Colt McCoy came to Austin with much fanfare. He was the Texas boy that chose to stay home and put on the burnt orange. He was to carry on the legacy of quarterbacking success under Mack Brown. He was supposed to bring another national championship just as his predecessor Vince Young. Last night in Pasadena, that storybook ending got short-circuited.
Injuries Follow McCoy's Losses
While McCoy ends his career as the winningest quarterback in NCAA history, he will be remembered most for his losses. Oddly, most of those losses included injuries to McCoy.
During his freshman year, McCoy suffered a “stinger” in his shoulder during a huge upset loss to Kansas State. Later that season during a deplorable showing against A&M, he bowed out late with another “stinger”, this time to his neck. In 2007, McCoy was injured again in another huge blowout upset loss to Kansas State at home. This time a reported concussion and pain in his arm. McCoy returned as the wounded lion the following week with his bicep bandaged up in a loss to Oklahoma.
McCoy just always seemed to get injured when the chips were on the line.
Then last night, another big game. Another major obstacle in front of him. A chance for glory. Another injury. This one cost his team the BCS.
While I want to believe the wonderful “pushed out” press release stories of what happened in that locker room in Pasadena last night, as beautifully detailed by Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel, I was always taught not to buy into fairytales. The reality is that Colt McCoy started in another big game and he went down with another injury that cannot be detected by a medical physician. The “stinger” is really the only injury you can fake. Its an injury that is based on the word of the player.
Now I am not here to call out McCoy as a faker. He very well may have been truly injured each of these times. The motive here is to point out that when pressure game situations arose, it was these games where McCoy had a penchant for injury. It may just be coincidence, but it has to be noted.
Only Colt McCoy knows for sure.
One thing everyone can agree on is that if that quarterback last night for the Texas Longhorns was Tim Tebow, we wouldn’t be hearing excuses that Texas lost because McCoy got knocked out of the game. Tebow would have re-entered that game, no matter what condition he was in. It would have taken armed security to remove him from the field.
Regardless if McCoy re-entered the game, there would have been very little difference in the result on the scoreboard. The Alabama defensive line penetrated holes through that swiss cheese Texas offensive line with relative ease. McCoy’s stat line would have looked very similar to what Garrett Gilbert put up on the board.
Texas has much to thank Nick Saban for his conservative play-calling. A 17-point bullying could have easily been a 40 point blowout if Alabam decided to unleash that offense.
You could see from here that it was not going to be Texas night. From there Texas got another break after they kicked off, and Alabama did not cover the kick. Texas had another opportunity to get six but had to settle for another field goal to make it 6-0. Texas walked away wanting more, and Bama showed why they are the Champs by squashing any real momentum early in the game.
The college bowl schedule kicks off today with two opening games on the schedule as Wyoming meets Fresno State in the New Mexico Bowl and Central Florida hooks up with Rutgers in the St. Petersburg Bowl. College football fans will be treated to 34 games over 20 days culminating with Alabama and Texas deciding this year’s national champions.
