Hardcore Texan
Magnet Man
qft!
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National Championship Game Thread- Texas vs. Bama
- Thread starter Hardcore Texan
- Start date
qft!
JDizzle
I'm a dude
That's the point. See when I have to go the entire season surrounded by smug longhorn fans it's nice to rub it in some when they get beat by a better team.
Silver Oak
All Pro
Eh, its like politics, people see it how they want to see it. Personally, I see people from both sides acting pretty obnoxious. And that is why I am staying out of it, I dont feel like contributing to that.
Texan_Bill
Hall of Fame
Two words: Longhorn Scott
Mr teX
Hall of Fame
#1... If you go by McCoy's performance's against top defenses this year (terrible) It's not a guarantee he's gonna lite it up...#2 Bama blitzed damn near every 3rd & long against young gilbert. If McCoy's in the game it's unlikely that they have the same game plan, they probably sit back in coverage more. #3, Gilbert didn't miss on the inside toss, Newton bobbled it & was immediately hit.....that was a dumb play call simply from the standpoint, It's unlikely you gain enough to put yourself in fg range at the end of the half..They should've had him kneel it...
mcCoy's injury didn't just alter UT's game plan, it altered bama's as well.
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Mr teX
Hall of Fame
Khari
Administrator
is that in austin or houston? lol
Texan_Bill
Hall of Fame
Ole Miss Texan
Hall of Fame
Great post Mr teX. It's unfortunate Colt got injured, I just wanted to see a well-fought, close game with no injuries.
That injury effected so much in the game. For Texas, bringing in a true freshman in the national championship game against the #1 team in the nation brings a lot of pressure on the kid. On offense, they had to slow the game down for him, be conservative and run the ball. As Pete Carroll said, 65-70% of their playcalls go out the window. In the 2nd half, they did a good job of getting the ball out of his hands quickly. Once they established this, then they could take some chances downfield (see two TD passes). This effected Texas' defense tremendously, especially in the 1st half too. They were on the field a TON more because their O went 3 and out or had a turnover in like 6 straight drives. This does not help the defense at all.
For Alabama, their defensive strategy shifted from contain contain contain colt mccoy... to pressure the heck out of the frosh and force him to make bad decisions and go down field. For Alabama's offense, their strategy obviously was to pound the football over and over. Run the clock out and don't give Texas time to come back. Their offensive playcalling became overly conservative to pound the rock and at all costs DONT turn the ball over.
Those 4 coordinators and 2 head coaches deserved their salary last night.... wasn't the best game but they were ALL forced to coach on the fly.
That injury effected so much in the game. For Texas, bringing in a true freshman in the national championship game against the #1 team in the nation brings a lot of pressure on the kid. On offense, they had to slow the game down for him, be conservative and run the ball. As Pete Carroll said, 65-70% of their playcalls go out the window. In the 2nd half, they did a good job of getting the ball out of his hands quickly. Once they established this, then they could take some chances downfield (see two TD passes). This effected Texas' defense tremendously, especially in the 1st half too. They were on the field a TON more because their O went 3 and out or had a turnover in like 6 straight drives. This does not help the defense at all.
For Alabama, their defensive strategy shifted from contain contain contain colt mccoy... to pressure the heck out of the frosh and force him to make bad decisions and go down field. For Alabama's offense, their strategy obviously was to pound the football over and over. Run the clock out and don't give Texas time to come back. Their offensive playcalling became overly conservative to pound the rock and at all costs DONT turn the ball over.
Those 4 coordinators and 2 head coaches deserved their salary last night.... wasn't the best game but they were ALL forced to coach on the fly.
michaelm
vox nihili
Understandable. Everybody handles this kind of stuff in their own way.
This isn't pointed at you, but when I see Joe Blow criticize another person or group for being obnoxious, then at the very first opportunity Joe Blow turns around and is obnoxious back at them, I pretty much know what I can expect from that dude.
9 times out of 10, Joe Blow is probably just another obnoxious dude, but his team isn't a perennial top ten team, so his opportunities to express his obnoxiousness are limited...
Second Honeymoon
Hall of Fame
i didn't tell anyone who to root for, i just think revelling in another team's misfortune when your own team sucks (not necessarily yours, bill) and is pretty pathetic. if your a Bama fan, you can revel in the misfortune but if your just some bitterman and you are just basking in Texas' failure to win another NC then you are a loser...whether you like it or not.
i am proud of the way Texas showed some heart and if you want to look at the glass as half full, we did get a true freshman some very good experience last night. and mr. tex, i am not butt hurt. it wasn't that painful of a loss. Bama was the better team last night and if Colt plays there is no guarantee that Texas wins.
Colt's lack of size and inability to take a good hit, came back to haunt Texas....again. Never really been a huge Colt guy and last night he showed me why. He just doesn't have the size and physicality to compete with the big boys of the NCAA much less the NFL....and if his dad kept him out to preserve his NFL chances...he probably did the exact opposite. Sadly, it wasn't his dad's call supposedly. Guy can't even feel his arm and I am sure that would be tough to play QB against anyone if you can't feel your arm.
Teams will be afraid of him due to lack of size. he is Major Applewhite - The Sequel except he beats OU.
Texan_Bill
Hall of Fame
Let me preface by saying that I actually wanted Texas to win (and that's very hard for me to admit). Any criticisms or reveling in a Texas loss is self induced. Many of Texas' fan base are extremely arrogant (see the VY saga). With that said, it was a good game and the frosh acquitted himself nicely IMO.
With regards to McCoys size, did you feel the same way about Drew Brees when he was coming out of Purdue.
McCoy: 6'-2"; 210 lbs.
Brees: 6'-1"; 209 lbs.
(Note: not comparing skillz - just size)
Second Honeymoon
Hall of Fame
I wasn't that enamored with Brees when he came out and that was a lot due to size and somewhat to due with me perceiving him as a system QB out of Purdue. Obviously, Brees has proven me wrong on that note. Yup, I was wrong about something. I know. hard to believe, huh?
As for the measurements of McCoy, I think you might be reading the UT Media Program for his height. There is no way in hell he is actually 6'2". No way. He is between 6'0 and 6'1 and just can't take a good hit. That hit last night had no business taking the QB out.
As for me labeling you as someone who is revelling in the loss, I didn't read that anywhere in this thread from you. Mostly it has been on the radio (1560 trolling for Longhorn Scott) and by some of the losers at work and on this board. No big deal, its just football. I have more important things to worry about like why the hell my electric bill was $550. My heater must really suck the life out of electricity. time to re-budget because with a newborn we gotta keep the house warm and its cold as **** out there right now.
Mr teX
Hall of Fame
Now, see i can respect that...hell would have to freeze over for many other UT fans to admit as much...just gets under my skin to hear these morons on the radio & elsewhere talk as if it was a sure win had colt played. Just not true. Then still others "well, there should be an asterik b/c they had to play a freshman qb.." whatever. I didn't hear them crying when they beat OU who had to start their Freshman qb earlier this year.
Scooter
Funky
again, i cant emphasize this more ... i in no way want to defend colt or UT.
1 ... nobody said a word about colt lighting it up. he finishes and as he's done as the winningest quarterback in NCAA is able to establish and complete against the best defenses. 2 .... bama didnt change anything about their defense for gilbert. they did exactly what they planned for colt - win the line against the rush, blitz inside to prevent colt from running, and adjust to the most successful outside play. 3 ... dumb call. the game is no worse than 17-6 at halftime without that play and wouldnt even be an option with colt. the same could be said that with colt it's 14-0 after saban's "WTF" fake punt and muffed kick return.
JDizzle
I'm a dude
Get motivated!
Second Honeymoon
Hall of Fame
Colt isn't that great. He struggled more than his fair share this year and he has thrown way too many picks. I was glad to see Gilbert out there getting some experience against an NFL-sized defense and obviously in a big game atmosphere. We are going to need him to play well against OU early next year.
Great point about the OU win this year. They lost Bradford and we didn't hold a pity party for them...that ruined their season.
Oh here is another thought. Just imagine how much Texas would have gotten rolled by Florida instead of Alabama. If we lose Colt to injury against Florida, things could have gotten ugly. Luckily Saban's philosophy kept us in the game. Urban Myer would have rolled up big points.
Well Colt will be gone next year and the Horns will be fine with Gilbert who I think has a huge upside...he had everything go wrong last night that could and he hung in there and still made some plays.
If anything UT needs to go get some receivers that can catch. They're gonna be fine at QB.
If anything UT needs to go get some receivers that can catch. They're gonna be fine at QB.
Texan_Bill
Hall of Fame
First off, get that light bill squared away. That's ridiculous!!
The stats (height and weight) I got for McCoy were from ESPN.go.com: Colt McCoy. Since I've never met Colt I can only go by what I read, although I know that heights and weights are manipulated all the time.
Ya know, I kinda felt the same way about Brees when he first came out too. We were both wrong on that one. Maybe that's why I don't discount McCoy as a QB, although I do agree that that hit didn't look bad enough to knock someone out of a national championship game.
Mr teX
Hall of Fame
Sure, Bama's defensive gameplan didn't change any with UT having to go to their freshman Qb...who'd only thrown 26 passes all year......in garbage time...against garbage teams..
& Why in the hell would they be worried about Colt running the ball with a 360 lb monster in the middle & them primarily playing zone? They weren't playing against VY or Tebow, 2 guys who primarily got it done on the ground.& Unless you were in the film room & study sessions with Bama, i can't see how you would know what the gameplan for Colt would've been in 2 short series.
& how exactly do you know that the shuffle pass wasn't an option for McCoy. If anything, it probably would've worked better for him since, Bama wouldn't have been expecting it.. but it was a dumb call from UT's stand point in that there was only 30 something seconds left in the game, you've got a qb who's reeling & it's very unlikely you'll move the ball enough to get into FG range. Should've just kneeled it & went to half-time to lick your wounds.
I get that the half-time score would've been different but to what extent no noone really knows.
But the UT homers just won't let go the "McCoy is God" fable (see VY-effect). They fail to recognize that 'Bama had game-planned for Colt and that they had to re-plan defensively the moment he went down. I've heard that Bama losing their HEISMAN-winning RB early in the 3rd wasn't a big impact either. (I guess those people missed the first half) So, everything went against UT and nothing against Bama and that UT still almost came back. (I guess those folks missed the first two series.)
COULDA-WOULDA-SHOULDA - Injuries are part of the game, deal with it. If Sam Bradford doesn't go down in the Oklahoma game, then UT isn't IN this game at all. Sorry, can't have it both ways - You win as a team or lose as one.
treduke
Rookie
yeah i would've worn just the hat but the crimson suit with the elephant tie was too much! i still might wear the hat though
treduke
Rookie
i'm not old enough to remember those "old" nebraska teams but i remember being 12 and watching that '95 nebraska team just dominate everybody!
still to this day the most impressive season i've seen
bah007
Hall of Fame
Boy am I glad I stayed out of this thread last night!
I have a couple of things I wanted to add about my thoughts on the game.
First off, congrats to Alabama. I personally feel that they caught all the breaks last night but that doesn't really matter. They took advantage of the things that fell their way and did what they were supposed to do. Champions finish the way Alabama finished and they deserved to win.
Second, I feel like my team was disrespected coming into this game. Nobody gave us a chance in hell and if I had said that we would only be down 3 with 3 minutes left y'all would have called me a homer and a moron. I know that a lot of UT fans act like the rest of y'all should just bow down to us but I don't feel that way. I hope that the heart my team showed last night earned the respect of a few of you "haters".
On to the game:
I put the offense's failures squarely on the shoulders of Greg Davis and the WRs. I know Gilbert made some mistakes. He made a few bad throws and two of the INTs were his fault. But I counted 9 dropped passes by Texas, one of which would have surely been a TD and two others that led directly to INTs (Monroe on the shovel pass and Goodwin on the last pick).
Davis handcuffed the offense because he was scared to let Gilbert play. On top of that, Gilbert got absolutely no help from the players around him until late in the third quarter. Shipley was nails in the second half though. Stepped up big time when we needed someone to make plays.
I thought the defense was amazing. I feel like only 17 of the 37 Alabama points should be attributed to the defense. The offense gave them the other 20. Texas' gameplan was to make the Tide one dimensional on offense and they did. Sure they gave up 205 rushing yards but they kept Bama under 300 yards of total offense for the game. They had as many sacks as McElroy had completed passes. They allowed the Tide only 3 yards of offense in the third quarter. Now I know that some of that can be contributed to Bama going conservative late in the game and I admit that. But the Texas defense kept us in the game long enough for us to have a shot to win. That's all you could ask of them really.
I have a couple of things I wanted to add about my thoughts on the game.
First off, congrats to Alabama. I personally feel that they caught all the breaks last night but that doesn't really matter. They took advantage of the things that fell their way and did what they were supposed to do. Champions finish the way Alabama finished and they deserved to win.
Second, I feel like my team was disrespected coming into this game. Nobody gave us a chance in hell and if I had said that we would only be down 3 with 3 minutes left y'all would have called me a homer and a moron. I know that a lot of UT fans act like the rest of y'all should just bow down to us but I don't feel that way. I hope that the heart my team showed last night earned the respect of a few of you "haters".
On to the game:
I put the offense's failures squarely on the shoulders of Greg Davis and the WRs. I know Gilbert made some mistakes. He made a few bad throws and two of the INTs were his fault. But I counted 9 dropped passes by Texas, one of which would have surely been a TD and two others that led directly to INTs (Monroe on the shovel pass and Goodwin on the last pick).
Davis handcuffed the offense because he was scared to let Gilbert play. On top of that, Gilbert got absolutely no help from the players around him until late in the third quarter. Shipley was nails in the second half though. Stepped up big time when we needed someone to make plays.
I thought the defense was amazing. I feel like only 17 of the 37 Alabama points should be attributed to the defense. The offense gave them the other 20. Texas' gameplan was to make the Tide one dimensional on offense and they did. Sure they gave up 205 rushing yards but they kept Bama under 300 yards of total offense for the game. They had as many sacks as McElroy had completed passes. They allowed the Tide only 3 yards of offense in the third quarter. Now I know that some of that can be contributed to Bama going conservative late in the game and I admit that. But the Texas defense kept us in the game long enough for us to have a shot to win. That's all you could ask of them really.
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treduke
Rookie
HOU-TEX
Ah, Football!
I normally am rooting for UT, but I'm not "in depth" as far as knowledge about the on-goings of the program. You're obviously in tune with what goes on with UT, so I want to ask you an honest question.
Has Gilbert been the direct backup to Colt? I know Chiles used to be before he switched to WR. It seems strange that Mack's only backup option would be a true Freshman. Why is this?
It looks like Gilbert might have a bright future ahead of him, but a true Frosh to debut (other than mop up) in a National Championship?
Mr teX
Hall of Fame
bah007
Hall of Fame
Gilbert is the #2 QB at Texas and has been ever since the spring. John Chiles never had a chance but Mack promised him he could at least compete at QB. He was never gonna play and finally saw the writing on the wall and moved over to WR.
The only other choice was Sherrod Harris. Gilbert beat him out head to head for the #2 job in the spring.
I had every confidence in Gilbert. He was the #1 QB in high school last year and he was by far the best QB on our roster when Colt got hurt.
I know he is only a freshman but it is the coaching staff's fault that he wasn't completely prepared. The only position on the entire team where we didn't have extensive experience among our backups was at QB. Although Shipley is our best player on offense, the one guy we could not afford to lose was Colt because we had nobody with experience behind him.
Gilbert has a NFL arm already. He has a bright future ahead of him.
WolverineFan
Hall of Fame
Yes he is. Originally they had Jevan Snead, but he transferred. Then they had John Chiles, but he was moved to WR. Now they have Sherrod Harris, who is an upperclassmen that has not ever taken a snap to my knowledge, and Gilbert, who is a blue chip prospect and reigning Gatorade National Player of the Year.
Everybody seems to be getting down on Mack because they didn't have an experienced backup, but in this day and age there is no way they were going to be able to get a good QB recruit and convince him to waste half his career sitting on the bench. Young kids want to play and they have that opportunity now more than ever before. Gilbert was the backup because he was the best QB left on the roster and because for the next 3 years he is the man.
HOU-TEX
Ah, Football!
Definitely agree with that, even though Gilbert seemed to look like he was getting comfortable towards the end of the game. Too little, too late I reckon.
Yes, he does appear to have a bright future. He'll obviously have plenty of time as the starter.
Texan_Bill
Hall of Fame
I'm no fan of Texas but I actually picked Texas to win last night. Things were turning out as I expected until it became painfully obvious that McCoy was not coming back. I felt like Mack Brown was a better coach with a better coaching staff coupled with the great equalizer (30 days to prepare) would propel Texas to a National Championship.
Mr teX
Hall of Fame
what happened with Malcolm Williams? he was primed to be a stud off of what i seen of him last year but it didn't translate this year..
Silver Oak
All Pro
good take on the game...as usual.
question on the bolded part...why on earth have him run that option play, a play in which there is a damn good chance of getting hit hard by a strong defensive unit, if they have no depth at QB?
hindsight is 20-20, and I realize they ran the play all year long, but it just didn't seem like the right kind of play to be running so deep in Alabama's end after the turnover.
bah007
Hall of Fame
Malcolm is what he always has been: The best athlete on the team but he can't catch the damn ball.
We all expected to see him in the starting lineup this year from day one, but he couldn't hack it. He dropped too many balls in practice so John Chiles got the starting nod. When it became apparent that Chiles is just a woeful waste of athleticism Williams got the job. Much like last year against Tech, he played well in only one game this year (A&M).
He has Calvin Johnson measurables but at this point it looks like he will never learn to how catch the ball consistently.
bah007
Hall of Fame
The funny thing is that we have run speed option less than ten times all year. The pundits have been talking all year about how Colt has not been a threat with his feet and it is because we haven't let him. He has been given explicit orders to try not to run with the ball because the coaches wanted him fresh when we actually needed him to run (like we did vs A&M).
Since it was the last game of the year I expect that the coaches figured there was no reason to hold back now. There are no more games after this one. Colt took the hit the wrong way. Instead of putting his shoulder down he turned his back to the guy. He forgot how to take a hit because we have been protecting him from them.
Second Honeymoon
Hall of Fame
Scott lost me when he said that Vince Young was a better QB than Schaub and that Schaub is only better than young at holding a clipboard. Vince has some tools and could continue to improve as an NFL QB, but Schaub is light years ahead of him in every aspect except scrambling/running the ball.
Schaub was a Top 5 QB statistically and should be in any sane person's Top 10 QB list overall.
Let the Gilbert era begin. I think he is going to get another opportunity at the BCS National Championship before he is done in Austin.
I don't understand these kind of statements. What quantifies "better team" if not scoreboard? Isn't that why they play the game?
I could understand the statement if Rice beat UT, but this was the no. 1 vs. the no. 2 teams. Both are deserving and both are very talented.
If you're talking talent on paper, then the run and shoot Oilers were one of the greatest NFL teams in history. Yet, they won...nothing.
I'm not criticizing you, but I've heard this mantra repeated throughout the day today on sports talk radio, Facebook, and in forums. It seems more based on perception than anything else.
p.s. I don't have a dog in this hunt, so I'm not biased for either school.
The key part of your statement, my friend, is "some times".
Many (not all) Longhorn fans are always obnoxious and arrogant, and I put them in the same classification as Cowboys and Yankee fans. They are so blindingly loyal to their teams that they lose any objectivity.
The haters do not get to spew very often, so when they get that chance, years of built up hatred come out. And all that emotion is but a fraction of the obnoxious behavior often displayed by those they dislike.
I told my dad the same thing today, that they reminded me of those Nebraska teams that would just dominate with fundamentals of running the ball and a stout defense. It's not pretty or finesse, but it obviously gets the job done. I like it, too, and wish our pro team had that kind of backbone and consistency.
BattleRedToro
Thread Killer
For those that keep claiming that the Longhorns were the better team there is no better evidence to the contrary than the fact that the Longhorns aren't the same team without Colt McCoy. You could take any single player off of that Alabama team and they would have still been the same team, just as they were able to run the ball well when Ingram was sidelined. Depth is the best measure of the quality of a TEAM. McCoy may have been the MVP of the game, but the best team was Alabama.
wagonhed
Team Gruden
I guess the Colts aren't that great of a team, then.
Look, Alabama won fair and square, and they are deserving of the national championship. But anyone pretending that losing McCoy wasn't a HUGE blow to Texas is completely ****ing crazy.
If the Texans had made it to a wildcard game and then we lost Matt Schaub in the first quarter and went on to lose, this place would be like a kicked ant pile. Not a single person here would be saying stuff like the Texas haters are saying in this thread.
It's not that Texas proved they are a better team cause they almost won without McCoy. No, that wouldn't be fair. But the fact is we really don't know who the better team is, because Texas lost their chance at showing it when McCoy went down and we had to bring in a freshman with 30 snaps in college, and anyone saying it's obviously Bama just because they won is full of ****.
Silver Oak
All Pro
I would counter that anyone who believes Gilbert should have only had 30 snaps, in a season in which Texas had huge leads in many games by the 3rd quarter, is equally full of feces.
BattleRedToro
Thread Killer
Oh, I'm not saying that the loss of McCoy was not a huge blow. On the contrary, I am saying that it was a huge blow and that is why Texas is not the best team. Depth matters and that was shown on Thursday night.
Don't mistake my claim that Alabama is better for a lck of respect for Texas. Texas did a very good job getting back into the game in the Second Half, and that is a testament to the quality of their coaches and players. The coaches must have made adjustments at halftime, and I bet they challenged the players to give their best effort in locker room speech. Whatever they did it worked because they were back in the game before Alabama took over, though I do suspect that Alabama let their foot of the gas for awhile as well.