Texas Loses In A Somewhat Validating Way

What a wrenching game.

Not even stomach wrenching. More like face wrenching... brain wrenching. When it was all over, I didn't even have a reaction. On the drive home, it kind of hit me: this game was a microcosm of the entire 2009 season

Hear me out.

A "really good but not great" team prevailed...

Maybe Alabama was the better team tonight -- maybe. -- but come on. I harped on this before the game, and I think it was validated: at no point this year did we see true greatness and completeness from a team. Florida's offense never truly clicked. 'Bama went undefeated in such a "meh" way. Boise wasn't allowed to prove its capability. It's just unfortunate.

Numbers...

'Bama on 3rd down: 2-12

Would you believe this stat is somewhat padded? The one "conversion" came on a drive which started inside the Texas five-yard line. Way to convert.

Alabama on 4th down: 0-1

Failed fake punt. /sigh

Greg McElroy's line: 6/11, 58 yards, sacked five times for -33 yards

Factoring in yards lost to sacks, the starting QB of the national champions contributed 25 yards to the victory. What a travesty. He was out-dueled by a quarterback who'd never thrown a touchdown in his college career.

(My use of "out-dueled" is a bit liberal, as Texas second-string QB Garrett Gilbert finished 15/40 with 4 INTs... but still, he threw for two touchdowns and at least eclipsed the century mark in yardage. Also, if you're blaming him for the loss, you're nuts. Also, 1 INT was in garbage time. Also, I'm crazy.)

And if you're about to chime in with "but it's a team game!"

'Bama's total yardage: 205

We did not see SEC speed tonight. We saw a Texas defense play with high levels of heart and skill. Remember, one 'Bama touchdown came on a pick-six, one 'Bama touchdown drive started inside the five, and one 'Bama touchdown came when they essentially could have been taking knees.

The way I see it, Texas' D gave up about 17 legit points (I'm including a PAT 'Bama missed). And that should have been enough to win if the offense could have held up its end of the bargain. But we didn't get to see that.

You know what we did see? Power from an insanely gifted runner.

Mark Ingram's line: 116 yards on 22 carries, 2 TDs, 5.3 AVG, 2 receptions for 12 yards

Sort of a sneaky line. If you watched the game, I'm sure you thought he played well. He had some dominating plays, and his shiftiness was on full display. But he never really decimated the defense on drive. Regardless. Great showing from a Heisman winner in the national title game -- finally.

...an injury to a star robbed us of seeing true greatness (OR Bradford = McCoy)...

Oklahoma's 2008 offense was divine. When Sam Bradford went down in the first game of the 2009 season, college football fans were stripped of the chance to see that get repeated. This game was that incident in the exact same way. McCoy went down so early on, it was over before it even started. And like Bradford's injury, it caused us to miss the short window of a great team's full potential.

...and in the end, it left a somewhat bitter feeling.

No Heisman for Suh. No TCU in the national title. No Boise in the national title. No playoff. Devastating injuries to stars. A weak crop of bowl match-ups and bowl performances.

I said this before: 'Bama might be the best team in the country. They're getting a lot of credit from pundits right now. You'll hear how Alabama played like champs, how they proved they were No. 1. But how can these people feel remotely confident in saying 'Bama would have topped Texas if McCoy was healthy? It's an unfathomably large elephant in the room. And it's getting ignored by a lot of people.

Can't imagine what it's like to be a Texas fan right now. They battled hard, sure, but considering a) they didn't get help from the refs, b) the skill position players played pretty shitty early on, c) the pick-six Gilbert threw on a shuffle pass was so incredibly fluky -- seriously watch the replay -- that it will haunt them forever (forever!) as a monumentally epic in-game setback, and d) obviously, they saw their four-year starting QB get hurt... it's hard to shake the feeling the game was theirs to just take.

Texas started the game off with so much momentum (from the defensive stops) and even finished with some, as Gilbert got his feat under him and they cut the lead to three in the fourth quarter. But it wasn't to be.

At the same time, it's Texas. They did get this. It's hard to feel too bad for them. I just wonder if we'll hear sadness or bitching coming from their neck of the woods tomorrow morning. I imagine it'll be a mix of both. Garrett Gilbert won me over tonight. Man, what a rough way to put your name on the map for the first time. Oh, and he was born in 1991.

People I watched the game with thought McCoy was soft for not coming back in. In the post-game interview, he said he wasn't in pain but couldn't feel his arm. Apparently that wasn't enough cause for my friends.

Alabama put an impressive season together, but as a whole, this season just lacked. Maybe Colt McCoy's arm was the actual microcosm for this college football season.

No pain, no feeling

Or something.

* * *

I complained a lot about college football this year (sorry?), and you were mostly supportive, so let's end this on a positive note.

GOOD:
- These bowl season gloves gave players a reason to emulate Jay-Z.


Done and done.

- On a point after, Leigh Tiffin missed the final kick of his college career. Hilarious. Especially if you have any recollection of his performance against Arkansas in 2006.

- Gilbert threw more TDs against 'Bama's defense than Tebow did. He also didn't do this.

- Cousin Sal: "Let this be a lesson to all coaches - this is why you CAN NOT play your starting QB in the first quarter of these championship bowl games."

- Brian Cook: "There's no better summary of the game than the final run-up-the-score touchdown, after which Saban got a Gatorade bucket to the side of the head and the kicker missed the extra point. It was ugly."

- The new episode of "Jersey Shore" was great. Perfect way to cheer up from the game.

Even Twitter agrees.


BobbyStompy is the assistant editor of Tremendous Upside Potential. He can be reached at stompaberdeen [at] aol.com. Follow him on Twitter @bobbystompy.