Cavalcade of Whimsy
Dec. 22, Part 2
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Dec. 22, Part
1 - The Holiday Wish List
The C.O.W. airing of the grievances followed by the feats of strength
Ten reasons why Alabama will win the national title. We’ll get into the nuts and bolts of the matchup, like the breakdown of the lines, Texas receivers vs. Bama secondary, etc., later next week in the bowl previews. These are ten non-X-and-O reasons …
10. Texas hasn't faced a running game
Being No. 1 in the nation in run defense is
impressive no matter what, and Texas really does
have a tremendous defensive front that should come
up with a great game plan to slow down
Heisman-winner Mark Ingram, but there are more
weapons in the Bama arsenal with Trent Richardson
and Roy Upchurch able to bring the speed and power
to mix things up a bit. Again, what Texas has done
stat-wise is noteworthy, allowing just 808 rushing
yards and five touchdowns all year, but it's not
like Nevada, Navy, and Alabama were on the slate.
Oklahoma State was the best rushing team the
Longhorns faced, and while the Cowboy attack was
held to 134 rushing yards, Keith Toston ran for 70.
The ground game wasn't the reason for the loss; four
Zac Robinson interceptions and a 17-0 deficit were.
The only other team Texas faced that could even
remotely run was Texas A&M, and it gained 190 yards.
Texas has yet to deal with a physical line like
Bama's, and the same attitude the front five had
against Florida should work in Pasadena.
9. The layoff
The weeks between the final game of the regular
season and the bowl appearances generally hurts the
teams that rely on timing and precision. All the
practice time in the world doesn't make up for game
experience, and considering the results were close
to disastrous the last time Colt McCoy and the
offense were on the field, this is a team that could
use a bit of a warm-up.
Last year in the Fiesta Bowl, it took a half before
McCoy felt comfortable and stopped spraying his
throws around. When he settled in he became
unstoppable in the win over the Buckeyes, but Texas
could be in big trouble if McCoy isn't hot right
away. This is an Alabama team that's first in the
nation in pass efficiency defense and seventh
overall against the pass. The UT offense relies on
the short-to-midrange throws while hoping for yards
after the catch, while the Tide back seven is great
at sniffing out timing patterns and keeping the big
plays to a minimum. Bama allowed more than one
touchdown pass just once all year (Auburn), and it
took a bit of razzle dazzle to make it happen. If
McCoy throws just one touchdown pass, Texas will
lose and lose big.
8. The Tide knows the trends
The trend has become so impressive that everyone
keeps bringing it up. The No. 2 has won the last
four BCS Championships and six of the last seven,
and don't think that Nick Saban won't bring this up
over and over again over the time between the win
over Florida and before running on the field. After
what happened to Ohio State in the 2007
championship, and with the way the No. 1 teams other
than 2004 USC couldn't get past a fully-focused
second-ranked squad, there's a playbook now when it
comes to what a team is and isn't supposed to do to
get ready for the big game. This might become a
motivational plus for the No. 1 team at this point.
And it's just a trend created mostly because of
Oklahoma and Ohio State being in five of the last
six championships.
7. Mack Brown
It should've been the second-biggest moment of his
career after the 2006 Rose Bowl win over USC. Texas
beat Nebraska to win the first Big 12 championship
since 2005 and his second conference title overall.
Finally, the Longhorns got over the top again and
were kings of the conference, but instead of the win
solidifying Brown among the greats in the game, the
close shave brought up more questions.
Where was the clock management at the end of the
game? Where were the offensive adjustments to give
McCoy more of a chance to work? How could the
Longhorns be so bad defensively one week against
Texas A&M and the offense so awful the next? Brown
has always been known as a top-shelf recruiter, and
there shouldn't be any complaining about a coach whose teams won 110 games in nine years,
but right now, with the lie-detector strapped on,
for one game would you rather have Nick Saban pacing
the sidelines or Brown?
6. Colt McCoy staying upright
With no running game to speak of, this game will be
all about McCoy and what he's able to do. Bama
should be dialed in from the start and should be
able to come up with a variety of blitzes and
various quirks both inside and out that could give
Texas fits. Ndamukong Suh led the way with four of
Nebraska's nine sacks, Oklahoma was able to come up
with four sacks and kept the Texas passing game
under wraps. In all, UT allowed 30 sacks on the year
while Alabama came up with a solid 31 sacks. If
McCoy is under constant pressure, Texas won't be
able to throw against the killer Bama secondary, and
again, if McCoy can't throw, this will be a long,
long game.
5. Alabama in bowl games
If you're a believer in quirky trends, this one's
for you. Alabama has developed a pattern over the
seven bowl games. After losing the 2000 Orange Bowl
to Michigan, the 2001 team beat Iowa State in the
Independence. The Tide lost to Minnesota in the 2004
Music City Bowl, and beat Texas Tech in the 2006
Cotton. A 2006 Independence Bowl loss to Oklahoma
State was followed up by a win over Colorado in the
2007 Independence. And then there was the debacle in
the 2009 Sugar against Utah. To go S.A.T. on you,
what's supposed to come next? L, W, L, W, L, W, L
... ? After failing to win a bowl game in eight
tries from 1967 to 1974, Alabama won 19 of its last
28, but the loss to break up a run of six wins, and
was followed up by a four-game winning streak, came
against Texas in the 1982 Cotton Bowl.
4. Texas can't run
Texas might think it can use the time off to design
more ways to get the running game going, but it
won't matter much against an Alabama run defense
that's second in the nation. Unlike Texas, the Tide
faced some terrific rushing teams and allowed just
64 yards to Virginia Tech, 74 to Tennessee, and 151
to Auburn. In all, Bama allowed more than 100 yards
rushing in just three games and gave up three
rushing scores in the final 12. Texas has struggled
with its rushing consistency since McCoy became more
of a pocket passer and less of a runner, but if the
ground game wasn't going before, it's not going to
explode on January 7th.
3. The Big 12 sucked, and so did UT's non-conference schedule
The Strength of Schedule doesn't always tell the
whole story. Texas finished 14th in the nation while
Alabama finished second, however, the Texas
non-conference schedule was ULM, at Wyoming, UTEP,
and UCF. Granted, there were two bowl teams in the
mix, and Wyoming looked strong against Fresno State
in the New Mexico Bowl win, but it's not like there
was anyone worth noting to deal with, and the
Horns won those four games by a combined score of
199 to 40. Alabama might have taken it easy against FIU, North Texas, and Chattanooga, but it did its part wit a season-opening win over Virginia Tech.
The best Texas win this year came against Oklahoma
State with a 41-14 stomping in Stillwater. However,
the Cowboys finished 19th in the final BCS rankings,
Nebraska 22nd, Texas Tech 34th, Oklahoma 38, and
Missouri 39th. There was only one win over a top 20
team, while Alabama faced three teams, Florida (5),
Virginia Tech (11), and LSU (12) who finished in the
top 12. In all, Texas beat five teams ranked in the
final BCS top 42, while Alabama beat seven. That
also means that the Big 12 only had two teams finish
in the top 20. This was a down year for the Big 12
considering there were injuries, suspensions, and
rebuilding to be done at key places like Oklahoma,
Oklahoma State, and Missouri. Texas might have been
pushed over the final two games, but this isn't as
battle tested a team as Alabama. However ...
2. The SEC
... the SEC, like the Big 12, only had three teams
finish in the top 25 of the final BCS rankings. Even
so, Bama's victory over Florida was the best win by
far that anyone came up with all season long, while
the win over Virginia Tech was among the biggest
non-conference victories of the season. This was a
down year for the SEC, but it was still the top dog
of leagues mainly due to the two killers up top.
Alabama will finish its season having faced ten
teams that went bowling. To be fair, Texas will
finish its year having faced nine, but the real
story for the SEC is its performance in championship
games winning the last three and four of the last
six. In fact, the SEC has won ten of its last 12
chances in national championship games with 1982
Georgia and 1995 Florida the only two aberrations.
However, this one would be a bit different and a bit
more special since it would mark the first time
since the 1998 Tennessee Volunteers that the SEC has
cranked out an unbeaten national champion.
1. Vince Young plays for the Tennessee Titans
Mack Brown really is a good head coach and Colt
McCoy is the winningest quarterback in NCAA history.
Texas has cranked out slews of NFL players, has won
ten or more games in every season since 2000, and
has proven itself time and again to be one of the
decade's premier programs. But it didn't get over
the top of the mountain until Vince Young came up
with an all-timer of a 2006 season.
Forgotten in the euphoria of the 2006 Rose Bowl win
over USC was how close Texas came to blowing it. USC
outgained UT 574 yards to 556, Matt Leinart threw
for 365 yards, LenDale White ran for 124 yards and
three touchdowns, and Reggie Bush ran for 82 yards
and caught six passes for 95 more. Give credit to
the Texas defense for coming up with the big fourth
down stop on White to give Young a chance, and then
history was made.
Brown recruited Young, which was half the battle,
and he and his staff helped develop him into a
decent passer after a wildly erratic beginning, but
Young was a tremendous talent who put the team on
his back with 200 rushing yards and three scores,
and 267 passing yards to carry the Longhorns to a
national title. He's not around anymore, and it'll
be asking a lot for McCoy to create the same type of
magic if Brown and the rest of the Longhorns aren't
having great games.. It took Young to win a national
title in a game when the rest of the team was merely
average. Bama will take the passing of McCoy over
the dual-threat of Young any day. Can Brown win the
really, really big one without VY? Thankfully, we're
only a few days away from finding out.
Random Acts of Nutty … Provocative musings and tidbits to make every woman want you and every man want to be you (or vice versa) a.k.a. things I didn’t feel like writing bigger blurbs for.
- The Sugar Bowl is getting more and more
interesting. Will Florida really care? Will the team
have the mental letdown now that Cincinnati won't
have Brian Kelly as its head man? Losing Brandon
James takes away a weapon for an offense that can't
stand to lose any explosion.
- Speaking of interesting, the Emerald Bowl is
becoming the must-see bowl of the pre-2010 games.
The Joe McKnight thing is the story, but with three
more players missing the game because of academics,
Pete Carroll and his staff are getting tested like
never before, and USC's performance will be one of
the most analyzed aspects of the bowl season. A loss
means the wheels are falling off, while an
impressive win would show just how much talent the
team really does have.
- No more donations to charity in lieu of a
Christmas gift. Do both. Don't make me feel like the
jerkwad for thinking, "Fine. Whatever," when you
send a letter saying my gift is your contribution to
the Human Fund. Throw a few cookies my way, too.
- I'll ask you and all the college presidents
keeping college football from having a playoff for
academic reasons; is there school on Saturday,
December 26th? No. First round. Is there school on
Saturday, January 2nd? No. Second round. The
national championship is being played on January 7th
anyway, so you move it to Saturday night the ninth
and there's a tight, neat, eight-team playoff that
doesn't interfere with any schoolwork.
- And again, because I know I'll get these e-mails,
an eight-team playoff doesn't mean Middle Tennessee,
Rutgers, and Wyoming wouldn't have been able to have
their fun, too. You can do both the bowls and a
playoff.
C.O.W. shameless gimmick item … The weekly five Overrated/Underrated aspects of the world
1) Overrated: The out-of-shape former Miami players on The U. …
Underrated: Al Bundy
2) Overrated: Former LSU running back coach Will Muschamp and former Alabama
offensive coordinator Major Applewhite … Underrated:
Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp
3) Overrated: Brian Kelly needing to leave early to recruit for Notre Dame ...
Underrated: Jeff Quinn staying around to coach the
Bearcats before leaving for Buffalo
4) Overrated: Complaining about being snowed on just
before Christmas ... Underrated: Complaining about
being too hot in mid-July
5) Overrated: Lack of institutional control ... Underrated: Violation of team
rules
Sorry this column sucked, it wasn’t my fault … it's three
days before Christmas and I've come to the
cold-sweat realization that I bought my wife an
impressive array of craptacular gifts. Happy
holidays. Really, happy holidays. Enjoy yourself,
have fun, take a mental break from the real world
for a few minutes, watch a lot of football, eat a
lot of food, take a lot of naps, and enjoy the
moment. And as always, thank you for reading the
self-serving pile of bullmuffins. I promise not to
suck as much in the New Year.
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Dec. 22, Part
1 - The Holiday Wish List