No Excuses: Alabama Probably Should Have Lost at Texas

The No. 1 Crimson Tide struggled mightily against the Longhorns, who were left wondering 'What if" again after their starting quarterback was sidelined by an injury.

Author:
Christopher Walsh
Publish date:
Sep 10, 2022 3:37 PM EDT

In this story:

Alabama Crimson Tide

Here we go again.

That's what a lot of people were thinking throughout Saturday's game between No. 1 Alabama at Texas, only the name will be changed by the Longhorns faithful.

After 12 years of hearing "What if Colt McCoy didn't get hurt?" about the 2010 BCS Championship Game between the Crimson Tide and Longhorns at the Rose Bowl, when Nick Saban won his first title with Alabama, we're now stuck with "What if Quinn Ewers didn't get hurt?"

The answer, of course, is you never know, which is going to fall on a lot of deaf ears.

In what's now become an Alabama-Texas tradition, the Longhorns starting quarterback suffered a major injury on what can only be described as a football hit even though this one drew a flag — albeit a very questionable one.

Last time it was Heisman Trophy finalist Colt McCoy injuring his throwing shoulder while colliding with Marcell Dareus on a quarterback option. His replacement, Garrett Gilbert, passed for 186 yards and two touchdowns, but also lost a fumble and had four interceptions as Alabama pulled out the 37-21 victory.

Adding to the dozen years of moaning were both major college football networks having their pregame shows on hand. With College GameDay and Big Noon Kickoff in town, and trying to one-up the other, Austin got the college football equivalent of the SXSW Festival, complete with ESPN rolling out its newest addition to the mouth race, Pat McAfee.

Offbeat and hype were in, with Fox, which was finally able to broadcast an Alabama game, countering Lee Corso's headgear pick with former-ESPN broadcaster Tom Rinaldi and his pianist for a Nick Saban interview. It didn't lead to any tears shed.

Well, none until the game started.

"I think it was the loudest [environment] I've been in," junior linebacker Will Anderson Jr. said.

Adding to ridiculousness, and there was plenty of it, ESPN’s “College GameDay” had a piece entitled, “What If?” which included former Longhorns coach Mack Brown saying he believes Texas would have won the 2010 game had McCoy had not gotten hurt.

What was he going to say, no?

This time, though, it was Quinn Ewers knocked out of the game. He was playing well at the time, late in the first quarter, having completed 9 of 12 attempts for 134 yards while making just his second appearance in any football game since his junior year of high school, when he also missed six games due to injury.

The backstory of the mullet-one is the quarterback decided to forgo his senior year at Southlake Carroll in Texas, and enroll at Ohio State early in 2021. A year later, he transferred to the school where he had initially committed.

While leaving his feet to attempt a pass, Ewers was hit by Dallas Turner, who was flagged for roughing the passer. There was absolutely no way for the sophomore linebacker to hold up without letting the quarterback complete the throw in Alabama territory, and he didn't push down or apply any extra weight after they hit the ground.

One could hear the Texes conspiracy choir warming up as Hudson Card got ready to go in (never mind the non-safety call in the second half, but it appeared the officials eventually got it right). Ewers kicked a trash can on the sideline and wore a towel over this head while heading to the locker room as everyone at Darrell K Royal Memorial Stadium tried to shake the enormous feeling of deja vu.

Texas Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers (3) is attended to after getting hit while throwing a pass against the Alabama Crimson Tide during the first half at at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. — Scott Wachter-USA TODAY Sports

It's a shame too, because the "what if" serves no purpose.

Funny, no one ever asks how the BSC title game at the end of the 2009 perfect season might have been different had Crimson Tide quarterback Greg McElroy not suffered the painful ribs injury against Florida. He completed just six of 11 passes, while running backs Mark Ingram II and Trent Richardson both topped 100 rushing yards.

Alabama also had its two starting wide receivers and cornerbacks out against Georgia for the most recent national championship game. The Crimson Tide was disappointed, yet largely understanding.

This is the difference between the SEC and the Big 12. The SEC gets that hitting, and consequently injuries, are part of the game. Those who make excuses usually lose their focus and subsequently get run over.

Ewers' injury was a shame too, because Texas and head coach Steve Sarkisian had a great game plan against Alabama. The Longhorns rode a ton of emotion, while the Crimson Tide acted like it had been ambushed. It struggled with the setting, the noise and having so many new players in key roles.

Over the first 20 minutes Alabama was flagged no less than eight times, compared to one for the Longhorns, and the Crimson Tide ended up with 15 uncharacteristic penalties for 100 yards — including four by Anderson.

Quarterback Bryce Young's receivers seemed to forget how to catch the ball. The secondary struggled with the inconsistent pass interference calls. The list goes on and on.

But the emotions could only take the Longhorns so far.

After guy named (Bert) Auburn hit a 49-yard field goal. with 1:29 to go, Young showed the poise of a Heisman Trophy winner while ducking a sack and guiding the game-winning drive. With senior kicker Will Reichard's 33-yard field goal, Alabama survived in a way that good teams often do, 20-19.

It probably didn't deserve the win, though.

Saban, as Saban does, will make sure his team learns from it all season long. His postgame message to the team was "If you practice hard, the game is easy."

"This was a real test of us," he added.

Meanwhile, Texas was left with those familiar two words.

Thankfully, the "What if" crowd will only be heard for one year this time. Texas and Alabama will rematch at Bryant-Denny Stadium next year, and be in the same conference by 2025.

Christopher Walsh's column regularly appears on BamaCentral.