Elena’s World – Texas vs. ‘Bama vs. the BCS

Saturday, December 5, 2009, was the kind of day college football is all about.  It had the upset of the top-ranked team in the nation, near-upsets in games with bowl implications, games that came down to literally the last second of play…everything. 

In the interests of full disclosure, I will admit that I didn’t watch either the Big East or the ACC title games, although I did see the highlights from both.  But my emotional investments are in the Big 12 (I am a proud graduate of the University of Texas and a die-hard Longhorns fan) and the SEC, which is both the territory in which I live and the conference of choice for fans of college football in general.  If you don’t agree that it’s the strongest and most difficult conference to win, it’s because you don’t watch every SEC game every Saturday and see for yourself the physicality, the prowess, the slugging-it-out-in-the-trenches gladiatorial style of every single team in this conference.  But I’m drifting away from my point ,which was, of the many dynamic and potentially national-title-changing games yesterday, the ones I watched were the Big 12 and the SEC title games. 

Alabama and Florida, number 1 and number 2, both undefeated…talk about a clash of the titans.  At least, it was supposed to be.  The problem?  Florida didn’t bring their magic.  They were outschemed by an Alabama team that succeeded in doing what everyone who lives north or west of the state of Florida has been privately hoping for since October of last year:  making Tim Tebow cry again.  ‘Bama showed up with a plan that Florida wasn’t expecting, and they won big.  Runningback Mark Ingram had a huge game and made big strides toward reclaiming his Heisman votes, while quarterback Greg McElroy had a break-out game in his leadership and execution.  And Florida?  They looked confused, disheartened, and like they’d heard so many motivational speeches over the last season and a half that they couldn’t get an emotional rise to fight back.  The game was exciting, more about offensive execution than defensive domination.  The final score looked more like what you’d have expected from the Big 12 title.

But fast forward four hours, and you get a Big 12 score that looks like what you’d expect from the traditionally defensive SEC game. I mean, it’s not uncommon for two SEC teams to spend 60 minutes essentially punting the ball back and forth because neither defense is willing to give up anything, with a final score well under 20 points total.  Sometimes they make it in under 10.  But Texas and Nebraska were the ones hammering out drives of 20 yards and less, while Alabama was running all over the field on Florida and making up a much more beautiful highlight reel.  The highlights from the Big 12 game are ugly.  Six turnovers, ten or more sacks, defensive monster Ndumakong Suh knocking Colt McCoy on his ass again and again while Blake Gideon proved he learned his lesson about dropping interceptions well from last year’s last-second defeat by Tech.  A piece of clock mismanagement by McCoy almost led to an ignominious defeat; thank God for the instant replay that showed there was still one second left to try for a field goal.

Even if you were rooting against Texas, you have to be grateful for that second.  It created the sort of iconic game that every football fan loves.  It came down, literally, to the last second of play, the last play of the game, that one moment to win or lose everything.  It doesn’t get any better than that.

And for me, it didn’t get any better than seeing that 46-yard field goal fly home just inside the left upright.  The expression on Nebraska coach Bo “the Don” Pelini’s face as it happened was priceless–his dismissive hand wave as Texas began to celebrate, that one gesture perfectly eloquent of his disappointment and frustration and perhaps sense of ill-use by the officials.  But, there was one second left.  It was the right call. 

If I wasn’t a Texas fan, though, I’d have been rooting against them yesterday.  I want to see BCS controversy, the more havoc the better, because the more teams can raise a legitmate wail about getting left out, the likelier it becomes that we’ll get a playoff system sooner rather than later.  Oh, and aside to the President:  OBAMA, WHERE ARE YOU ON THAT CAMPAIGN PROMISE, BRO?  You told the South you’d push for a playoff system–but not a peep from you this whole season?  What?

It was actually a little bit weird to me to be rooting for a team that I knew most of the country was rooting against (except, of course, Boise State fans–thanks, guys!).  Certainly the TCU and Cincinnati nations, but also everyone who wants to see the BCS exposed for the ridiculously inadequate system that it is, and everyone who loves an underdog.  Even the men calling the game, Kirk Herbstreit and Brent Musberger, seemed to have a strong favor for Nebraska in their commentary–they wanted to see a BCS shake-up.  They were giving Nebraska’s defense all the credit in the world, but instead of doing the same for Texas’s defense they talked about how Nebraska’s offense was struggling.  It was mildly annoying, but I know they had half-expected Texas to be dominant, and also that the second it became clear Nebraska had a chance, they wanted to see Texas fall so that a controversy could rise.

In discussing Heisman hopes, and the fact that Colt McCoy might have dashed his against the rocks of Nebraska’s d-line, I want to encourage discussion of Suh for the award.  The Heisman is for the best college player, and I have never in my time of watching college ball seen a defensive player who was making such a huge impact on an offense by himself as I did last night.  I know the Hesiman usually goes to an offensive player, but there’s no reason it should.  My theory is that all the highlight reels focus on the scores, while a good defensive player might never get his number on one of those because for the 55 minutes of the game when he shines, “nothing is happening” from a recapping perspective to show it.  In the absence of a clear offensive shoe-in for the trophy, I say we look to the other side of the ball this year.

In the end, I think the BCS has the right match-up for the national title game, assuming the voters don’t go apeshit crazy and send up TCU or Cinci instead (highly unlikely). I expect Texas will be the underdog, and I can only hope that the fact that two of our coaches–defensive coordinator Will Muschamp and runningbacks coach/we all know he’s consulting for the offensive coordinator while he’s at it Major Applewhite–both worked and studied under Nick Saban will give us the edge.  So for all that there’s still controversy over the existence of 5 undefeated teams and only 2 berths in the national title game, Texas/Alabama is a grand match of two storied, powerhouse teams, and I, for one, can’t wait for January 7.