While both Wesley and I were cheering for the Horns on Thursday, it was the Tide that came away with the W. Here we draft the reasons why we think Bama beat Texas.
------------------------------------------------------------------
1W) Colt McCoy
Like it or not, he had a factor. He had completed over 70% of his passes and was a large portion of the Horns total offensive yards. Now call it what you want, a business decision, a bad decision or whatever. Him not being in the game was a DEFINITE game changer. And I am not saying the outcome would have been different, but it would have made it a much more interesting game if he would have played the duration.
2M) A very good defense vs. an unprepared back-up
First things first, let's not assume that a healthy Colt McCoy means a Texas win. 'Bama's defense is still pretty darn outstanding on it's own, but when you have that defense vs. a backup who most assuredly got next to zero snaps (and probably even less leading up to the game), it gets ugly. That's on Mack Brown. It's easy to say that this is going to be Colt's swan song and last game before he turns pro...that he's your best player and gives you the chance to win, etc., but the backup was so unbelievably green it makes you wonder what exactly the assistant coaches are doing with their time if not preparing the next generation. So in my eyes, it wasn't that they were just not playing Colt McCoy, it was that they instead were playing a very green and very unprepared backup QB.
3W) MT. Cody
I mean , would you just stand there and take it if you have to tackle this guy? I sure wouldn’t.
Having him in on short yardage situations is just wrong haha. He is a Mountain of a man – obviously. And Alabama utilized him appropriately
4M) Texas Telegraphing the offense when McCoy first went down
Texas is a passing team. This isn't news
to anyone. However, I understand you're going to want to run the ball more when you have a true green backup QB in there...regardless, you can't run it to the extent that Texas did after McCoy went down and have success against an average defense, let alone a good one like 'Bama's. There's the unknown and element of surprise available to you when the back-up comes in. No one knows what he's capable of. Hell, he probably doesn't know what he's capable himself. I understand they're more risky, but when Colt comes back out of the tunnel wearing a T-Shirt and a ball-cap, it's time to open it up and stop stalling until your real QB returns. Playing so conservatively when no one knew what the backup could do really hurt Texas.
5W) Alabama Running at will
Alabama was able to get all three of
their RBs plenty of reps, and TDs in the national Championship game. And there was really little Texas could do to stop it. Let me put this in a different perspective. Alabama's QB McElroy only threw for 58 yards, total, only 6/11 with 0 TD's
6M) Saban out-coaching Brown
Sounds straightforward and it is. While Bob Stoops gets the tag "big game Bob", maybe it should be "Oh shit I'm facing Saban". When you give Saban time to prepare, he doesn't often lose. Mack Brown finally broke through with Vince Young a couple years ago, but before that had the tag that he couldn't win the big one. Perhaps Vince was the exception, not the rule. If I have one game to play and I have to pick between Saban and Brown...who do you think I'll take?
7W) Shipley only playing one position
Shipley not able to throw the ball to himself
Shipley got a LOT of respect from me in the NC game. He was a one man wrecking crew, most passes he caught were high and behind him, but he tweaked his body in every way possible to get it done.. He put it all out there, and it was evident. Bad thing is, he couldn’t throw himself the ball., or quite possibly the outcome would have been different.
8M) Texas Not taking the risks needed
Texas was down early and without McCoy. Alabama was able to run at will, as Wesley pointed out. If you want to force something to happen, you need to stack the box and start run blitzing constantly and try to get McElroy to turn the ball over even if it's only man 1 deep or straight man coverage. Once they were down early they played it too close to the vest on defense.
9W) Javier Arenas
I had to think that this guy came up in the
how to prepare for Alabama conversations that Texas had. I mean seriously. Most teams in the SEC don't throw anywhere near this guy. And Texas seemed to have that game plan , oh for about 5-6 plays. But no one seemed to relay this information to Texas' backup QB Gilbert, Which made it for a long day. You've got to think there is a reason this 5'9" DB is expected to play on Sundays next year, and I guess Gilbert just found out the hard way.
10M) Bama weathered the storm
It's tough keeping your team up playing hard as they can when it's a blowout...and that's exactly what it was early in the game. After being so psyched up to play the toughest game in your life, you find out it's a cake walk and it's easy to let up....which is exactly what Bama did, as Texas fought back and made it a game late. But credit Bama for weathering the late Texas storm and holding on to preserve the MNC win.
RECAP
Wesley drafted: Colt McCoy, MT Cody, Bama running at will, Shipley playing only WR, Javier Arenas
BCMike drafted: Unprepared backup, telegraphing, Saban, Texas too conservative, Bama weathered the storm
------------------------------------------------------------------
1W) Colt McCoy
Like it or not, he had a factor. He had completed over 70% of his passes and was a large portion of the Horns total offensive yards. Now call it what you want, a business decision, a bad decision or whatever. Him not being in the game was a DEFINITE game changer. And I am not saying the outcome would have been different, but it would have made it a much more interesting game if he would have played the duration.
2M) A very good defense vs. an unprepared back-up
First things first, let's not assume that a healthy Colt McCoy means a Texas win. 'Bama's defense is still pretty darn outstanding on it's own, but when you have that defense vs. a backup who most assuredly got next to zero snaps (and probably even less leading up to the game), it gets ugly. That's on Mack Brown. It's easy to say that this is going to be Colt's swan song and last game before he turns pro...that he's your best player and gives you the chance to win, etc., but the backup was so unbelievably green it makes you wonder what exactly the assistant coaches are doing with their time if not preparing the next generation. So in my eyes, it wasn't that they were just not playing Colt McCoy, it was that they instead were playing a very green and very unprepared backup QB.
3W) MT. Cody
I mean , would you just stand there and take it if you have to tackle this guy? I sure wouldn’t.
Having him in on short yardage situations is just wrong haha. He is a Mountain of a man – obviously. And Alabama utilized him appropriately
4M) Texas Telegraphing the offense when McCoy first went down
Texas is a passing team. This isn't news
to anyone. However, I understand you're going to want to run the ball more when you have a true green backup QB in there...regardless, you can't run it to the extent that Texas did after McCoy went down and have success against an average defense, let alone a good one like 'Bama's. There's the unknown and element of surprise available to you when the back-up comes in. No one knows what he's capable of. Hell, he probably doesn't know what he's capable himself. I understand they're more risky, but when Colt comes back out of the tunnel wearing a T-Shirt and a ball-cap, it's time to open it up and stop stalling until your real QB returns. Playing so conservatively when no one knew what the backup could do really hurt Texas.5W) Alabama Running at will
Alabama was able to get all three of
their RBs plenty of reps, and TDs in the national Championship game. And there was really little Texas could do to stop it. Let me put this in a different perspective. Alabama's QB McElroy only threw for 58 yards, total, only 6/11 with 0 TD's6M) Saban out-coaching Brown
Sounds straightforward and it is. While Bob Stoops gets the tag "big game Bob", maybe it should be "Oh shit I'm facing Saban". When you give Saban time to prepare, he doesn't often lose. Mack Brown finally broke through with Vince Young a couple years ago, but before that had the tag that he couldn't win the big one. Perhaps Vince was the exception, not the rule. If I have one game to play and I have to pick between Saban and Brown...who do you think I'll take?
7W) Shipley only playing one position
Shipley not able to throw the ball to himself
Shipley got a LOT of respect from me in the NC game. He was a one man wrecking crew, most passes he caught were high and behind him, but he tweaked his body in every way possible to get it done.. He put it all out there, and it was evident. Bad thing is, he couldn’t throw himself the ball., or quite possibly the outcome would have been different.8M) Texas Not taking the risks needed
Texas was down early and without McCoy. Alabama was able to run at will, as Wesley pointed out. If you want to force something to happen, you need to stack the box and start run blitzing constantly and try to get McElroy to turn the ball over even if it's only man 1 deep or straight man coverage. Once they were down early they played it too close to the vest on defense.
9W) Javier Arenas
I had to think that this guy came up in the
how to prepare for Alabama conversations that Texas had. I mean seriously. Most teams in the SEC don't throw anywhere near this guy. And Texas seemed to have that game plan , oh for about 5-6 plays. But no one seemed to relay this information to Texas' backup QB Gilbert, Which made it for a long day. You've got to think there is a reason this 5'9" DB is expected to play on Sundays next year, and I guess Gilbert just found out the hard way.10M) Bama weathered the storm
It's tough keeping your team up playing hard as they can when it's a blowout...and that's exactly what it was early in the game. After being so psyched up to play the toughest game in your life, you find out it's a cake walk and it's easy to let up....which is exactly what Bama did, as Texas fought back and made it a game late. But credit Bama for weathering the late Texas storm and holding on to preserve the MNC win.
RECAP
Wesley drafted: Colt McCoy, MT Cody, Bama running at will, Shipley playing only WR, Javier Arenas
BCMike drafted: Unprepared backup, telegraphing, Saban, Texas too conservative, Bama weathered the storm
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment