As much distain we have for all things orange (regardless of the shade) it should be acknowledged that Texas quarterback Colt McCoy is a good dude. We may not care for the program he represents but character quality is character quality and that kid's got it. I didn't expect Texas to win the BCS championship and I'm pretty sure that the majority of the people outside of the Lone Star State agreed with me. The thing is though, I didn't expect the one redeeming quality of the Longhorn nation to go down with an injury either. We figured that Bama would get to the quarterback and that's what they did.
As McCoy left the game with a shoulder injury my heart actually went out to the kid who's been nothing shy of the perfect role model for young boys who want to grow up and be a football star. For the first time in my life I truly felt sorry for a Texas football player, but not the fans. I immediately thought of those Texas fans (and there were several thousand of them) who openly cheered as Sam Bradford lay in pain on the field of the Cotton Bowl. I wondered if they thought that shoulder injuries were still something to joke about on message boards and in emails. I wondered if they still thought that a high profile quarterback not being able to play due to injury was a sign of weakness. Then I wondered if they'd blame their coach for their quarterback's injury like they did Bob Stoops.
Longhorn backup quarterback Garrett Gilbert threw four interceptions and fumbled once. As the Texas freshman struggled with a five turnover night I thought of Oklahoma's back-up freshman quarterback who had a similar outing just last November against a Nebraska defense who almost spoiled the Texas BCS championship game party before it even started. Then my mind went to the Texas fans who had all the answers about Oklahoma's offensive woes. About how Landry Jones should have received more playing time the year before even though he wasn't even Bradford's backup. And how the OU football program was snowballing down hill because the best option we had a quarterback turned the ball over five times against a top ranked defense. I wonder what Texas fans think about a freshman quarterback filling in for a super star now?
Finally, I thought about all the bad karma comments directed towards Bob Stoops and the OU football program. You know the ones, about how OU was getting what they deserved for scoring a record number of points the season before at the expenses of just about every Big 12 defense. And about how the tables have turned on a team that won six of the ten Big 12 Championships in the last decade. Then I wondered what the perfect punishment (bad karma) would be for ignorant Texas fans like that. Obviously it would be to see their quarterback go down in the biggest game the Longhorns have played in since the 2005 season, to see their offense struggle mightily and to have a championship caliber defense wasted on an offense run by a freshman quarterback that just isn't up to the same caliber as when the star is in there. Injuries are just a part of the game. Sometimes they work in your favor and sometimes they work against you. I wonder what Longhorn fans think of karma now?
As it turns out, winning the BCS championship isn't as easy as Texas fans thought it was. It's a lot more than just showing up. And losing a BCS championship isn't as bad as Texas fans thought it was. You see, they just aren't experienced in being there as OU fans are. They're just now learning what we learned in the 2003 season. Sometimes you are the best team in the nation (OU - 2000, Texas 2005) and sometimes the team lined up across from you is the best team in the nation (OU - 2003, 2004, 2008 and Texas 2009). There's no shame in losing to the best team in the country. You still have the accomplishment of being the runner-up and the conference championship earned along the way. I wonder what Texas fans think of losing BCS championships now?
Somehow, I get the feeling that from their perspective all of these experiences were good for Texas but still bad for OU. You know how Texas fans think. In their minds they can't be wrong. Regardless of how many times it blows up in their face.
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