http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/story/10481260/Texas-shouldn't-have-gotten-a-'second'-chanceTexas shouldn't have gotten a 'second' chanceby Don Borst, FOXSports.com
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Updated: December 6, 2009, 1:30 PM EST 967 comments
The voters should do what the Big 12 game officials didn't have the guts to do.
That is, put Texas Christian (or Cincinnati, for that matter) into the BCS national championship game.
It's too bad it won't happen. The referees have an excuse: They work for the Big 12 Conference, which desperately needed Texas to avoid an upset by Nebraska.
The voters have no excuse. They still get to choose among undefeated teams to put in the national championship game against Alabama. But chances are, they will choose Texas.
Four times over the years, the Big 12 has screwed itself out of the national title game with a huge upset in the conference championship game. They weren't going to allow that to happen again, no matter how dominant Ndamukong Suh was for Nebraska.
Look, I don't hate the Longhorns. And I don't root for TCU, or Cincinnati ... or Nebraska. I don't hate the BCS, and I don't necessarily even crave a playoff tournament.
But that ending of the Big 12 championship game was just wrong.
Here's exactly what happened: There were 24 incomplete passes in the Texas-Nebraska game. On every one of them — every single one (I know, I went back and checked in slow motion) — the game clock ticked off that second, and sometimes another. That's how it always works in this and every other game: There's a bit of a human element (the eye sending the message to the brain, the brain relaying it to the finger on the clock button, the electronic impulses prompting the clock to stop).
And so, when Colt McCoy inexplicably decided to run a play with six seconds remaining instead of calling timeout or, well, showing any sense of urgency, he rolled out and threw the ball away, way out of bounds, as the clock ticked down to 0:00.
Nebraska rushed the field, Bo Pellini's team seemingly in possession of a sensational 12-10 triumph.
But since Texas coach Mack Brown wanted a second placed back on the clock, and because the Big 12 wanted to have a second placed back on the clock, and because all of the six major BCS conferences HAD TO HAVE a second placed back on the clock, and because the referees figured they might never have a chance to work for the league ever again if they do this wrong ... that's how it went.
So, unlike every other similar play in the game, the officials overruled the clock and put 0:01 back up on the scoreboard, and Texas ran the field goal team out there and Hunter Lawrence kicked it through.
So, since the refs felt the need to overrule the clock, the voters can always overrule the game officials. It ain't right: Texas has no business being in the title game.
Final Heisman consideration
When Tim Tebow was ending his day in tears and Colt McCoy ended his night with nerve-induced cottonmouth, the Heisman Trophy was sitting there Saturday waiting for somebody to grab it.
Alabama's Mark Ingram might have done that for many voters, with his strong game against Florida capping a fine season.
Stanford's Toby Gerhart might have done that for others merely by sitting at home, with his body of work as the nation's leading rusher supplemented by the fact he played his best in the biggest games.
But for me, Nebraska's Ndamukong Suh wrapped it up Saturday (and then probably dropped it for a loss).
I'll admit, I like to look for players other than quarterbacks and running backs, but I don't force it. Over the years, I voted for LB Micheal Barrow in 1992 (rather than the winner, QB Gino Torretta), and OT Bryant McKinnie in 2001 (rather than QB Eric Crouch), and on various other ballots I wrote in DT Steve Emtman (second in 1991), DB Champ Bailey (third in 1998) DB Sean Taylor (third in 2003), as well as winners Desmond Howard and Charles Woodson.
I make the choice judiciously. And this is a situation that calls for it.
Look at it the way Nick Saban does, when he said it very well: Ingram "should be considered; he's one of the best players on one of the best teams."
And so is Suh. The difference is, Suh would be the best player on any team he happened to play for. As offenses have tried all year, Texas tried to double-team him, and even at times triple-teamed him. None of it worked.
And considering the Heisman vote is supposed to be for "the outstanding college football player in the United States for 2009," he should land on lots of late-casted ballots. And he'll get at least one first-place vote.
Tide will roll easily
Alabama's game plan for the SEC championship game was masterful. The Tide aired it out from the very beginning, using the pass to set up the run, and kept Florida's defense off-balance all day.
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Quarterback Greg McElroy performed in the championship game in just the way that Heisman hopefuls Tim Tebow and Colt McCoy had dreamed about. Had either Tebow or McCoy played like McElroy did, they would have gotten every first-place vote. It was set up for them, but McElroy showed that he's capable of being an elite quarterback for a great team, in the biggest game. Maybe he should be a Heisman candidate next year ... except that teammate Mark Ingram is back, too.
Certainly Alabama is the pick to beat Texas. McElroy, Ingram, the defense, the kicker, and even the way Marquis Maze has emerged to make for a double-threat pair of excellent wideouts with Julio Jones. The Tide will certainly go to school off the Nebraska defensive performance against UT (nine sacks, three interceptions), and Alabama has the personnel to be even more dominant.
The Longhorns, meantime, couldn't get anything going offensively against Nebraska, one week after they were unable to get anything going defensively in a 49-39 victory over Texas A&M.
BCS drama
There is still some drama for the BCS matchups announcement at 8 ET tonight on FOX.
Will the Fiesta Bowl do the BCS conferences a favor by putting together TCU and Boise State? We certainly hope not.
Fiesta officials have been weighing the two main possibilities of TCU vs. Boise State, or Iowa vs. Boise State. If they put the "interlopers" against each other, that would mean TCU and Boise State would not get a chance to show their stuff against major BCS conference opponents. That would be unfortunate.
TCU and Boise State played each other last year in the Poinsettia Bowl, which TCU won, 17-16. That was exciting for the time, and a fine matchup of mid-major programs. But going undefeated and getting to a BCS bowl should earn them more than a rematch of the Poinsettia Bowl, for crying out loud. These teams should have the opportunity to face major programs.
Believe me, if they are pitted against each other, it would be a relief to Iowa (or Penn State) and Georgia Tech, and their conferences, because they would much rather face each other than have to deal with these talented, powerful, well-coached, but uh, second-level programs.
The teams available for selection are TCU, Boise State, Cincinnati, and Iowa (or Penn State).
Rose Bowl: Oregon vs. Ohio State
Fiesta: 1st pick vs. 3rd pick
Orange Bowl: Georgia Tech vs. 2nd pick
Sugar Bowl: Florida vs. 4th pick (probably Cincinnati)
If the Fiesta picks a Big Ten team, the Orange would pick TCU, and the Fiesta would then get Boise State.
If the Fiesta picks Boise State, the Orange would grab the Big Ten team, and the Fiesta would get TCU.
Give us two exciting "undefeated underdogs" in BCS bowl games, not just a mid-major matchup that proves little, but happens to be in the Fiesta Bowl.
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