Attention! Some nut here thinks Texas will beat Alabama
It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been wrong. Heck, it’d be the third time in three days. (Picked Georgia Tech to win Tuesday in both basketball and football.) But here goes:
I like the Longhorns tonight.
It’s nothing against the SEC. I’ve covered the conference for 30 years and I know full well it’s the best there is. But over those 30 years I’ve learned a little something else, and it’s this: Pay particular attention to an excellent team that’s being given no shot at winning.
Four years ago an undefeated Texas went to California to play for the BCS title and was dismissed out of hand. Because Southern Cal was shooting for a third consecutive national championship. Because the Trojans had not one but two Heisman holders on their roster. Because SC was regarded by us media types as the greatest team ever and therefore invincible.
But it’s a funny thing: Not many teams truly are invincible. Against the wrong opponent on the wrong day, anybody can be unhorsed. And the Trojans played like crazy, at least on offense, that night in Pasadena — I was there, and I well recall Reggie Bush flipping into the end zone and Dwayne Jarrett making like Mr. Fantastic to stretch the ball over the goal line for what seemed the clinching touchdown — and still got beat. Because Vince Young had the greatest single performance I’ve ever seen. Because Texas simply would not go away.
Alabama is a splendid team. Indeed, it’s trying to do something conference brethren Florida and LSU, each of which has won two BCS titles this millennium, couldn’t manage, and that’s finish unbeaten. (Auburn went through the SEC undefeated in 2004 but didn’t get to play for the BCS crown.) And I do believe the raging consensus about the SEC — that its best players tend to be faster than the best players from other leagues — is in fact a fact. But I’d argue that the Big 12 is the league that comes closest to approximating the SEC, and I would never discount an unbeaten Big 12 champ.
Having been around a while, I know how it works: We media types tend to work off the last thing we’ve seen. And on Dec. 5 we saw Alabama trample Florida while Texas nearly pulled a Les Miles and lost to Nebraska. And the Longhorns had a rough ride in College Station on Thanksgiving night against a Texas A&M team that Georgia just crushed without benefit of a defensive coordinator.
That said, no team wins every game by 50 points. At last check, Alabama needed a blocked field goal to survive Tennessee, which would finish 7-6, and the day after Texas struggled to subdue the Aggies the Tide had to rally to beat Auburn. But my point isn’t to derogate Alabama, which is a tough and talented and superbly coached; it’s to suggest those same descriptions apply to its just-as-undefeated opponent.
And we have to be careful when we try to graft one year onto the next. Different seasons bring differing dynamics. Just because Southern Cal had beaten the Big 12 champ (Oklahoma, which was undone when the nicely named Mark Bradley fumbled a punt he shouldn’t have touched) by 36 points in January 2005 didn’t mean the next Big 12 champ would succumb so readily. Just because the SEC has won the past three BCS titles doesn’t mean Alabama is a lock tonight.
Back to 2006: I asked Mack Brown at his day-before media briefing how it felt to have a team that good and be afforded so little chance. (Pretty darn good, he said.) And big-time coaches love these kinds of games. It isn’t often a program like Texas ever gets to be an decided underdog — the spread is only four points, but do you know many folks who are picking against the Tide? — and I’d especially be wary of an underdog that has the better quarterback.
Being my silly self, I picked Texas over Southern Cal back then. (No, it didn’t look good when the Trojans led by 12 points with four minutes left. But it worked out in the end.) Maybe I’m just trying to repeat my one moment of prognosticating perspicacity, but I like the same school to do the same thing in the same stadium.
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849 comments Add your comment
Paul William Bryant
January 8th, 2010
12:24 am
bless my soul, they did win.
atl xmen
January 8th, 2010
12:25 am
look for uga to be the next sec team to add a national title if ala doesnt do it again
GT Fan
January 8th, 2010
12:27 am
Agree with ADMAN except the GT Clip. We don’t want or need fans like you Butcher. I’m a GT fan but pull for dawgs when were not playing…don’t like smart ass fans from either side on blog.
TampaGator
January 8th, 2010
12:27 am
Why is almost every major prediction of an AJC sports writer almost always wrong? Way to represent the SEC, Tide. Congrats on a great season! The Gators are looking forward to visiting you next year for another great game. By the way, the Gators hired a new DC today…Georgia Edwards, the LB coach with the Dolphins and who many feel is one of the brightest assistant coaches in the NFL. Coaches at Georgia in ‘97. I guess that means we beat Georgia again…this time to the best available DC. Now, Dawgs just wait to you see Urban’s recruiting class for this year! The Tide and the Gators are going to dominate the SEC for years to come.
JESUP
January 8th, 2010
12:28 am
hey willie, anything less than an national championship from now on is unacceptable for me here at Ga. and has been since Hershel….it will come , i have never lost faith.
fldawg
January 8th, 2010
12:30 am
WOW MARK!!!!! YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL HAS BEEN EXPOSED THIS YEAR, SORRY BUT I MUST, AFTER THIS SAY….. YOU ARE WELL VERY LUCKY TO GET PAID FOR WHAT YOU DO….IN THESE TIMES YOUR PAY MUST BE COVERED BY A GOV’T GRANT, YOU SHOULD THANK TECH AND THE DEM’S FOR FOR SPENDING OUR TAX DOLLARS TO FUND THIS CRAP.
willie martinez
January 8th, 2010
12:30 am
i agree jesup. been a long time since 1980 though
atl xmen
January 8th, 2010
12:30 am
jimmy…be thankful that ala quit playing after halftime….it was getting ugly…you guys should thank saben for going easy on mack brown..he could have beaten them much worse
Dawg Breath Hater
January 8th, 2010
12:30 am
atlxmen…you got to beat the Gators first…and that ain’t happening. Talk big about you and Bama after you beat the Gators next year…not before. You guys are great about bragging up until the game…then you just go into you Dawgy House and cry!
RollSEC
January 8th, 2010
12:31 am
First I got no dog in this fight. But before all the Texas cowboys jump on here yelling at running the score up lemme ake you back to you guys regular seaosn if I may. Louisian Monrow (59-20) / Wyoming ( 41-10) / Utep (64-7) / Missouri (41-7) OK. State (41-14) / Ucf ( 35-3) / Kansas (51-20) / Baylor (47-14). Guess it doesnt feel so good when your not on the giving side huh. Karmas a Bitch.
Hunkerdown
January 8th, 2010
12:31 am
Excuse me Tampa Gator,
U got your a.. beat much like ourselves so quit talking about next year, until next year comes. when u win a NC again then beat your chest. Until then you are second truphet.
Bill
January 8th, 2010
12:32 am
Final poll #1 Ala 2 TCU 3 Fla 4 Texas
RollSEC
January 8th, 2010
12:33 am
Bill how would TCU be number 2 when they lost there bowl game. Check your scores bud.
col foot
January 8th, 2010
12:34 am
bradley, what’s your deal with sec schools, is your stinking jealousy eating at you that bad? A proper national playoff system would be to put the top 4 teams out of the SEC and let them play for the national title every year. It’a quite apparent how dominant it is. Oh! And by the way put that disgraceful bunch on north avenue on the same field with Buford high school football team…i’ll take Buford and give you 15..facts are facts!!!
TampaGator
January 8th, 2010
12:35 am
Hunkerdown….the last time a Dawg could talk smack was in 1980…before the invention of the forward pass. I think winning the NC in ‘09 and ‘07 and winning the Sugar Bowl in ‘10 with a 13-1 record, only losing to the #1 team in the coutnry….gives a Gator fan the right to talk about anything they want.
atl xmen
January 8th, 2010
12:35 am
uga beat the gators two years ago and that was with tebow..fla will have a bunch of youngsters out there where uga will have more experience to handle fla next year…the time is near for uga to win another sec title and now thanks to fla,lsu and now ala the sec champion will play for a national title..ala will lose a ton of expereince after next year so that will leave uga next in line..
rmf
January 8th, 2010
12:36 am
We could very well see these same two teams in this game next year. Florida will be weaker and LSU just cant seem to get it done under Miles. I don’t see Saban letting up for even a second after winning this.
Texas will go into next year highly ranked and could run the table again in the Big 12 especially since Sug is leaving Nebraska
Also, Musburger said Kirby Smart is going to interview for the Texas Tech HC spot — CMR better be working the phones.
RollSEC
January 8th, 2010
12:36 am
Tamapa No team has won the 10′ Sugarbowl unfortunatly nor did the Gators when the 09′ Sugar Bowl
TampaGator
January 8th, 2010
12:37 am
Bill…1. Bama 2. Florida 3. Boise State 4. Texas….if they put Boise ahead of the Gators, that would be a joke. Bama and Florida would both beat Boise by 30.
Can you dig it?
January 8th, 2010
12:37 am
I also agree with AdMan……Butcher you are an idiot.Georgia doesn’t need fans like you. You give everyone else a bad name. Go state your opinions in your high school newspaper.We don’t want to read them on this blog. You’re nothing more than a little boy trying to trying to act like he’s grown up…..most likely your probably hung like a field mouse too. Can You Dig It!
Bill
January 8th, 2010
12:37 am
Just got off 14 hrs duty. What’s your top 10. I new TCU lost was thinking about Boise
TampaGator
January 8th, 2010
12:38 am
Roll SEC….you better check your calendar….Florida beat Cincy on January 1, 2010. Florida beat Oklahoma in the NC game in ‘09.
Mark Bradley
January 8th, 2010
12:38 am
If you’re inclined, here’s a short little post about my inspired pick of Texas … and that SHOVEL PASS!
TampaGator
January 8th, 2010
12:40 am
atlxmen…like I said…Dawg fans are great at talking the entire year up to the Gator game. And yeah, you have won 2 other times in the last 20 years….great job….keep up the good work!
Atlanta Peach
January 8th, 2010
12:40 am
The story tomorrow will be the question did Bama try to run the score up on Texas ! I’m for one glad they did.
RollSEC
January 8th, 2010
12:40 am
I like
1. Bama
2.Boise
3.Florida
4.Texas
5.Ohio State
6.Iowa
7.TCU
8.Cinn.
9.Penn State
10.Virginia Tech
RollSEC
January 8th, 2010
12:41 am
11.Georgia =)
Georgia On My Mind
January 8th, 2010
12:41 am
Great job Bama….SEC SEC SEC SEC SEC SEC.
RollSEC
January 8th, 2010
12:42 am
My bad Tampa I stand corrected
atl xmen
January 8th, 2010
12:42 am
mark…the shovel pass was not the reason texas lost…ala has played better teams all year and it showed.when ala wanted to stop texas they did.
atl xmen
January 8th, 2010
12:44 am
atlanta peach the question will be why didnt mcoy play? and why did saben call of the dogs in the 2nd half..
Mark Bradley
January 8th, 2010
12:44 am
So I guess Alabama just wanted Texas to score those two touchdowns to draw within a field goal. Sporting of the Tide, wasn’t it?
Jimmy
January 8th, 2010
12:45 am
RollSEC, are you kidding me?? Are you saying that Bama hasn’t run up the score on weaker foes the past two years??? Unfortunately w/ the horrible way a NC is determined, ALL teams run up the score in order to impress voters.
ATLXmen, nice name. With a name like that, I bet youre glad school is cancelled tomorrow, so you can play Dungeons & Dragons all day long, huh??
Not only is Bama lucky that Colt went out early. They were lucky that the refs missed two pass interference calls on that 4th quarter drive after UT recovered the onsides kick when it was 24 13. If they even get a FG, it’s a one possesion game. Then UT scores on the next drive and takes the lead.
And don’t talk about Bama taking it easy after halftime. UT had a freaking true freshman in the game. It’s human nature to take your foot off the gas. The guy looked like a deer caught in headlights in the first half. He manned up in the second half though.
I give all the credit in the world to Bama, until the final minute, when the TEXAS raised QB gave the ‘horns down’ sign, and Satan decided to run up the score in the final minute. UT had no timeouts. They could have knealed and the game would have been over.
Act like you’ve been there before dude. Dont act like tricky nicky and act like “class” is a foreign concept.
Mark Bradley
January 8th, 2010
12:46 am
Why didn’t McCoy play? Because his arm, as he said, “was dead.”
Atlanta Peach
January 8th, 2010
12:51 am
atl exman, Excaltly !!! Saban reminded me of Leman Bennett (may have spelled his name wrong) trying to run the clock out on Dallas ! Bama defense won them tis championship !
RollSEC
January 8th, 2010
12:51 am
Actually Jimmy Bama Does not get the chance very often to stomp opponents into the ground week after week putting up 40-50 points every game because the play quality teams, Not push overs all year long. The few quality opponents Texas played this year almost beat them.
atl xmen
January 8th, 2010
12:52 am
jimmy ala wasnt lucky at all…those calls were correct your just looking for excuses. saben had ala go real conservative because they were up 24-6 against a team having to play a true freshmen because colt took a hit that didnt feel too good…
ala was never in danger of losing this game just in dager of not winning by 10 or more…texas was lucky ala went for a fake punt and the punter threw short…texas was lucky that ala player wasnt looking for a onside kick…texas was lucky that ala defense only played hard on third down most of the 2nd half…
admit it..the sec teams are just way better than most of the other conferences teams,
Atlanta Peach
January 8th, 2010
12:52 am
This championship ! Sorry getting late !
atl xmen
January 8th, 2010
12:54 am
colts arm looked fine when he was clapping and raising to fix his headset…i think he threw the towel in per his dad….
atl xmen
January 8th, 2010
12:55 am
oh yea..texas was lucky that ala missed a 52 yard field goal…man texas was luckty alot tonight
Jimmy
January 8th, 2010
1:11 am
You SEC nuts crack me up. So to clarify, who is a Bama fan and who are the idiotic SEC guys just rooting for any team in the conference? How does that work for yall anyway?? How does a Bama or a Florida or LSU championship help out Ole Miss or Georgia?? Unless the SEC decides to get their all conf. team and play other conf. teams, its meaningless. I root for Texas. I was glad that Florida beat OU last year. Conference affiliatin means jack. It’s stupid, let’s see, the entire year i’m going to boo Bama and Florida, but at the end of the year i’m going to cheer for them? LOL
BTW, the only thing that kept Bama from winning in a blowout was the fact that Texas wasn’t going to bow down and quit, even w/a frosh QB. And Bama rolls over plenty of patsies during their conference. South Carolina sucks, as does Vandy and Kentucky. Don’t tell me those are tough teams. North Texas and Florida International are toughies too, you’ll tell me next. Don’t tell me that Bama doesn’t play their fair share of weak opponenets. Texas had a horrible NC schedule this past year. It would have been slightly better had Utah not backed out of a game to play the horns this year. I’ll give you that much.
Jimmy
January 8th, 2010
1:21 am
Atlxmen, Colt said although he was in no pain, he just couldn’t feel his arm. Don’t you think it would be just a tad difficult to throw if you can’t feel your freaking arm?? It’s called a stinger. I wouldn’t expect someone w/ the name ‘atlxmen’ to know that. I’m sure you’ve sprained your wrist from slinging those dice playing Dungeons & Dragons however.
Jimmy
January 8th, 2010
1:29 am
Excuse me, it wasn’t a stinger, It was a separated right shoulder, according to ESPN. My bad.
Buckhead Bulldog
January 8th, 2010
8:01 am
TampaGator: I suspect the Gainesville Sun(GatorSports.com) has just as much, if not more, obsurd commentary as this blog? What do you expect? This is an Atlanta paper in Atlanta GEORGIA….not Florida. Not to be a smarty but if you want a pro Gator/anti UGA blog, then this is not the place for you. I mean come on….what do you expect?
Jimmy
January 8th, 2010
11:57 am
Oh, and congrats on beating Texas w/o their starting QB, center for most of the 2nd half, and w/ Texas receivers dropping at least 6 catchable passes. Yeah the Tide really dominated.
RollSEC
January 8th, 2010
3:59 pm
Wow I was pretty close to getting the top ten exactly right
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Judy
January 31st, 2010
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Alabama is #1 13 NC .How Many nc does anyone else have?ROLLLLLLLLLLL Tide ROLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL.
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