Pyle of List

“I don’t wanna live without you

And I don’t wanna live a lie

We’ll never know till we try.

Yeah, we’ll never know till we try.”

-Lifehouse

This is long overdue, so I’ll make it as shorter than normal.  First I have to admit that I totally bombed on my predictions, getting all three picks incorrect.  (I finished the season with a 70-21 record.)  Florida systematically destroyed Cincinnatti, and while it was cool seeing Tebow get out his anger over the SEC Championship loss, the skeptics who think he’ll never make it in the NFL, and his coach’s health problems, I still felt sorry for the Bearcats.

Boise State and TCU played a game that went against what everyone expected.  It’s hard to judge that game.  The same thing played out between two heavyweights still wouldn’t be called a good game, but it might not be a bust either.  But the saying “all that matters is the final score” has never been more true.  No matter how that game went, the winning team was going to get to say that it went undefeated and nothing more.  Not that this isn’t an accomplishment to be proud of, but why shouldn’t they get a chance to win it all?  Honestly, I don’t see Boise State beating Alabama (or Texas).  But I would definitely watch to see what would happen.  As Lifehouse says, we’ll never know until we try.

But those lyrics aren’t so much about the necessary playoffs that will hopefully be installed during my lifetime.  They’re more about the Alabama/Texas game itself, which turned out much differently than any college football fan, regardless of the team they support, should have wanted.

Let me make one thing very clear: Alabama did nothing wrong.  They didn’t ask for McCoy to get hurt, and the hit that caused it wasn’t late, illegal,  or even all that vicious.  True freshman Gilbert’s play during the first half, along with Bama’s aggressive defense, gave them a comfortable lead going into the third quarter.  If I’m Nick Saban (shudder), and I have that lead, with those two running backs, and I’m playing against that true freshman QB who’s shown no ability to do anything, I would probably run, run, run, punt too.  But that doesn’t mean that the offensive performance was pathetic at times and looked undeserving of a national championship.  And it almost came back to bite them.

Had a Gilbert-led Texas won, it would have been considered an upset for the ages.  I think that’s something Tide fans should be careful to remember.  This is not to say that there should be an asterisk next to their national championship.  They won it fair and square.  And they should be proud of it and everything that their team accomplished.  All I’m asking is that they be willing to admit that if McCoy had not been injured, things might have played out differently.

That’s not to say that Texas definitely would have won.  Alabama would have played a lot more aggressively with McCoy still in the game, regardless of what the score was.  Maybe Texas would have been able to counteract it.  Maybe not.  The point is, we’ll never know.  Which means that we’ll never really know who the “best” team was.

This isn’t a condemnation on Alabama.  It’s just a wish that things could have played out differently.  I would hope that every diehard Bama fan would have much rather embarrassed McCoy the way they did Gilbert (at first).

Finally, the argument that if Texas was such a good team they should have had a much better prepared backup is, to be blunt, completely idiotic.  As Gilbert proved, he IS a good QB.  He was just shellshocked at first.  It took time for him to adjust and for the team to adjust to him.  But even if he’d had more meaningful experience during the season, it wouldn’t change the fact that Texas lost the WINNINGEST QUARTERBACK IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL HISTORY.  That’s not just physical skill; it’s leadership and ability to read a defense.

If you’re a Bama fan in support of this argument, think of it this way.  Alabama certainly has other good linebackers, probably with playing time under their belts, that can run the defenses called and make plays.  But if Ronaldo McClain had gotten hurt, wouldn’t that have put the Tide defense at a significant disadvantage?

So in conclusion, I want to congratulate Alabama on winning the national championship.  I just wish the game at been a lot more awesome, regardless of the outcome.