Ala-Freakin'-Bama!

Congratulations to the Ala-Freakin'-Bama faithful (I love this Trace Adkins song)! A national championship and its first Heisman trophy winner in the same season! In six months no one will remember that Colt McCoy was knocked out of the game with a shoulder injury on the Longhorn's first possession. Gilbert Grape (I mean Garrett Gilbert) was simply overmatched in the first half by a combination of the Crimson Tide defense and his own offensive coordinator. Once Colt McCoy was out of the game, the game plan was to run twice up the middle for short losses on first and second down and then try to complete a screen pass or shovel pass or run a draw play on third down and 14! Good luck against the best defense in the country!

When Texas got the ball back with less than 30 seconds in the first half and ran on first down for 9 yards, it looked like Texas would go into the locker room losing 17 to 6 and hoping that Colt McCoy might lead a comeback in the second half. Instead, for some inexplicable reason, Coach Brown calls a timeout and then the offensive coordinator (see above) calls a shovel pass that is intercepted and returned for a touchdown to increase the Tide's lead to 24 to 6 at halftime, at which point all of the televisions in the United States (except in Alabama and the women that wanted to see the halftime show) went black.

I used to be a Mack Brown fan mostly because he is Watson Brown's younger brother. Watson Brown was the offensive coordinator of the formidable Vanderbilt Commodores in 1981, my first year at Vanderbilt. Watson was the quarterback at Vanderbilt from 1969 to 1972 when the Commodores upset the Crimson Tide 14 to 10 in 1969; it was Vanderbilt’s first victory over Alabama since 1956 and I do not think Vandy has beaten Alabama since then (I hate to bring up that nightmare for Crimson Tide fans at this time, but I do not want them to get too cocky!), but the Dores came close when the "World Of" went to Tuscaloosa in 2006 (I am sure that High Right will correct me if there have been other memorable Vandy victories in his lifetime). Back to Mack Brown. After his clock management almost nightmare in the last drive against Nebraska in the Big 12 Championship Game and the shovel pass at the end of the first half of the BCS National Championship Game, I am questioning Mack Brown's football intelligence! To Mack Brown's credit, today's newspaper says that Colt McCoy was begging to go back into the game and his father said the injury was not that bad (for the benefit of the NFL scouts), but Mack erred on the side of caution (and Colt's future) and did not put him back in the game.

By the time that the rest of the country realized that this Gilbert Grape-kid was pretty good and Texas removed the offensive play-calling shackles, Alabama was leading 24 to 21 and Texas had the ball on its 7 yard line with about 3 minutes to go and momentum favoring the Longhorns. I could hear a pin drop all the way in Arizona from the homes of Crimson Tide in Birmingham and Turtle in Guntersville (The Mouth is never quiet!). As soon as the announcers said that the Texas quarterback had not been sacked all game, Alabama blitzed from the blind side and Eryk Anders (his mother must have been a spelling bee champion!) caused a fumble, followed by two more interceptions and two Alabama touchdowns, making the final score 37 to 21, Crimson Tide!

Finally, what was up with Nick Saban and the Gatorade bath? OK, the defense was too quick and hit him upside the head with the bucket (but isn't that what Alabama football is all about!). Lighten up Nick, you just won the national championship and you are going to Disneyworld!

Heisman Trophy

Today, like Tiger Woods, I am going to take an "indefinite leave from golf" and blog about another subject of which I know very little, college football and the Heisman Trophy. I do know that the Heisman Trophy was named after John Heisman, who coached Georgia Tech for 16 years in the early 1900s, and the only two-timer winner of the award is Archie Griffin, the great running back from Ohio State University, in 1974 and 1975. Other than being the namesake for the Heisman Trophy, John Heisman may be most famous for being the coach of the team that showed lousy sportsmanship and ran up the score on an out-manned Cumberland College football team 222 to 0.

As usual in this hard-hitting blog, I will not pull any punches or equivocate. Notwithstanding Colt McCoy's pitiful performance against Nebraska last week, Colt McCoy will win the 2009 Heisman Trophy because of his body of work over 4 years and because he is the quarterback of an undefeated Texas football team (he probably should have won last year). Also, you could not make up a better name for a Texas quarterback than Colt McCoy! The quarterback triumvirate of Tim Tebow, Sam Bradford and Colt McCoy each deserve one Heisman Trophy.

The other four candidates for the Heisman Trophy are Tim Tebow, Toby Gerhart, Mark Ingram and Ndamukong Suh. Each player brings something different to the Heisman Trophy discussion. Tebow won the award as a sophomore. This is his second opportunity to tie Archie Griffin as the only two-time winner of the Heisman Trophy. His numbers are almost as good as in his Heisman Trophy year, but Tebow spoiled Heisman voters and losing to Alabama probably doomed his chances. Tim Tebow is the best college football player and team leader that I have ever seen.

Being near the West Coast and watching a lot of Pac-10 football, I saw Toby Gerhart play a number of games. He is the California career high school rushing leader so he is no fluke! He is tough as nails, hard to bring down and deceptively fast. He had an unbelievable season, rushing for over 1,700 yards and 26 touchdowns, and if I had a vote for the Heisman Trophy he would be my choice.

Mark Ingram plays in the toughest football conference in America, the Southeastern Conference. If he stays at Alabama, he may ultimately win a Heisman Trophy but this is not his year. The "World Of" Alabama faithful should be happy if he does not win the trophy this year because it may give Nick Saban a way of enticing Ingram to stay another year.

I had no idea who Ndamukong Suh was before the Nebraska - Texas Big-12 Championship Game (which confirms my limited knowledge of college football). His performance against Texas, 12 tackles, 4½ sacks and 7 tackles behind the line of scrimmage, may have been the greatest single game by a defensive lineman ever in college football. He single-handedly almost beat Texas, which would have denied Texas a possibility at a national championship and doomed Colt McCoy's Heisman Trophy hopes. He will not win the Heisman Trophy because only one true defensive player, Charles Woodson, has ever won the trophy. He will, however, overcome this disappointment when he is the first player selected in the NFL draft in 2010.

P.S. While I am making unequivocal predictions, I predict that Tiger Woods will be back for the Masters in April 2010!

Roll Tide!

Congratulations to the "World Of" Crimson Tide fans. The Alabama Crimson Tide rolled over the Florida Gators 32-13 and the game was not as close as the score indicates! Alabama manhandled Florida at the point of attack, both offensively and defensively. Carlos Dunlap, Florida's best pass rusher, was suspended after being arrested on drunken-driving charges Tuesday, but it would not have made a difference. Alabama was on a mission! Mark Ingram and Greg McElroy played great games and Nick Saban's defense stifled Tim Tebow, maybe the greatest college player of all time. Alabama ran 71 plays to 49 for Florida. Alabama rushed for over 250 yards and had a 40 minute to 20 minute time of possession advantage. It was a complete beat down!

Texas squeaked by Nebraska 13-12 and almost lost the game on a boneheaded play by Colt McCoy. With seven seconds remaining and the Longhorns in field goal position to win the game and with one remaining timeout, McCoy takes the snap, rolls right and when he cannot find a receiver heaves the ball out of bounds. The clock does not stop until the ball hits the ground and initially the clock showed "0:00" but the replay showed the ball hit the ground with one second or less on the clock and Texas was given another play and kicked the game-winning field goal.

Alabama will play Texas in the national championship game in Pasadena, California. Roll Tide!