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Colt McCoy could throw a football over d’em mountains.

On Thursday night, I became a Texas Longhorn fan for the course of the BCS National Championship game. At kickoff, a good story was in the air – fourth-year quarterback Colt McCoy was facing off against Heisman trophy-winner, Alabama’s Mark Ingram.

Harry How/Getty Images

Harry How/Getty Images

Yet it was only five plays into their offensive game plan and the Republic of Texas’ one and only protagonist McCoy went lame. He was injured. Injured badly. The tackle from the Alabama defensive lineman came at the end of an uneventful run — it certainly didn’t look like the breed of hit that would render him medically ineligible. The senior quarterback found his way to the sideline and medical staff gave him immediate attention. As he sat down on the turf behind team benches, countless bodies surrounded him. At this point, I joked that he was on the phone, praying with Tim Tebow for a few divine play calls for use later in the game. Locker room x-rays would later show no conclusive injury, but the pain spoke enough for experts on the Texas sideline: this was a shoulder injury.

There was plenty of heroism from Alabama’s running back duo of Ingram and Trent Richardson in the second quarter, who each finished with 100 yards rushing on the evening. And when Nick Saban led Alabama to a final score of 37-21, it was clear that he had heroically coached this program to their first National Title since 1992.

Every part of me wanted McCoy to return in the third quarter, inspire his troops and march the burnt siena army downfield for magical second-half scores. Because there’s something different about the story of a ballgame when the lead character is a gun-slinging cowboy having climbed from humble ranks of 2A Texas high school gridiron play to the biggest game of the year in college football. (McCoy’s high school team is coached by his father, making the elements of which a screenplay fit only for Disney cinema.)

McCoy as valiant injury-overcoming gladiator would’ve made for much better story. As a fan, that’s what I wanted. That’s what sweet-tea drinkers and Chevy truck-owners everywhere wanted. Something American. Something bold. The stuff of legends.

Best of luck, Colt. I hope you are the sort of QB prototype that NFL scouts, coaches and teams find attractive.

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Saturday, January 9, 2010 at 1:02 pmSubscribe by reader Subscribe by email

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Sean Berger is a designer & developer living in Kansas City.

2

  1. Thanks, Sean. Good to hear support from another Big 12 fan…even after the difficult loss Nebraska took in some last-second craziness.

    I have to say…I’m still having a hard time putting this game down. What *I* wanted was Colt to play. What I wanted was to see a game where the two *best* teams were playing each other. We’d all waited for it, and because sport can be both so inspiring and so devastating…this time around, the story was a difficult one to swallow. But, my real hopes–after knowing Colt wasn’t coming back–was to see a kid who’d only taken 26 snaps in his college career beat the team that no one told us we cold beat…even with our best guy in. And, until 3:00 were left on the clock, he *almost* did it.

    And it gave me pride.

    And then, all of the Alabama fans and TV analysts began smashing Colt’s character and questioning his passion for the game. They discredited the fact that no one gave us a chance and we *still* almost won.

    Like I said: I’m still having a hard time putting this one down. But from one Texas fan to another temporary supporter: thanks for the respect.

    We’ll get the SEC next year ;)

    from Brandi Stanley on the 11th day of January 2010 at 9:59 am

  2. @brandi: Here’s to a Nebraska v. Texas rematch in the Big 12 Championship 2010. I was in Dallas for the 2009 Championship game, which made the Husker loss all the more frustrating.

    from Sean Berger on the 28th day of January 2010 at 12:00 am

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