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THE CZECH IS IN THE MAIL
Fifteen years later, and it still gets mentioned.
In the 2009-10 BCS national championship game, SEC champion Alabama defeated Big 12 champion Texas, 37–21. An unfortunate event happened for the Longhorns in that game when starting quarterback Colt McCoy suffered an injury in the first quarter that knocked him out of the game.
Almost every Texas fan I talk to swears the Longhorns would’ve won that game if McCoy hadn’t gotten hurt. That’s not much different than someone saying they would’ve won the lottery if they had just bought a ticket.
While the injury did impact Texas’ offensive performance, it wasn’t the only reason the Longhorns lost. Here are five reasons why McCoy’s injury can’t be blamed for the national championship loss.
HONORABLE MENTIONS NICK SABAN
Alabama’s former head coach is arguably the best college football coach of the past 20 years. He guided LSU to the 2003– 04 BCS national championship before he had a subpar stint in the NFL with the Miami Dolphins, and took over at Alabama in 2007.
That game established Alabama as a dynasty. Since that win, Saban led the Crimson Tide to five more national titles (2011, 2012, 2015, 2017 and 2020) before retiring in 2023.
As great a defensive mind as Saban was, chances are he would’ve found a way to slow down McCoy even if he hadn’t gotten hurt. After all, McCoy went down on the ninth play from scrimmage — Saban would’ve had three quarters to adjust.
THE BIG 12
When the Big Eight became the Big 12 in 1996, it was a well-respected conference. In its first 13 years, the conference saw three national championships (Nebraska 1997, Oklahoma 2000, Texas 2005), four national runners- up (Nebraska 2001, Oklahoma 2003, 2004, 2008) and five BCS atlarge wins (Nebraska 1999 Fiesta Bowl, Oklahoma 2002 Rose Bowl, Texas 2004 Rose Bowl, Kansas 2007 Orange Bowl, Texas 2008 Fiesta Bowl).
But the 2009 season proved to be the beginning of a downward trend for the Big 12. While many of the teams in the conference either experienced key losses to graduation or the NFL Draft, suffered key injuries or were adjusting to second- year head coaches, Texas took advantage of those teams’ misfortunes. Since the Longhorns’ loss to Alabama, a Big 12 team has not competed in a national championship game. Texas won the Big 12 championship in 2023 — its final season in the Big 12 before moving to the SEC — but the Longhorns failed to win the conference between 2009 and 2023 despite having the largest athletic budget in the league.
TOP 5 REASONS 5. MACK BROWN
The Texas coach had an opportunity at halftime to put McCoy back in the game. The senior quarterback was begging his coach to let him get back on the field and swore he was good to go.
Brown refused to put McCoy back in the game and stuck with Garrett Gilbert, who despite throwing a pair of touchdown passes in the second half, completed just 15 of 42 passes and threw four interceptions. To this day, it’s puzzling to wonder why Brown did not put his starting quarterback in the game when it was the national championship and McCoy’s final college football game.
4. ALABAMA OFFENSE
With Tide quarterback Greg McElroy playing with bruised ribs, Alabama wasn’t going to be able to throw the football very much. This meant Tide would have to rely on its offensive line and running backs Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson.
Other than giving up five sacks and seven tackles for losses, the Alabama offensive line was dominant up front. The Tide’s line opened holes for Heisman Trophy winner Ingram to run 22 times for 116 yards and two touchdowns and Richardson to gain 109 yards and two scores on 16 carries.
McElroy threw the football just 11 times, completing six of those for 58 yards, including a 23-yard throw to future Atlanta Falcons receiver Julio Jones for his only reception of the game. For every Texas fan who says their team would’ve won if McCoy didn’t get hurt, there are Alabama fans who could say the Tide would’ve dominated the game if McElroy didn’t play with bruised ribs, which likely would’ve led to more catches and yards for Jones.
3. SAM BRADFORD
The 2008 Heisman winner suffered a season- ending shoulder injury in Texas’ 16-13 victory against Oklahoma. Bradford, the Sooners’ quarterback and first overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, was knocked out of the Red River Shootout with his team leading 3-0.
This game proved to be one of the lucky breaks the Longhorns received on their way to the nat ional championship game. If Texas fans say McCoy’s injury kept their team from winning a national championship, then Oklahoma fans have every right to say Bradford’s injury against the Longhorns kept the Sooners from winning the Red River Shootout and possibly a Big 12 or national championship.
If there is an alternate universe where injuries don’t exist, Texas still doesn’t win the national championship against Alabama. In fact, that game never takes place.
The Longhorns don’t even win the Big 12 or make it to the championship game. It’s Oklahoma who does those things.
2. ALABAMA DEFENSE
Tide’s defense was simply dominant the entire season. Alabama gave up 130 points in the regular season and surrendered 20 points or more just three times in that 12-game span, which included a season-high 24 in a 34-24 win against Virginia Tech in the season opener.
The Tide didn’t struggle in the SEC championship game as it limited a Tim Tebow-led Florida offense to just 13 points in a 32-13 rout of the Gators. Alabama didn’t miss a beat in the BCS national championship game either.
Defensive lineman Marcel Dareus made arguably the two biggest plays of the first half — a hit on McCoy at the line of scrimmage which took him out of the game, and an interception return for a touchdown on the final play of the first half.
Alabama also forced Texas to kick a field goal on its opening drive — the same drive in which McCoy was injured. The significance behind that drive was two plays after Dareus’ tackle of McCoy, the Longhorns had a firstand- goal from the Tide 1-yard line but were unable to push the ball into the endzone.
On that same opening drive, McCoy completed a pair of passes for a grand total of nine yards. Texas had just four plays longer than 20 yards and was limited to 81 rushing yards on 28 carries.
1. BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME I like to call this one “32-1-oops.”
Trailing 12-10 with time ticking down, McCoy scrambled out of the pocket and threw a pass out of bounds.
The clock read 0:00 after the play — or so we thought. The replay official ruled that McCoy’s pass hit the ground out of bounds with one second left.
This allowed Texas to get one last play in, a 42yard field goal drilled by Hunter Lawrence through the uprights to give the Longhorns a 13-12 victory against Nebraska in the Big 12 championship game.
This was the biggest break Texas caught this season. If the replay official lets the ruling on the field stand, Nebraska wins the Big 12 and the best Texas can do is likely a Sugar Bowl berth against Florida.
AFTERMATH
The BCS loss marked the beginning of big changes. Colorado and Nebraska left in 2010. Texas A&M and Missouri followed in 2012. TCU and West Virginia joined later. Last year, Texas and Oklahoma officially joined the SEC.
The Big 12 now has 16 teams, including Colorado, Arizona, BYU, Houston, UCF and others.
Hopefully, these reasons are enough to convince you McCoy’s injury didn’t cost Texas the championship. But we’ll likely hear about it decades later.
Jason Chlapek is the area editor of the Elgin Courier and Taylor Press. He can be reached at jason.chlapek@ granitemediapartners. com.
