. That’s just the way it is.

It wasn’t Saban’s plan to fake punt at that moment. Letting the punter have that option in that situation was a retarded decision by some coach though.

I actually question the line of thinking “We were moving the ball at will with McCoy”. We only saw 5 plays which was enough to see that this wasn’t going to be a Greg Davis special. But Bama could have adjusted to what we did during those 5 plays. Our D has been jumped on a few times to start games in the past 2 years only to have us buckle down as the game goes on. All we can say for sure is that we wouldn’t have had 6 three and outs and 2 picks the remainder of the 1st half. Dam this is pissing me off again just thinking about it.

If we had Colt in there for the entire game this is a USC v. Oklahoma style blow-out. Yeah, I said it. A 40+ – 14 style ass-whooping.

McElroy absolutely could not pass. None. After halftime, Bama could not run the ball successfully either. The only reason they won the game with GG back their QBing is because Greg Davis spotted them 7 on a stupid ass shovel pass and GG killed several of our drives with freshman-mistake turnovers. That shit doesn’t happen with Colt in the game. Period.

I also think this idea that Bama “took their foot off the gas in the 3rd quarter” is bullshit. Bama couldn’t do ANYTHING through the air. So they relied on their power running game like they have all season, which after Muschamp made adjustments was getting them nowhere. How do you conservatively call a power run game? As evidenced by the end of the game, Saban wanted to run up the score. He just couldn’t because our defense was embarrassing his squad all night long.

I don’t see how anyone with a handful of working brain cells could have watched that title game and come away thinking Alabama was the better team. They got dominated in all phases of the game and if not for two freak plays they lose to a freshman QB with zero experience.

Colt was primed to have a Vince-esque performance and a freak injury stole it all from him. If there really is a God, I’ll never understand why he screws over a guy like Colt in favor of a rat like Saban and thugs like Ingram. There definitely isn’t any justice in the world.

Bama knocked Colt out of the game fair and square, so hats off to them for neutralizing 90% of UT’s O so early in the game. That is at least the 3rd consequential nerve injury that Colt ha suffered (1 in HS and 2 at UT). It is impressive that Colt took as many hits as he took over his career without suffering more injuries.

It is too bad that GG wasn’t given more opportunities to hone his craft in real games this season. By focusing so much on padding Colt’s stats for the Heisman race and then having GG mostly hand off when he did get in the game, even though the true frosh backup QB desperately needed the work, Mack slowed down GG’s development. If GG gets to QB 10 more drives this season and actually run the entire offense for every drive which he QBed (another 10 drives at least), he would have been making mistakes and learning the entire season. He might have been just ready for the MNC opportunity (he almost was anyway).

It seems incredibly stupid to me that Mack, with his superb ability to recruit, does not recruit the people/coaches necessary to run a balanced offense (ala OU). UT should not have to repeatedly bash its QB (who has a wonderfully accurate arm) into the big uglies just because Mack’s running attack does not work any other way.

Watching Mack and Muschamp work the sidelines, fire up the troops, and basically say eff you to fate was the best part of being at the stadium (football related). Never been more proud of a loss. Shipley cements his legacy as the best receiver in Texas history in that game. The 2009 Texas secondary does the same in this game. Pretty effin special…

Ike, you’re saying two things inherently in conflict with each other -

“Saban did not call the fake punt.”

- and -

“It was an automatic read – the gunner on the left was completely uncovered, and the punter is supposed to check for that.”

If it was an “automatic read” then Saban most certainly did “call” it — or did The Waterboy put the automatic read into the gameplan (and fail to take out it for this game)? Coach is responsible for the bad as well as the good reads.

I assumed also that the fake punt was an automatic read. The interesting questions is whether applewhite and/or muschamp was aware that the punter had been given the green light to fake that punt in that situation. In other words, did their familiarity with Saban’s system lead them to put in that punt particular defense. I certainly did not see anything similar all year out of our special teams. If so, the talking heads spouting that it works both ways re: our coaches working for saban were clearly wrong. We took advantage of the knowledge, they did not as far as I could tell.

I cannot think of any major D-1 coach who has an “automatic read” for a fake punt on 3-25 from his own 20. I do know that at Texas for years and years, any automatic read was to come into play outside our own 40.

I cannot imagine for one minute that the ’Bama was anything but a called play from the sideline.

It wasn’t 4th and 23, but that fake rugby punt against Wyoming is what came to mind when I was watching the Alabama game.

Acatually SLX it was 4th and 23. The series had started on the Alabama 33-yard line, and they had a penalty to push it back to the 20.

There is no way an automatic read is put into action in those circumstances in that game.

I’ll give you guys this, with McCoy you guys blow Bama out of the water. When Bama attempted that fake punt on like their own 15 yard line, I had flashbacks to the Orange Bowl against USC. I really thought you guys were going to massacre them.

Then McCoy went down and everything changed. And while I feel bad for McCoy (he’s obviously a genuinely good kid who would have done anything to play in the game with his team), I can’t really have any sympathy for Mack, the University of Texas, or its fans.

Losing your starting quarterback sucks, doesn’t it?

I think Texas gets to use this as a learning experience. Winning one national championship is hard. Winning two is a lot harder. Things have to go your way. You have to avoid injuries. You’ve got to get lucky. Sometimes the team that is obviously better (and Texas was obviously better than Alabama) doesn’t win. That’s not a fun lesson to learn.

Regardless, is McCoy okay? Any diagnosis on the injury?

Yep, and you’ve got to be proud of your University when the adults step in and make the mature decision to not let the player go back into a ballgame and risk further injury to himself and his career. Even if it likely means losing is the result.

Losing your starting QB and it causing you to go from 2-3 losses to 5 losses is something that happens all the time. Losing your starting QB and having it directly cost you the national championship is something entirely different. Hell, if it wasn’t for another starting QB injury, Sooners would have had 6 losses. We don’t need your sympathy.

“However, what would you say to an Ohio State fan about Beany Wells going out?”

I would tell him that they scored 6 points in more than a half with him and 17 points in less than a half without him. Forced Tressel out of conservative bullshit playcalling and tOSU started having success.

Who in the hell is Beany Wells?

Anyway, I echo the sentiment that I have never been more proud of a team in a loss.

I am pissed at Davis for throwing a ****ing pass behind the line of scrimmage to an inexperienced RB when the only sensible option other than a kneel down is to chuck the ball at least 30 yards down the field. I am also pissed at Davis for not realizing that Gilbert’s strengths relative to Colt was the vertical passing game and making use of that earlier. I am sure Mack said something at the half.

I am a Tar Heel. Not an SEC homer. Not a Big 12 fan. I have clients in Austin and Tuscaloosa, Birmingham and Dallas, among others. All great places. As a huge fan of college sports, I understand your pain.

I also understand what it was like having Chris Webber’s time-out define a Carolina national championship for 10 years. They were down 2 with 11 seconds to go, left their center to bring the ball up court, and stood around watching while Lynch and Phelps for Carolina trapped him in the corner, leading to the panicked time-out. If Webber doesn’t call the time-out, it’s still a turn-over.

Yet somehow, it’s the Time-Out That Cost Michigan a National Championship. Not the brain-dead PG for Michigan who never went to get the ball. Not the smart defensive play of Phelps and Lynch. It’s not accurate, and it’s infuriating.

So understand that people in the media are better educated today when it comes setting up story lines like these. It’s not Alabama’s fault McCoy went out. They beat the team Texas put on the field — by physically disrupting the opponent’s key players, generating a lot of turnovers and running the ball all over the place. Basically the same game plan they had all year.

What would have happened if McCoy had played? Don’t know. How would Oklahoma have played against Texaswith Bradford? Don’t know. What about Oklahoma with Reynolds last year? Don’t know. I do know how McCoy played against Oklahoma and Nebraska this year. If you want to believe Texas was 14 points better than Alabama with McCoy on the field this year, more power to you. But you got to the game in part on the strength of some fortuitous injuries of your own and a QB who plays a significant role in your running game. Alabama got to the game in part on the strength of some fortuitous injuries and a defense designed to hit mobile QB hard and often. In that respect, the game actually played according to form.

SpiralOut – Not even going to stand up for Saban, he gets paid big dollars to forget that people hate him.

But can you care to tell me what evidence you can offer that Mark Ingram is a “thug?”

BEHorn and srr50 — allow me to clarify, then:

Saban didn’t call for the fake punt, but someone was careless in reinforcing the need to call off the automatic read. So it wasn’t called… it just wasn’t “called off.” Better?

“srr50 said:
January 11th, 2010 at 3:56 pm

Acatually SLX it was 4th and 23. The series had started on the Alabama 33-yard line, and they had a penalty to push it back to the 20.

There is no way an automatic read is put into action in those circumstances in that game."

srr50, I KNOW it was 4th and 23. I didn’t pull that number out of my ass. I was referring to the Wyoming game, where it wasn’t 4th and 23, but it was, what? - 4th and 9? 4th and 7? It wasn’t 4th and 2, that’s for sure. The punter had been told at one point in time, if he had a clear shot for the first down, to go for it.

There is no way Mack Brown or anyone else on the staff told Justin Tucker to try for the first down on that play.

I guess my point is that if the punter just pulled that out of his ass, that is the calmest I have ever seen Nick Saban on the sideline after a fuckup - and I mean screwups not even close to that one.

I find it curious that Alabama wins the toss and takes the ball. Unless the wind is howling most coaches like having their defense on the field first and having the ball to begin the 3rd quarter.

That combined with the fake punt makes me think Saban wanted to strike first to have us playing from behind — and to avoid having to do the same.

Agreed with srr50. Saban would have made a mess of that punter on the sideline if he took it upon himself to fake it on 4th and 23 from their 20.

Didn’t Texas run the exact same play against USC — baiting the automatic? Good coaching.

I don’t have that strong of an opinion regarding whether Saban directly called for the fake punt or not. It’s his responsibility no matter what - just like it was the UT coaches’ responsibility for the fake punt that didn’t work against Wyoming.

I’m just pointing out another time when something like that occurred, and I didn’t even have to stretch all that much to do it.

Personally, I like the theory that Applewhite/Muschamp had a suspicion that would work to bait him. The thing is, if the throw had been on target and caught, it was a first down. The reason why Gideon was able to intercept it is because the throw was short - possibly because when it was thrown the punter was still acting on the assumption there wouldn’t be anyone defending.

Or maybe it was under thrown because it was thrown- get this- by a punter… Just a thought.

srr50: “I find it curious that Alabama wins the toss and takes the ball.”

Saban did the same thing in the SEC Championship Game. Definitely threw Florida for a loop.

Perhaps it was a called play, but clearly Gideon is baiting the punter, he lines up in the middle of the field and takes more or less a pursuit angle to the gunner right at the snap. Even if Saban told the punter right before the play “do it if its open” the fact that we called the coverage we did at that point (when almost every coach in America would punt regardless) leads me to believe that something in Saban’s history led our coaches to believe that they could bait the punter into a specific type of fake punt.

I must adamantly protest any post that says anything positive about that little weasel, Skip Bayless. F him.

Hook ’em!!!

Eyes, I may have to concur…

Any time Skippy ends up sounding like the intelligent half of a conversation, you know you have truly entered a vast wasteland.

If Gideon was baiting the punter he is a super dumbass for intercepting the ball.

“hookem625 said:
January 11th, 2010 at 11:27 pm

Or maybe it was under thrown because it was thrown- get this- by a punter… Just a thought."

Good for you. I have no idea what your thought was supposed to mean. Heck, the way McElroy was throwing the ball, I doubt he would have done any better. My only point was that as stupid as the call was - and it was absolutely, beyond a doubt, stupid - and no matter how it got called, if the ball was thrown on target and caught, the abominably stupid call would have actually paid off.

It wasn’t, and it didn’t.

Actually, SL, it appeared to me the ball was delivered right on target, and that Gideon just made a hell of a play on it.

In any event, even if the play had succeeded, it was an unbelievably brain dead coaching decision to take that risk.

Hook ’em!!!

Yeah, I had posted in another thread saying I’ve came back from the edge of the cliff and don’t really know if we would have “won easily” with Colt not getting injured. You can’t tell from 5 plays.

I read somewhere that Gilbert was all by himself on the sidelines after he came in. Not one coach coming up to him, talking/coaching him, no players, etc..but then again, the team didn’t seem to rally around Colt, never really did in his 4 yrs, Look at all the cheap shots he took and the o-line never helped him up or went after the guys who pulled that shit. The WHOLE team rallied behind vy, even the defense. They had this “we’re gonna fuck you up” attitude and it resonated throughout.

and no, im not comparing colt to vy, im just using it as an example. You either have “it” all the time or you don’t and it seemed colt and his teams, by association, never really had that killer instinct. I could have gone down the objective/literal road saying I don’t think Colt is the brightest qb out there, staring down his receivers, never checking down, etc..but I’m sure people would try to argue that as well. I’m keeping this positive. word to your moms.

When he was on the sidelines, Gilbert was listening to GD on the headphones.

It’s obvious to me that losing 90% of your offensive production on one play, with the better part of four quarters remaining in the most important game of the season, is a setback. And more than likely this little setback will have a detrimental effect on how your team performs the rest of the way.

I agree.

“EyesOfTX said:
January 12th, 2010 at 11:58 am

Actually, SL, it appeared to me the ball was delivered right on target, and that Gideon just made a hell of a play on it."

It’s not even worth arguing about, other than for the sake of discussion.

Where Gideon caught it, the receiver/gunner was already having to slow down and come back for the ball. I guess it’s on target if no one is around the receiver, which was thought to be the case when the ball was snapped, and I’d CERTAINLY agree Gideon made a heck of a play on the ball, even if I wished he’d just let it fall through his hands this time. But that kind of stuff is pretty easy to think about when you’re not actually involved in the play, with all the other things going through your head.

I’m just saying it’s not like the throw hit the receiver in stride, and if it had, I don’t see how Gideon is able to make a play on it. But it didn’t happen that way. They had a punter throwing the ball, and even if it had been the QB, he wasn’t doing any better. Plus they were on the shadow of their own goal line on a 4th and 23 on the first series of the game. The whole thing was a giant clusterfuck on Alabama’s part. I don’t think there’s any disagreement from anyone on that point, even me with my nitpicky, annoying quibbling.

TO: SL & et al-

After taking in all these comments from this blog board, I hope that all of you can rewind the TT 2008 GAME: (a few plays prior to Gideon’s wornout excuse for our loss). Loooook @ the ball being drilled into ET’s CHEST, and it bounces right off around the UT 2 yard line. What’s the friggin difference between one play and the other??? None.

SAME RESULTS: DROPPED INT ON BOTH CAUSES.

So, where is ALL the venom for (#12 on defense) that was pumped into #21 for the past 14+ months? BLAKE GIDEON IS A Key COG ON THE ’HORN’S D. Like it or not. Blake (GOT) His INT in this MNC game. Redemption comes in more than one flavor.

What the Hell is all your problem, anyway? You just cannot correctly breakdown film, and on each play come up with a correct conclusion.

personally, IT IS THE MOST FLAGRANTLY FALSE PUT-DOWN OF ANY PLAYER EVER ON THE UT SQUAD- AND UNDESERVEDLY so, TOWARD A FINE YOUNG MAN ….IF YOU INSIST TO CONTINUE THIS PATTERN – THEN SHARE THE WEALTH- BLAME EARL FOR HIS DROPPED INT, TOOOO! BETTER YET…Cut it out totally…..QUIT IT, BECAUSE it LACKS any MERIT or CLASS… Hookem who???? THE players ARE OUT THERE DOING IT- NOT ANY one OF YOU- not ONE of YOU WEAR THE HELMET. THANKS, SINCERELY TO ALL THE FOOTBALL TEAM FOR EVERYTHING YOU DO.

AND YES, IM SHOUTING, IN ALL OF THIS. COME ON……….!! nyet suda.

If, and, but, OU would have clobbered UT had Bradford not been hurt early in the game. That is part of it. UT lost to Alabama. Face it, get over it! Jerks!