Texas Missed McCoy -- and So Did 'Bama

PASADENA, Calif. – You couldn't hear Colt McCoy's right shoulder pop Thursday night, but you knew what people would be saying next. Poor Texas.

It's certainly appropriate to feel sorry for McCoy and the Longhorns, but direct a little sympathy the Crimson Tide's way. They are one of the best BCS champions ever, and all most people will talk about is how the crown was handed to them.

Yes, they almost threw up on their gift-wrapped win. Freshman quarterback Garrett Gilbert deserves as big a bonus as Mack Brown. And Texas absolutely, positively, unquestionably suffered without McCoy.

The point is, so did Alabama.

You spend a month getting psyched to play the real McCoy, and then you suddenly have to face Gilbert Gottfried?

Okay, that was a cheap shot.

"Garrett Gilbert stepped in and played as good as he could play," McCoy said, barely.

But how much of that was a freshman growing up before our eyes, and how much of it was Alabama just trying to get the game over with?

After Marcell Dareus returned Gilbert's shovel pass 28 yards for a touchdown, the party was on. Problem was, there was still three seconds to play in the first half. No matter what their coach yelled at halftime, his players knew the score.

"It was like we won the game at halftime," Nick Saban said.

That darned Dareus. He started the whole problem when he crashed into McCoy's back on the Longhorns' fifth offensive play. Suddenly the biggest night of the college football season felt like the MAACO Las Vegas Bowl.

McCoy went straight to the locker room. All an anxious nation could do was wait for news from the medical front.

"He'll be re-evaluated at halftime," Brown said.

You spend a month getting psyched to play the real McCoy, and then you suddenly have to face Gilbert Gottfried?
Former Longhorn hurler Roger Clemens was at the Rose Bowl. Maybe he had some spare HGH Shoulder Juice he could have rubbed on McCoy.

It just wasn't right, dang it. Not to McCoy, Texas, the galaxy-wide TV audience or Alabama. From that point on the Crimson Tide couldn't win for winning.

They'd gone 13-0 and blasted the No. 1 team in the SEC championship game. The only people who'd bet on Texas wore 10-gallon hats and belt buckles the size of hubcaps.

I think Alabama would have rolled if McCoy had taken every snap. How can I say that?

It was faster, more talented and better coached. I also know such statements can't be disproven.

Unfortunately, they also can't be proven. Once McCoy went down, you could conjecture anything.

Brown undoubtedly thinks Texas would have won, and probably won big. He said as much to some acquaintances after the game. In his press conference, he was a bit more diplomatic.

"After Colt got hurt, obviously we were limited in some of the things we could do," Brown said.

Gilbert is going to be a great quarterback. But last year he was leading Lake Travis High to a Texas 4A state title. When he went into Thursday's game, you could almost see the drool forming on Saban's fangs.

Gilbert completed one of his first 10 passes, and Alabama took a 24-6 halftime lead. The game was over, done with, kaput.

Then it wasn't. The kid QB threw a 44-yard bomb. The crowd got excited. Alabama started groping for the re-ignition switch. It didn't find it until Gilbert threw a 28-yard score to make it 24-21.

"We thought we had pretty good game plan if [McCoy] played," Saban said. "It sort of threw us off a little bit."

Brown certainly would have traded problems with him Thursday night. McCoy's injury temporarily took the life out of Texas, but Alabama spent a month getting ready for one major challenge. The Tide suddenly had a new one, the kind everyone immediately took for granted.

"It's just unfortunate he didn't get to play," Mark Ingram said.

McCoy's post-game interview was sad enough to melt even Saban's heart. He opened his mouth but emotion clogged his words.

"I would have given... I would have given anything to be out there," McCoy said.

Oddly enough, I think Alabama felt the same way. Tide fans will gladly accept the school's first national championship in 17 years, but it has sort of a Roger Maris feel.

The crowning moment will be remembered more for who didn't play than who did. People will forever debate what would have happened if McCoy had played.

We can all agree that after all he accomplished in his career, he certainly deserved better.

But after all Alabama did this season, its title certainly doesn't deserve an asterisk.