Experience, leadership, and skill are important ingredients in any winning team. Losing that may or may not have influenced the spirit of the Texas team. Many people would claim that a team is not one player. Texas proved that in the second quarter, together with their freshman quarterback who threw two touchdown passes. QB Garrett Gilbert may have met his most difficult challenge last night; everything on the playing field now should be a walk in the park. Respect.
Having said that....
McCoy was playing during UA's defensive goal line stand, holding Texas to three points. They held Texas to three points on two early drives. Defensive lineman and Defensive Player of the Game, Marcell Dareus, took McCoy out of the game with a legal hit, a hit McCoy said he had taken time after time. Dareus was doing his job as a defensive lineman AND was wearing knee and elbow braces.
McCoy had nothing to do with running back, Offensive Player of the Game, and Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram running the ball and running into the endzone STANDING UP against the country's #1 defense against the run. UA had a total of 205 rushing yards against that same #1 defense against the run, a defense known to hold their opponents to under 100 yards rushing.
Fact is the carefully designed game plans changed for both teams the moment McCoy took himself out of the game. The stress on Alabama's QB, Greg McElroy, changed. All Alabama had to do after that was play defense, run the ball, keep from losing the game, and not knock out their coach with the Gatorade bucket. Polls voted them number one unanimously.
Fact is no one knows what would have happened if McCoy had played the entire game. However, UA won the game that was played. There are no more what ifs.
Next UA game: September 4th against San Jose State with the celebration of the renovated Bryant-Denny Stadium followed by Penn State at BDS on September 11th.
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