Well, we have to fill the next 8 months with something.
And the Curling at the Olympics isn’t started yet. 
What the hell is wrong with you? If Peyton Manning gets knocked out of the Super Bowl and the Colts lose a close game, people are going to ask “what if?” Stop acting so surprised.
Up front: I live in Austin, but grew up in New York, and didn’t go to U.T. I’ve sort of adopted them as “my” college team, but I don’t have a deep emotional investment.
My take: Alabama won. They got the championship trophy their fans wanted. There’s no split title. There’s no asterisk.
In other words, RELAX, Tide fans!!! You WON!!! You got exactly what you wanted. What the heck do you care if there a few Longhorn fans thinking, “We’d have won if Colt had been healthy,” and a lot more thinking, “What if”?
Obviously, Alabama has nothing to apologize for. Injuries happen. The hit that knocked Colt out of the game wasn’t particularly vicious or brutal. Colt has undoubtedly taken hundreds of similar hits, and then bounced up to return to the huddle. This time, by some fluke, the hit took all sensation out of his arm. It’s just one of those things that happens in football.
WOULD the Horns have won with Colt at QB? Who the heck knows! Tide fans are confident they’d have won anyway, and they may well be right. All we know is, it would have been a DIFFERENT game.
Garrett Gilbert was utterly unprepared at first, then hit his stride in the second half. His unpreparedness reflects poorly on Mack Brown. There were plenty of games this season when Gilbert could and should have gotten more playing time. Colt was kept in many games too long, in part to boost his numbers and give him a better shot at the Heisman. In retrospect, Gilbert should have been given a lot more playing time.
But again, this is water under the bridge. Alabama won, fair and square. But let’s face it, if Mark Ingram had broken his ankle in the first quarter, and Texas had won a close game, EVERY Tide fan would have been thinking, “If ONLY we’d had our star on the field! If ONLY! Things might’ve been very different.”
FORTY years after Super Bowl III, Baltimore fans still wonder, “What if Earl Morrall had seen Jimmy Orr in the end zone” or “What if they’d put Unitas in sooner”? FORTY YEARS later! If Longhorn fans are still whining that way in 2050, feel free to laugh at them. But it’s only been a week. Be kind.
Fair enough. I get all het up about football, you see.
[emphasis mine]
Correction: “… against a team with their 2nd string QB”. For all I know, Texas has a Junior and Senior QB on their roster, but this highly-acclaimed Freshman was qualified to be their #2.
[emphasis mine]
How is 37 - 21 “close”? It was close at one point, and then it wasn’t.
Whenever people say “Texas would have won if Colt McCoy had played the whole game”, I point out that this is the same as saying “Texas would have won if 'Bama didn’t have a bone-crushing defense.” IOW: not a good argument.
I hate to beat a dead horse, but:
a.) 37-21 is not “close”
b.) If Mark Ingram had broken his ankle in the first quarter, then another RB would have taken over. Part of having a winning team is having depth. 'Bama has it in spades. Texas, apparently, does not.*
- Don’t get me wrong… the kid is good, and really came into his own after getting some experience under his belt. I’m sure he’ll serve Texas well in the next few years. He almost pulled a “Saracen”, and if I wasn’t a 'Bama fan, I would have totally been rooting for him to do so. It would have made for a great story. It would have been one of the greatest sports stories ever. But the real world isn’t like the movies. In the real world, the young QB gets overwhelmed by a defense far greater than anything that he ever saw in this HS career.
37-21 with a freshman quarterback is pretty damn close. Colt McCoy was the best player on the field - and replacing a running back is always easier than replacing a quarterback.
Give us a break. We saw the game. You were leading by 3 with a few minutes to go. And please don’t tell me you weren’t sweating just a BIT at that point. Don’t pretend you walloped the Horns. You didn’t.
You clobbered Florida. No two ways about it. Nobody in Gainesville is wondering, “Might things have been different if we’d done this or that,” because they were at full strength, and simply got whipped.
Texas DIDN’T get whipped. It WAS a close game. A close game that you won. Enjoy your parties, enjoy your parades, and enjoy the bragging rights. NOBODY is trying to deny you that. Just don’t tell us we were hallucinating.
Again, I don’t know, but, since Texas isn’t a junior college, one would imagine that they have other QB’s on their roster; that going freshman-deep was more of a choice than a necessity.
BTW: You know who else is a freshman? Trent Richardson, who ran for 100+ yards.
Why is UT’s freshman getting treated differently than 'Bama’s freshman?
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright]
Colt McCoy was the best player on the field -
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… to not win the Heisman… 
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright]
and replacing a running back is always easier than replacing a quarterback.
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… when you have depth… which is a part of football… just like getting the sh!t knocked out of you.
In fairness, the game was a lot closer than the final score indicates. Texas had the ball, down by only 3, with what…about 3:00 or so on the clock before the fumble that sealed the victory. Bama then killed some clock and scored, then got another interception on a desperation pass. They prolly shoulda taken a knee at that point…but Texas may have had a timeout left (I don’t remember), so they punched it in one more time.
The other active quarterback was junior Sherrod Harris, who has yet to take a live snap for Texas.
Because 'Bama’s freshman is a running back. Not a quarterback.
Most football fans know that running backs learn the position and the playbook much more quickly than quarterbacks. You seem smart enough, so I presume you are deliberately overlooking this point.
Ingram ran for 1500-odd yards and 15 touchdowns this season. Nice, but not particularly special. Darren McFadden was more productive as a sophomore and as a junior, and didn’t win the Heisman either season. Hell, Ron Dayne had three seasons that were more impressive than Ingram’s season.
McCoy, for what it’s worth, is the most accurate passer in NCAA history and has won more games than any other quarterback. Ingram is a very good player; McCoy is a special player.
Replacing a starting quarterback in the middle of a game is a crapshoot for any team. “Depth” doesn’t apply here; a backup linebacker, tailback or corner will always get plenty of practice reps because he’s going to play regardless of injury. A backup quarterback does not.
Do you think that 'Bama’s chances of winning would have been seriously decimated if McElroy was knocked out in the first quarter?
Texas’ fortunes were based on one guy (well, their WR is pretty good, too). That kind of strategy works well if he stays healthy. I’ve said in other threads that one of 'Bama’s strengths is that they don’t have a single strength.
Alabama did not have a pass-heavy offense. It’s certainly true that Alabama could weather the loss of any individual player, including McElroy or Ingram, more easily than Texas could weather the loss of McCoy, and that is a strength.
However, the odds of McCoy being knocked out so early in any particular game are infinitesimal.
ETA: Don’t get me wrong - I think Alabama was the better team and deserved to win, and while I think McCoy’s injury changed the final score, I’m not sure that it changed the outcome. I was just pointing out that it’s not surprising that people are saying “what if?”.