...and everything feels strangely odd. Must be the realization that I'm getting closer to graduating and the real world.
Or maybe it's just the cedar pollen.
Oh, and it turns out I have asthma again. Go figure.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Texas vs. Alabama
Now that I've had a few days to get over the disappointing loss, I thought I would make a few logical and objective comments and observations regarding the 2010 National Championship game.
First, all credit to Alabama. The woulda/coulda/shoulda game goes both ways, but it's difficult to imagine that Alabama would have come out that dead-legged in the second half if the lead were much less than 18 points. It's clear that Saban decided to play it more conservatively and just eat some clock in the 3rd quarter, which contributed in part to Texas' comeback. I'm not so sure Urban Meyer, Pete Carroll, Les Miles, or Mack Brown would have necessarily done the same, but we'll never know.
Second, Alabama's National Championship is not tainted. As much as I would like to think that it is in part because Texas lost it's star quarterback, the center of the offense and emotional leader, Alabama made the plays on defense when needed. Despite not having more than one sack the entire game, that sack ended Texas' comeback with 3:07 left in the game. They swarmed Garrett Gilbert and DJ Monroe into coughing off the normally safe shuttle pass and turned their 300 pound d-lineman into the biggest running back in college football, if only for a few seconds, shedding the poor Gilbert and a lineman trying to make a low tackle.
Third, Texas has a lot to look forward to next year. A lot.
-- Texas' incoming recruiting class is again tops in the nation and though they're losing Sergio Kindle, Lamarr Houston, and Roderick Muckelroy, Mack has commitments from the top linebacker and defensive tackle prospects in the nation. And with Pete Carroll leaving USC, already a small number of top-flight recruits are de-committing, a few notable were heavily recruited by Texas.
-- DJ Monroe, Malcolm Williams, Marquise Goodwin and others will be back and there are several, ridiculously athletic players red-shirting this year who will be playing next season.
-- Finally, Garrett Gilbert. A true freshman with only 26 snaps in garbage duty before the national championship grew-up right before the eyes of the whole country. He almost went down in college football history as the true freshman who hadn't started (and by the way, didn't start the NC game, either) that led Texas to an improbable comeback over a vaunted and favored Alabama defense. First game jitters, Red River Rivalry, and big away games probably won't affect Gilbert in the way last Thursday's game did. He'll shake it off and say "you want nervous, try filling in for a two-time Heisman Trophy finalist 5 plays into the National Championship against Nick Saban. And some big scary players. This ain't nothin'."
Fourth, I don't want to hear SEC fans chanting dominance, at least not this year. The final score was 37-21. 6 of those points came when the game was basically in hand with less than 2 minutes left. Another 7 came after the sack on Gilbert put the ball on the 3 yard line with the best running back in the country carrying the rock. Bama allowed 15 unanswered points to a true freshman quarterback who hadn't taken any meaningful snaps all season and to a group of wide receivers dropping balls left and right. Colt McCoy came out of the game 5 plays into the game and the Bama quarterback had a less than stellar outing, completing only two passes to receivers. (Here's a stat for you: Colt McCoy's QB rating for the game: 137.80. Greg McElroy's: 98.80. Go figure). Bama made the plays, but they were no way dominant. Not that night, not against Texas.
Fifth, I'm tired of hearing fans of schools in the SEC who haven't won a BCS bowl game chanting in favor of the SEC and wearing the SEC patch with pride. So if you're not a fan of Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Auburn, Tennessee, or LSU, guess what: you're team has not contributed to the SEC's dominance in the BCS. Sorry, that's a fact. Still think it's odd SEC fans root for other SEC teams. Could you ever imagine Ohio State rooting for Michigan? Or UNC rooting for Duke? Or UCLA rooting for USC? Stanford for Cal? Eagles for the Cowboys? Giants for the Eagles? Seems odd to me.
Finally, the bottom line is that Alabama won and Texas lost. McCoy was out, but Gilbert played well enough and had some key balls dropped in endzones or lost for fumbles. Imagine if Malcolm Wiliams had caught the ball in the endzone or if Kirkendoll wasn't caught in an illegal formation early in the game or Monroe (or Mack Brown) hadn't botched the shuffle-pass near the end of the first half. The way the defense was playing, it could have just as easily been 17-14 at the half instead of 24-6. What a different game that would have been. But again, it could be said that Bama would have played harder and meaner in the 3rd quarter and Texas may have ended up losing 45 - 17. Add to it that Texas finally realizes in the worst possible way why a running game is so important. If Texas were able to run the ball, a lot less pressure would have been put on the shoulders of a true freshman quarterback. Who knows. Nobody really will. And it is somewhat assuring in some strange way to know that a lot of the nation thought Colt would have made a difference and that losing him that early in the game, win or loss, ruined the Championship game for them. The best players weren't all out on the field that day. And if there was one player that Texas couldn't afford to lose, it was Colt McCoy. Would have felt the same way if Bama had lost McElroy. Or if Florida had lost Tebow. You saw what happened when Sam Bradford went down. You can't lost your signal caller. And I don't want to hear the argument that they don't play on defense. That doesn't matter. The defense is only as good as their offense and vice versa. I defense can't score all your points (save for maybe the 2000 Baltimore Ravens) and your offense can only score so much until the defense needs to make a stop.
Bama lost Mark Ingram for a long while, but last I checked, he scored the game-sealing touchdown and they still rushed over 200 yards against a good Texas run defense. Oh, and that Trent Richardson is a pretty good back, too!
Fans of the Longhorns should hold their head up and take pride in knowing that despite everything, they held their own. Texas fought continued to fight hard and didn't give up but just came up a couple plays short of a miracle.
The Alabama Crimson Tide made all the plays they needed.
First, all credit to Alabama. The woulda/coulda/shoulda game goes both ways, but it's difficult to imagine that Alabama would have come out that dead-legged in the second half if the lead were much less than 18 points. It's clear that Saban decided to play it more conservatively and just eat some clock in the 3rd quarter, which contributed in part to Texas' comeback. I'm not so sure Urban Meyer, Pete Carroll, Les Miles, or Mack Brown would have necessarily done the same, but we'll never know.
Second, Alabama's National Championship is not tainted. As much as I would like to think that it is in part because Texas lost it's star quarterback, the center of the offense and emotional leader, Alabama made the plays on defense when needed. Despite not having more than one sack the entire game, that sack ended Texas' comeback with 3:07 left in the game. They swarmed Garrett Gilbert and DJ Monroe into coughing off the normally safe shuttle pass and turned their 300 pound d-lineman into the biggest running back in college football, if only for a few seconds, shedding the poor Gilbert and a lineman trying to make a low tackle.
Third, Texas has a lot to look forward to next year. A lot.
-- Texas' incoming recruiting class is again tops in the nation and though they're losing Sergio Kindle, Lamarr Houston, and Roderick Muckelroy, Mack has commitments from the top linebacker and defensive tackle prospects in the nation. And with Pete Carroll leaving USC, already a small number of top-flight recruits are de-committing, a few notable were heavily recruited by Texas.
-- DJ Monroe, Malcolm Williams, Marquise Goodwin and others will be back and there are several, ridiculously athletic players red-shirting this year who will be playing next season.
-- Finally, Garrett Gilbert. A true freshman with only 26 snaps in garbage duty before the national championship grew-up right before the eyes of the whole country. He almost went down in college football history as the true freshman who hadn't started (and by the way, didn't start the NC game, either) that led Texas to an improbable comeback over a vaunted and favored Alabama defense. First game jitters, Red River Rivalry, and big away games probably won't affect Gilbert in the way last Thursday's game did. He'll shake it off and say "you want nervous, try filling in for a two-time Heisman Trophy finalist 5 plays into the National Championship against Nick Saban. And some big scary players. This ain't nothin'."
Fourth, I don't want to hear SEC fans chanting dominance, at least not this year. The final score was 37-21. 6 of those points came when the game was basically in hand with less than 2 minutes left. Another 7 came after the sack on Gilbert put the ball on the 3 yard line with the best running back in the country carrying the rock. Bama allowed 15 unanswered points to a true freshman quarterback who hadn't taken any meaningful snaps all season and to a group of wide receivers dropping balls left and right. Colt McCoy came out of the game 5 plays into the game and the Bama quarterback had a less than stellar outing, completing only two passes to receivers. (Here's a stat for you: Colt McCoy's QB rating for the game: 137.80. Greg McElroy's: 98.80. Go figure). Bama made the plays, but they were no way dominant. Not that night, not against Texas.
Fifth, I'm tired of hearing fans of schools in the SEC who haven't won a BCS bowl game chanting in favor of the SEC and wearing the SEC patch with pride. So if you're not a fan of Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Auburn, Tennessee, or LSU, guess what: you're team has not contributed to the SEC's dominance in the BCS. Sorry, that's a fact. Still think it's odd SEC fans root for other SEC teams. Could you ever imagine Ohio State rooting for Michigan? Or UNC rooting for Duke? Or UCLA rooting for USC? Stanford for Cal? Eagles for the Cowboys? Giants for the Eagles? Seems odd to me.
Finally, the bottom line is that Alabama won and Texas lost. McCoy was out, but Gilbert played well enough and had some key balls dropped in endzones or lost for fumbles. Imagine if Malcolm Wiliams had caught the ball in the endzone or if Kirkendoll wasn't caught in an illegal formation early in the game or Monroe (or Mack Brown) hadn't botched the shuffle-pass near the end of the first half. The way the defense was playing, it could have just as easily been 17-14 at the half instead of 24-6. What a different game that would have been. But again, it could be said that Bama would have played harder and meaner in the 3rd quarter and Texas may have ended up losing 45 - 17. Add to it that Texas finally realizes in the worst possible way why a running game is so important. If Texas were able to run the ball, a lot less pressure would have been put on the shoulders of a true freshman quarterback. Who knows. Nobody really will. And it is somewhat assuring in some strange way to know that a lot of the nation thought Colt would have made a difference and that losing him that early in the game, win or loss, ruined the Championship game for them. The best players weren't all out on the field that day. And if there was one player that Texas couldn't afford to lose, it was Colt McCoy. Would have felt the same way if Bama had lost McElroy. Or if Florida had lost Tebow. You saw what happened when Sam Bradford went down. You can't lost your signal caller. And I don't want to hear the argument that they don't play on defense. That doesn't matter. The defense is only as good as their offense and vice versa. I defense can't score all your points (save for maybe the 2000 Baltimore Ravens) and your offense can only score so much until the defense needs to make a stop.
Bama lost Mark Ingram for a long while, but last I checked, he scored the game-sealing touchdown and they still rushed over 200 yards against a good Texas run defense. Oh, and that Trent Richardson is a pretty good back, too!
Fans of the Longhorns should hold their head up and take pride in knowing that despite everything, they held their own. Texas fought continued to fight hard and didn't give up but just came up a couple plays short of a miracle.
The Alabama Crimson Tide made all the plays they needed.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Happy Belated New Year!!
Things have been way too busy since we got back on the 29th. We've been moving in to the house slowly and making all the improvements we said we would make (fixtures mostly). I have to say it makes a big difference how much nicer a place looks with updated door knobs, lights, and other fixtures.
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