Alabama 24, Texas 13, start of 4th quarter

We have a Garrett Gilbert sighting!

After a 1-for-10 performance in the first half, the backup quarterback on whose shoulders rest the hopes of Longhorn Nation came out firing late in the third quarter, connecting on a 44-yard touchdown with Jordan Shipley.

There is no reason that Alabama should not have already run away with this game by now. Texas is playing a true freshman at quarterback who clearly had no confidence when he was abruptly inserted to the lineup after Colt McCoy’s injury.

Instead, the Crimson Tide seemed to be satisfied with their 18-point lead and did not manage to threaten to score on any possessions in the third quarter.

After the late Texas touchdown, the Longhorns pulled a surprise onside kick and recovered. However, Gilbert had two passes dropped and Texas went three plays and out.

Alabama needs to regain some of the edge it played with in the first half, especially offensively. A few drives that chew precious minutes off the clock should be enough to hang on in a game where all the excitement was packed into the first half.

Alabama 24, Texas 6 – Halftime

James Cameron could not have written a more unpredictable script to Thursday night’s national championship game.

Alabama, facing a third-and-18 from its own 20-yard line, faked a punt on its first possession. Blake Gideon intercepted the pass, and Texas took over on the Tide 37.

On third down, Colt McCoy suffered an apparent shoulder injury.

Garrett Gilbert entered, and the drive ended with a field goal. Thanks to a recovered pooch kick by Texas on the ensuing kickoff, Gilbert had another chance to lead the offense. He failed to produce a first down, and Texas kicked another field goal.

Greg McElroy, the Alabama quarterback, was sacked three times in nine plays.

The second quarter provided much more glory for the Tide. Thanks to dominant running from Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson, not to mention an interception return by a defensive lineman, Alabama is in control 24-6.

Trailing 17-6 with under a minute to play, it looked like Texas had done enough to stay within striking distance going into halftime. Although the offense had failed to move the ball very well, the defense was doing all it could to keep the ‘Horns in the game.

Then Gilbert threw a shovel pass into a crowd of linemen. The ball was batted around before defensive tackle Marcell Dareus took the ball in midair, and rumbled 28 yards for the final score in the half.

McCoy’s injury is undisclosed at the moment, but nothing short of a miracle will let Texas win this game even if he returns. Texas’ running game has been as successful as possible when they have absolutely no threat to pass the ball, running for 86 yards on 18 carries.

Gilbert is 1-for-10 passing for minus-4 yards and two interceptions. Late in the half, offensive coordinator Greg Davis opened up his playbook slightly and allowed Gilbert to make a few throws downfield. He had a touchdown pass knocked away, intended for Malcolm Williams. It was a very good throw, and the defensive play on the ball was simply spectacular.

Trailing 14-6, Gilbert lofted a fade pass to a wide-open Jordan Shipley, but it fell just out of reach.

Mark Ingram is on his way to the best performance for a Heisman winner in the national title game since Matt Leinart in the 2004-05 season. He has 90 yards on 13 carries and a touchdown so far.

Gilbert, a true freshman and the Gatorade athlete of the year in 2008, will have brighter days, but tonight’s task is simply over his head.

Texas 6 Alabama 0: end of first quarter

So there you have it. It’s been 32 days since Alabama and Texas were selected to play in the national championship game. Those days have been filled with bookoos of prognostication and predictions.

Three minutes had not gone by in tonight’s game before it was all for naught. Colt McCoy, the Texas quarterback, better known as the Longhorns’ Only Hope, left the game with an apparent shoulder injury and has not returned.

Garrett Gilbert is McCoy’s backup, and he took over on the first drive, leading Texas to a field goal.

Too bad Nick Saban can not see into the future. The usually conservative coach called a fake punt on fourth down with 18 yards to go from his own 20-yard line. The pass was intercepted by Blake Gideon at the 37.

It was a ironic redemption play for Gideon, who dropped an easy interception last year against Texas Tech, ultimately costing Texas an undefeated season and spot in last year’s national championship game.

After the Hunter Lawrence field goal, Alabama muffed a pooch kick and the Longhorns recovered. That was perfect for Gilbert, who was limited to mostly handoffs on the drive. Texas added another field goal after failing to convert a first down.

Alabama responded with a drive down to the Texas 3-yard line as the quarter came to an end. They seem poised to score a touchdown and take a 7-6 lead.

The Crimson Tide’s offense struggled prior to this most recent drive. Greg McElroy was sacked three times in nine plays and was clearly rattled in the pocket. If he settles down, and the Tide commit to running the ball down Texas’ throats, it’s highly unlikely the Longhorns’ offense can keep up if McCoy does not return.

Texas needs big plays from its defense and special teams to have a chance. Turnovers and field position become the biggest factors, bar none.

Worilds departure leaves youthful line for 2010

Jason Worilds, the redshirt junior defensive end for the Virginia Tech Hokies, declared himself eligible for the NFL Draft Thursday.

Worilds finished the 2009 season with 49 tackles, 11 for a loss, and 4.5 sacks.

Worilds is the 12th-rated defensive end according to nfldraftscout.com, making him a likely third or fourth-round pick.

The move seems to be a smart one for the second-team all-ACC performer, who has dealt with injury issues throughout his career. Clearly, Worilds did not want to risk a serious injury in 2010, costing him millions of potential dollars.

His departure leaves the Hokie defense in a tight spot next season. Already graduating on the defensive line are starters Nekos Brown, Cordarrow Thompson, and Demetrius Taylor.

John Graves is the only player on the 2010 roster with starting experience on the defensive line. The rising senior started eight games in 2009.

Chris Drager is expected to take Brown’s spot at the “stud” end position. Drager finished 2009 with 22 tackles and 2.5 sacks as the backup. He is a converted tight end who was stuck behind Greg Boone, Andre Smith, and Sam Wheeler on the depth chart, and the coaching staff felt Drager was too athletic to keep off the field entirely.

He was very impressive for the playing time he had this past season, the first year playing the position in his life. He will need plenty of repetitions in spring practice and will have high expectations come August.

As far as Worilds’ replacement, Steven Friday, a product of the high school juggernaut Phoebus, will step in for his senior season. Friday was a highly touted prospect out of Phoebus (he was a four-star recruit in the class of 2005, according to rivals.com) but has failed to live up to the hype so far. Here is his chance to validate those expectations.

Graves will anchor the interior of the defensive line. When healthy, he has been a dominant force at nose tackle, with great strength and quickness that would be expected of a former defensive end.

He was third on the team in 2009 with 10 quarterback hurries, despite being sixth on the defensive line in number of snaps played. When he is on the field for entire possessions at a time next season, he could have a breakout senior year.

The other defensive tackle will be Antoine Hopkins, a Richmond product out of Highland Springs High School. Hopkins played 20 snaps in the bowl game behind Taylor. Most Hokie fans would remember Hopkins for his interception and near return for a touchdown against Alabama in the season opener.

The coaching staff is very high on Hopkins and will need him to become more consistent at shedding blocks in the running game. His natural pass rushing ability for a defensive tackle is remarkable, and he could become a very poor man’s Ndamukong Suh next season (not trying to be sacrilegious—he simply plays a similar style).

As usual, defensive line coach Charley Wiles will have a very fast defensive line in 2010. The Hokies are notorious for having great depth in that unit and always having fresh bodies flying to the football.

When three of the four starters have no prior experience starting at this level, depth could be an issue. Here are some names to look for to emerge as the backup linemen next season.

· Isaiah Hamlette, Stud End: 6'4", 245 lbs., will be a redshirt sophomore, athletically ready to play, mental aspect of the game is holding him back so far.

· Kwamaine Battle, Nose Tackle: 6'0", 281 lbs., will be a redshirt junior, needs to commit himself in the offseason to improve strength and stay in shape.

· Dwight Tucker, Tackle: 6'1", 280 lbs., will be a redshirt sophomore and will battle Hopkins for starting spot.

· Zack McCray, Defensive End: 6'4", 240 lbs., will be a true freshman, seventh-rated defensive end in class of 2010 according to rivals.com.

· David Wang, Nose Tackle: 6'2", 310 lbs., will be a redshirt freshman, shoulder injury held him out of practice all season, but is a great athlete with strong football background (brother of graduating left tackle Ed Wang).

On the Docket - BCS National Championship Game: Alabama (13-0) vs. Texas (13-0)

Synopsis:

For the fourth consecutive season, the SEC champion will play for the national championship. The Crimson Tide marched through their schedule with relative ease, dominating most of its foes along the way. Texas, meanwhile, underachieved as much as a 13-0 team can. The Longhorns failed to blow people away on offense much of the season, save for about a three-game stretch mid-season.

Both teams are led by respective Heisman finalists. Colt McCoy is in his fourth season as Texas’ starting quarterback. A national championship would go a long way in cementing his place as one of the all-time greats.

The Tide’s Mark Ingram busted onto the scene this season with a 150-yard, two-touchdown performance against Virginia Tech, and only improved as the season unfolded. Ingram is a powerful back that wears down defenses with his physical style until they simply can’t bring him down by the end of the game.

When Alabama has the ball:

The key matchup will be quarterback Greg McElroy’s handling of the Texas secondary. Earl Thomas is one of the best safeties in the country, and he is only a sophomore. His eight interceptions are among the best in the country.

Texas’ defense has played well for the most part this season, allowing only 15 points per game. The only team to score more than 24 points against the Longhorns was Texas A & M. No teams have been able to run the ball effectively against the Big 12 champions, but no team has had a running back like Ingram.

When Texas has the ball:

The Tide's defense is unquestionably the best in the country. Terrance Cody is a 350-pound run-stuffing machine at defensive tackle. Butkus Award winner Rolando McClain controls the second level of defense at middle linebacker. Javier Arenas is one of the most versatile cornerbacks at the collegiate level.

It’s going to be tough sledding for McCoy, who has struggled against the better defenses he’s faced this season. In the games against Oklahoma and Nebraska, he was a combined 54 percent on completions with one touchdown and four interceptions.

If McCoy does have success throwing the ball, it will be because his All-American wide receiver Jordan Shipley is catching passes. Shipley is a deceptively fast receiver with great hands. Think Wes Welker in burnt orange.

Unsung hero:

Leigh Tiffin is Alabama’s all-time leading scorer, and the most reliable kicker in the country. He has been the difference between winning and losing for the Tide several times in his four-year career. This season, he is 27 for 31 on field goals. In a game that will be controlled by defense, Tiffin’s leg could very well bring the national championship home to Tuscaloosa.

Who has the edge?

Alabama silenced all the doubters in its 32-13 win against Florida in the SEC title game. The Tide will be prohibitive favorites heading into the game, which is being played in Pasadena. The Tide defense could be mistaken for an NFL unit. If they get pressure on McCoy early and often, Texas will struggle. If McCoy is able to throw comfortably from the pocket, the ‘Horns have a chance. Last time Texas played for the national title, it was 4 years ago in…you guessed it, Pasadena. They were underdogs to USC in that game, and…you guessed it, they won the game. The Texas faithful are hoping for a similar result this time around. Sadly for them, it’s not meant to be.

Prediction:

Alabama 33

Texas 17

Revis a muzzle in human form

Jets at Bengals, Saturday 4:30, NBC

Note to wide receivers across the NFL: stop calling out Darrelle Revis. The Pro Bowl cornerback for the New York Jets has taken the best locker room quips, tweets, and everything in between from opposing receivers this season. All he’s done in response is shut the best players in the league down completely.

The latest loudmouth to call Revis out was Chad Ochocinco from Cincinnati.

“Darrelle Revis couldn’t cover me in a brown paper bag on a corner of a Manhattan street inside a phone booth,” Ochocinco said.

How many catches did he have Sunday night? Zilch. He played much of the game, too, but it didn’t matter. In the first half, the Jets dominated a unmotivated Bengals team, leading 27-0 at halftime.

Carson Palmer had one of the worst games of his career, completing just 1-of-11 passes before being pulled from the game early in the third quarter.

Yes, the Bengals’ playoff fate had already been decided by kickoff, they knew they’d be the #3 seed in the AFC, but you would think that Ochocinco would want to back up his weeklong taunting.

Here’s a list for you: Andre Johnson, Randy Moss, Robert Meachem, Marques Colston, Devery Henderson. The average receiving numbers per game for those five players was 4.8 catches for 68 yards. Against Revis, none of those players had more than 35 yards and no more than five catches in a game.

Ochocinco gets one more chance this week to break the trend of star receivers silenced by the third-year veteran from Pittsburgh. If he fails to do so, the Jets have the upper hand.

The pressure of this game for New York rests on the defense. With a rookie quarterback and an untested offense around him, the top-rated defense in the NFL will have to be true to form this weekend.

Carson Palmer’s playoff career isn’t much better than the Jets’ Sanchez’s. Palmer tore his ACL in the first quarter of the 2006 Wild Card Playoffs against the Steelers.

Nevertheless, Palmer is an established seven-year veteran and is more prepared for a game of this magnitude than Sanchez.

That being said, it’s hard to prepare for a Rex Ryan defense that only six days before made you look like a third-string Arena League gunslinger.

Edelman's development faces final exam

Ravens at Patriots, Sunday 1:00 p.m. on CBS

With one gruesome, season-ending injury, Julian Edelman’s season took the final step in one of the most rapid developments of an NFL rookie in league history.

Wes Welker was lost for the season with a torn ACL/MCL against the Houston Texans on Sunday, leaving Edelman as the only replacement in an offense that is a direct function of its ability to give the ball to slot receivers.

In a season where there are at least two teams clearly the Patriots’ superior in-conference (unfamiliar territory with a healthy Tom Brady), Welker was the equalizer. He averaged 8.8 receptions per game for 11 yards per catch.

That’s eight first downs all by himself.

Edelman, on the other hand, was an unknown quarterback from Kent State that Bill Belichick drafted as his personal project, converting him to wide receiver in the Welker mold.

Most of the season was a developmental process. In week two, Edelman was thrown to 16 times. Several drops and poor route running contributed to only eight catches. Welker did not play in that game, a 16-9 loss to the New York Jets.

In the next 13 games, Edelman was targeted 23 times in the passing game, thanks to a healthy Welker and a lack of confidence in the project’s pass-catching skills.

In week 17, Welker was lost to the injury on the game’s fourth play, thrusting the six-foot, 198-pound Edelman squarely into the spotlight as the catch-and-run fuel to the offense’s engine.

He responded with ten catches out of 15 targets, a more respectable number than the week two exhibit.

Plain and simple, Edelman will need to run crisp routes and be in the places Brady needs him to be.

The biggest question concerning Brady’s end of this situation is trust. Can Brady trust Edelman to be in the right place, and make the big plays like he clearly trusts Welker?

My answer is yes. Brady is a veteran quarterback who has played with patchwork receiving corps in the past, including young players who need his help to be brought up to speed. That’s the task assigned to the coaching staff and Brady this week in preparation’s for the Wild Card matchup against the Ravens.

How the rest of the team helps Edelman prepare for the game will be the difference in a rematch with the Colts, and an early start to an unpredictable off-season.

Peterson needs to tell it like it is

Okay Spice Girls, you win. I’ll tell you what I really, really want.

I want to see Chris Peterson come on the set of College Gameday Special this Thursday night before the BCS national championship game. Not only do I want to see him on the set, but also I want to hear the Boise State head coach do his best Muhammad Ali impression, with a little Barack Obama thrown in for good flavor.

Peterson needs to tell anyone and everyone who will listen just how good he thinks his Broncos really are. Along the lines of this...

Chris Fowler: “So, coach…how good are you guys? Can you beat Alabama or Texas for a national championship?”

Peterson: “We are the greatest! Yes we can!”

Boise State is an elite-level program that happens to play in a conference with a bunch of glorified junior college teams. They are no longer that gimmicky, trick-play running bunch from Idaho that plays on that funny blue field.

The Broncos are as good as just about anyone, or at least they can say they are.

If you asked 100,000 football fans who the better team in America was: Boise State or Alabama, the best estimate of how many would favor the Tide would be around 995,000 (there’s about 5,000 people in the state of Idaho, right?).

But how many people thought Utah could beat Alabama last year, or Boise over Oklahoma in 2007? Or Stanford over USC the following season?

Games are not played on paper for a reason, which needn’t be discussed in further detail thanks to Peterson and the Broncos’ Fiesta Bowl win three years ago…and hell, this year too.

TCU was supposed to be that first runner-up for the national title game. When Texas slid into the slot opposite Alabama for Thursday’s game, the outcries for the little guy revealed themselves stretching from Forth Worth all the way to Cincinnati.

Not much love for the Broncos. Why not? Of the ten teams playing in BCS bowls this year, only three had beaten another BCS participant. Ohio State beat Iowa, Alabama beat Florida, and Boise State beat Oregon.

Quality win, check.

Now, I’m not a big fan of the idea that any undefeated team automatically deserves a share of the national title. You mean to tell me that Tim Tebow couldn’t have led the Gators through that schedule the same way Kellen Moore carried the Broncos?

Let them play the big guys, and see how it goes.

Make no mistake about it - TCU is a big guy. The Horned Frogs blasted BYU, Utah, and also beat ACC runner-up Clemson on the road. They were a very worthy opponent for the Broncos; not only that, but they were the favorites.

So the Broncos need more than just a one-game shot at an Oklahoma, or a TCU in one bowl game.

If I’m king of college football for a day, I say next week, the winner of Thursday’s game faced off with the Broncos for a more true national championship game. George W. Bush never sniffed the approval ratings I’d be getting.

There are plenty more logistical issues to the problem than just adding one more game to the bowl season (shortening the layoff between the regular season is number one), but what fans, players, and I’m betting coach Peterson want to see is Boise State earn its stripes by trying to run through a couple big-name teams on the way to a title.

Are they going to win the championship? Maybe, probably not, but they would have had a fair shake, as well as all the other highly ranked teams.

Woah, deep breath. I’m getting dangerously close to the BCS vs. Playoff never-ending debate. That’s not my angle.

I simply want to see Boise State proclaim itself worthy of making a run at an honest, undisputed championship. They’ve earned enough respect to make that claim.

What’s the worst that can happen? ESPN’s TBL (The Bottom Line, for those of you who realize there are more channels on DirectTV unlike myself) reads “Boise State’s Peterson says his team is best in country.”

Wow! Let’s get this guy on the air and hear him state his case!

I could use something other than Brett Favre or Tiger Woods scrolling across the screen for change.