Alabama – What if Colt McCoy would not get damage within the 2010 nationwide championship recreation?

What if?

It is essentially the most highly effective two-word query there has ever been. We ask it about our personal lives and world historical past. As in “What if Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s automotive hadn’t stopped in entrance of that Sarajevo café in 1914?” or “What if I had married my highschool sweetheart as a substitute of this weirdo sitting throughout from me at dinner proper now?” Disney+ has a Marvel sequence “What If…?” There’s even a romcom starring Harry Potter titled “What If?”

Within the faculty soccer world of the twenty first century there has at all times been one “What if?” that overshadows all others. It has lingered because the recreation clock hit zeroes on Jan. 7, 2010, the twelfth version of the BCS Nationwide Championship Recreation. It has now reemerged this week as Saturday marks the primary assembly of these two groups since that evening, the CFB juggernauts referred to as the Alabama Crimson Tide and Texas Longhorns.

“I feel that it is easy to say, ‘What if?’ and we are saying it lots after we should not,” defined Lisa Salters, the sideline reporter that evening in Pasadena. “However on this case, the what if query is a legitimate one for that recreation. What if Colt McCoy would not get damage?”

“The query, ‘What if Colt did not get damage?’ is why I reside in Birmingham,” confesses Greg McElroy, the Alabama quarterback that evening, now an ESPN analyst. He laughs: “I lived in Dallas for a pair years however acquired that query lots. I felt prefer it was in all probability time to relocate.”

“I am in France, they convey it up. I am in Italy, they convey it up,” says Marcell Dareus, former Tide defensive sort out. “Folks keep in mind me for it a lot. It modified my life. Thanks, Colt.”

As for Colt McCoy himself?

“There’s little or no locations I am going the place folks do not speak about it,” says the Arizona Cardinals backup quarterback. “This recreation type of began the trajectory of Coach Saban and Alabama and all of the success that they’ve had. And I feel it is simply Texas has taken a intestine punch from that recreation.”

OK, lets again up right here. A rewind to that Monday evening within the Rose Bowl. A scene set. Be forewarned, all you children on the market who solely know what faculty soccer is now. What the game was a dozen years in the past looks like a through-the-looking-glass model of 2022.

Alabama hadn’t received a nationwide title in 20 years. A lot of the years that adopted head coach Gene Stallings’ defensive steamroller squad of 1992 had been spent misplaced within the magnolia woods. The Tide spent a number of bowl seasons enjoying in Shreveport, Louisiana. The one time they’d managed to win the SEC, in addition they misplaced a house recreation to Louisiana Tech. From 2000-07, an eight-year span, Alabama had six totally different head coaches, together with one who by no means coached a recreation and one other who selected to go away for an additional job.

The sixth coach on that listing was Nick Saban. Consider it or not, that rent got here with massive questions. Sure, he’d received a nationwide title at LSU in 2003, however he’d angered Baton Rouge for bolting to the Miami Dolphins on Christmas Day 2004 after which burned each bridge in South Florida when he departed for Tuscaloosa in January 2007, two weeks after stating: “I suppose I’ve to say it. I am not going to be the Alabama coach.”

In different phrases, as troublesome as this could be to course of now, Nick Saban wasn’t but the G.O.A.T. Not even shut. Down in Baton Rouge and Miami, he was only a goat. And Alabama was nonetheless working in Bear Bryant’s houndstooth shadow, even after Saban’s workforce ran the common season desk in 2008 however misplaced to Tim Tebow and Florida within the SEC title recreation after which Mountain West champs Utah within the Sugar Bowl.

So, if Saban wasn’t Saban and Bama wasn’t Bama, who then had been the resident massive canine of faculty soccer in 2009?

“We might solely misplaced one recreation in two years, so we had been feeling nice. This was sort of the fruits of, all proper, it is one final experience, no matter it takes, that was our angle,” remembers McCoy. “This silent confidence all week simply of, it is time.”

That confidence was well-earned. The Texas Longhorns had been nonetheless driving the momentum of profitable arguably the best faculty soccer recreation ever performed, the 2006 Rose Bowl that served because the BCS Championship, when Vince Younger outlasted two different Heisman Trophy winners, USC’s Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush, to win the workforce’s first natty since 1970. It was their second straight Rose Bowl win, the kickstart of a bowl streak of 5 straight wins. From 2001 by way of this very season of 2009, Texas averaged 11.2 wins per 12 months. In 2008, led by McCoy, they had been ranked No. 1 within the nation earlier than being surprised by Mike Leach’s Texas Tech workforce in Lubbock. Nonetheless, they received the Fiesta Bowl over Ohio State and completed the season ranked fourth.

“We blew that recreation at Tech or we’d’ve been enjoying for the nationwide championship two years in a row. We had a extremely good workforce,” remembers Mack Brown, now head coach at North Carolina. “Alabama needed to beat a popular Florida workforce that was actually, actually gifted. So, we felt like that they had spent all their vitality. Their mindset was they needed to beat Florida after which they’d received the nationwide championship. So, they had been overlooking us. That they had not been actually good in opposition to the go. That they had not been good in opposition to cell quarterbacks. So, we felt like we had the proper situation to win the sport.”

That good situation being Colt McCoy behind heart, a QB who was a lot cell and within the Texas unfold may actually, actually go. He was a fifth-year senior, a four-year starter, had simply received each quarterback award identified to man and, with 45 victories, was the winningest QB in NCAA historical past. In response to the Texas Soccer media information, McCoy entered the 2010 BCS title recreation proudly owning at least 50 faculty information and nonetheless holds most of these marks right now.

“You may argue he was essentially the most precious participant in all of faculty soccer,” says Salters. “He was simply that nation boy with the accent. So good, the newborn face, the blue eyes. And his title was Colt! Colt McCoy, he was simply sort of out of central casting.”

Maybe McCoy had been the MVP of faculty soccer, however he was not the Heisman Trophy winner. He completed third within the voting that December. The winner was the anchor of Alabama’s decidedly less-flashy offense, operating again Mark Ingram, extremely the primary Crimson Tide participant to carry the bronze stiff-armed man to Tuscaloosa.

“Our strengths offensively had been our depth at operating again and the physicality of our offensive line,” remembers McElroy, talking of backfield mate Ingram, but in addition freshman Trent Richardson. “Taking the sphere, I had zero doubt that we’d win the sport.”

Neither did Texas. It was on. And at finish of the sport’s very first drive, it felt like a tone was already being set, with one workforce trying panicked and the opposite in complete management. How? As a result of Nick Saban …Nick SABAN … known as for a faux punt from his personal 20. A faux punt!

“All the sudden I see this factor simply lobbed up within the air,” McElroy remembers of his view from the sideline, as punter P.J. Fitzgerald airmailed a toss that was intercepted by Texas on the Alabama 37. “All of us had been like, ‘Can we also have a faux punt go?!’ I am like, dude, if you would like somebody to throw a extremely dangerous ball and intercept it, like, at the least let me have that likelihood.”

On the opposite facet of the sphere, the Horns smelled crimson blood within the water.

Says McCoy: “Once they went for the faux punt, I used to be like, ‘Oh, they know we’re about to attain a bunch of factors on them. We’re about to blow you guys out.'”

McCoy zipped a brief go to wideout Jordan Shipley over the center. He handed it off to Cody Johnson. He easily led Tre Newton right into a run round the correct edge that dashed to the Bama 11. On first down, McCoy and Newton ran to the left on an old-fashioned choice play. The quarterback selected to maintain the ball and drove right into a scrum of humanity on the line of scrimmage. There was a collision straight into his proper facet, his throwing arm, as he rolled his torso to guard the soccer from popping unfastened.

To the 29 million folks watching on ABC, it seemed like little greater than routine QB keeper. The truth is, McCoy by no means hit the bottom, as a substitute coming to relaxation in a sitting place on the entire lineman who had been stacked up on the turf.

However these in on the play knew instantly that one thing colossal had simply occurred.

“I used to be 18 years previous and I used to be a backup,” remembers Marcell Dareus, the lineman who’d laid the hit on McCoy. “However I advised coach the week earlier than, ‘When you put me within the recreation, I’ll take over.’ I knew it was a tough hit as a result of I nonetheless felt it every week later.”

“I keep in mind every little thing simply shutting off, principally my ear, my neck and my proper arm, it was simply gone.” McCoy nonetheless can not help however wince when he talks in regards to the sensation, even now, a dozen years later. “In the meanwhile that it occurred I did not suppose this was the top. I used to be going to come back again, I’ll shake this. I do not know what this sense is. I’ve by no means had it, but it surely’s acquired to come back again.”

As McCoy was walked again to the Rose Bowl locker room, Bama saved his workforce from transformed a first-and-goal state of affairs right into a landing, as a substitute settling for a discipline objective and a 3-0 lead. On the ensuing kickoff, Alabama mishandled the brief kick and fumbled it away at their very own 30, however once more held Texas to a discipline objective. Now behind heart was Garrett Gilbert, contemporary off back-to-back Texas state championships with Austin’s vaunted Lake Travis Excessive Faculty, a five-star recruit who’d damaged Graham Harrell’s Texas prep profession passing mark and was heralded by former coach Jackie Sherrill as “the very best quarterback I’ve seen since Dan Marino.”

However none of that mattered on this second. Now he was a real freshman, enjoying for a nationwide championship within the Rose Bowl in opposition to an Alabama protection that includes six gamers that might be drafted that spring.

In the meantime, because the Longhorns medical workforce huddled to debate the info they’d collected from squeezing and poking their quarterback’s proper arm, McCoy grabbed a soccer and tried to throw some warmup tosses together with his father. He wasn’t capable of get an honest sufficient grip on the leather-based to throw to his dad, standing 5 toes away. In the end, the damage could be recognized as a pinched nerve, shutting off all the feeling of feeling by way of his proper facet.

“I sort of go searching and one of many docs is like, ‘We must always go get an x-ray.’ After which I can see they’re beginning to get teary eyed,” McCoy remembers. “I keep in mind sitting there within the locker room, considering, ‘What simply occurred?’ I’ve hardly missed a recreation in faculty. I used to at all times inform myself I am by no means coming off the sphere except you have to carry me off the sphere. Damaged bone … I might play by way of something. There was nothing I may do. That was only a very helpless feeling.”

As halftime approached, Alabama led 17-6 and Texas — driving from its personal 39 — gave the impression to be settling into run-out-the-clock mode because it was slated to obtain the second half kickoff. However on a 2nd-and-1, Garrett tried a shovel go to a different freshman, operating again D.J. Monroe. The ball glanced off Monroe’s fingertips, seemingly in gradual movement, and landed into the gloves of … Marcell Dareus. The long run first spherical daft decide rotated and took off, sprinting 28 yards for essentially the most unlikely pick-six.

When the Longhorns, now down 24-6, arrived at their locker room, they had been knowledgeable that Colt McCoy was not returning. Whereas McCoy delivered a passionate speech (“We aren’t completed! Consider! Hold combating!”) his damage standing was reported by Salters to the world, together with the Alabama locker room.

“I keep in mind considering like, dude, we’re half-hour away from profitable this factor,” says McElroy. “I feel everyone in all probability pulled out their applications at half time and was like, ‘All proper, who’s this? Oh, a freshman, all proper. Sure, we acquired them.’ I am not pleased with that, however human nature is aware of that an All-American quarterback simply went down and a real freshman’s now beginning in opposition to our protection.”

“I keep in mind considering, in all probability a giant ask for this younger quarterback on this offense,” says Chris Fowler, who was stationed in a single finish zone of the Rose Bowl as host of Faculty GameDay. “However … what if?”

That is the “What if?” that has at all times gotten misplaced amid the bigger “What if?” of that evening. The one nobody remembers to ask as a result of they do not appear to recall that the freshman dang close to pulled it off.

The one scores within the third quarter of 2010 BCS title recreation had been a pair of touchdowns tossed by Garrett Gilbert, confident 44- and 28-yarders to Shipley, the second adopted by a dart of a two-point conversion completion. After beginning the sport with a depressing stat line of 4-of-22, 48 yards and two interceptions, Gilbert proceeded to finish 10-of-14 passes for 120 yards and the 2 touchdowns. In the meantime, Alabama did not put any factors on the board for practically your entire second half. The scoreboard was caught at 24-21 as the sport’s remaining minutes approached. Then …

“We had it down to a few factors after which they introduced a bottom blitz,” Mack Brown remembers with nice element when his workforce was starting a would-be game-winning drive, with 83 yards to the top zone, 3:08 on the clock and two timeouts at their disposal.

“Garrett did not see that blitz. He acquired hit within the again and fumbled. They recovered it on the three. Dangit.”

What if somebody in a white and burnt orange jersey had picked up blitzing linebacker Eryk Anders, the primary sack surrendered by Texas all evening? What if Gilbert’s arm had yet one more fraction of a second to settle into its forward-throwing movement, making the unfastened ball an incomplete go as a substitute of a fumble?

And oh yeah, what if Colt McCoy hadn’t gotten damage and been within the recreation?

“Colt in all probability realizes he is acquired an unblocked defender operating at him,” McElroy admits. “Is it nonetheless a sack? Perhaps. Is it an incompletion? Perhaps. Is it a fumble? In all probability not.”

It took three performs for Ingram to attain, extending the result in 31-21. On the second play of the subsequent drive, Gilbert’s third interception iced the title for Alabama.

It was Nick Saban’s second nationwide championship and Bama’s first since 1941 that wasn’t tied to Bear Bryant in a roundabout way (Stallings was a former Bryant assistant). Within the dozen years since, Saban and his groups have added one other 5 championships, three extra Heisman Trophy winners and produced the only best period of any workforce over faculty soccer’s 153-year historical past.

“I keep in mind the locker room prefer it was yesterday,” McElroy says of Saban. “It is like, “Hey all you seniors, thanks. However for these of you coming again, that is not the best way we play within the second half of this soccer recreation. I do not know what made you suppose that this recreation was ours. I do not know what made you suppose this recreation was over as a result of it was the farthest factor from over with half-hour left to play within the recreation.”

In Austin, there was a sense of “What if?” that has by no means gone away. A second nationwide title in 5 years (possibly three if they may have that 2008 Texas Tech recreation again) would have had the Horns speaking dynasty. As a substitute, with Garrett as beginning QB in 2010, they went 5-7. Mack Brown by no means earned double-digit wins once more. He retired after the 2013 season to develop into an ESPN analyst. His four-year file following the 2010 BCS title recreation was 30-21 with one AP high 25 ranked workforce. Texas hasn’t received a convention title since 2009, has had three head coaches previously seven seasons and has performed in a single New Years Day bowl recreation since that fateful evening in Pasadena.

Is all of that tied to a nerve pinch suffered by one faculty soccer participant in a single recreation performed greater than a decade in the past? In all probability not. However at the least a few of it’s. A minimum of it could possibly be. Actually sufficient to ask, “What if?” And that query has been requested of the individuals who had been in that recreation at the least as soon as throughout each one of many 4,629 days which have handed between the final time Bama and Texas performed and when they may kick it off Saturday.

“Folks normally speak in regards to the video games you lose greater than those you win,” says Mack Brown. “I imply they can not assist it. I can simply sit there and wait on it.”

“I wished the Longhorns helmet to be prominently displayed as one among my favourite groups,” McElroy says of the headgear that we will all see behind him every time he’s on reside TV from his house workplace, despatched to him from the Texas soccer tools managers. “And positive sufficient, inside that helmet is written: ‘If Colt did not get damage we win. Hook ‘Em.’ However final I checked, we had two backs go for over 100 yards. Until Colt performs D-tackle it in all probability wasn’t going to occur.”

“My NFL teammates now, who’re getting drafted, they arrive into the locker room and are like, ‘Bro, I do not forget that nationwide championship recreation. I used to be an enormous fan. You simply crushed me.'” McCoy says of his 12 years within the professionals with 5 totally different groups. “It is talked about on a regular basis. I definitely used to ask that query lots, ‘What if?’ However now I do not till somebody brings it up. Downside is, they convey it up on a regular basis, particularly with Alabama and Saban coming to city and us becoming a member of the SEC.”

As for Saban, he politely declined remark. He has said many occasions earlier than, “You must know by now that I do not deal in hypotheticals.”

That is cool, coach. We needed to ask. Simply as we’ll at all times must maintain asking … what if? So, we’ll return to a head coach who will reply. Mack Brown.

“I do not go along with what-ifs. I am going with information, and that is not close to as a lot enjoyable, but it surely’s actual and it is truthful. The reality is that they knocked our quarterback out. That is a part of soccer. They received the sport. They received it truthful and sq..”

Brown pauses, simply sufficient to squeeze it in a single final time.

So … what if Colt did not get damage? Do you win the 2010 nationwide championship?

“I feel completely.”

ESPN characteristic producer Nick Hetherington contributed to this story.