Former Texas QB Colt McCoy reminisces about loss to Alabama in BCS title game
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Talk about Alabama’s dominance is everywhere you look. Some regard it as the best dynasty in college football history. Some believe the Crimson Tide will go back-to-back again.
Colt McCoy was on the losing end when the Tide, well, got rolling under coach Nick Saban.
The former Texas quarterback wrote a piece in the Players’ Tribune on Tuesday about his football career, including the 2009 national championship game loss to Alabama in which he suffered an injury to his throwing arm in the first quarter.
“You know, still to this day, what strikes me the most was how normal the hit was. It was the same hit I’d taken a million times growing up on those dusty fields in Tuscola. My dad didn’t let me even play football until I was in seventh grade because he wanted me to learn the proper way to hit and be hit. So I’d taken enough shots to know there wasn’t anything particularly special about this one.
But for one reason or another, this tackle was different. This hit would change my whole life.”
McCoy, who finished 3rd in the Heisman voting that season when Alabama RB Mark Ingram won it, went on to say that his arm had gone completely numb from the hit that defensive tackle Marcell Dareus delivered. He had severe nerve damage.
“I came out for the second half in full uniform. Changing out of it would have been too painful both physically and emotionally. I wasn’t ready to take it off yet. So I just tried to be the best cheerleader I could for the team. I’ll be honest, it’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I was so heartbroken. I just wanted to be out there, fighting with the team. It wasn’t supposed to end like this.”
McCoy described how distraught he was that he couldn’t help his teammates win the biggest game of their lives. A game that McCoy felt the Longhorns were confident they could win.
“Alabama is a fantastic program. That’s unquestionable. But you know what? We’re Texas. And we play some pretty dang good football too.”
McCoy was replaced by freshman Garrett Gilbert, a five-star prospect and the No. 2 pro-style QB out of Austin, Texas. Gilbert finished the game 15 of 40 for 186 yards, 2 TDs and 4 INTs in the eventual 37-21 defeat.
Born and raised in Gainesville, Talal joined SDS in 2015 after spending 2 years in Bristol as an ESPN researcher. Previously, Talal worked at The Gainesville Sun.
