BCS Championship Game: Making a Case For The Longhorns

Tomorrow night's College Football BCS National Championship game between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Texas Longhorns promises to be a competitive one. While many prognosticators expect Alabama to win this game, in some case handily, there are several trends that factors that need to be reviewed.

Common man theory. After watching their respective conference title games, the initial reaction of most people was- this game will be a complete mismatch. While Alabama physically dominated a top ranked Florida team, the Longhorns struggled mightily against what was viewed as an inferior Nebraska unit. In fact, watching the play of Nebraska's defense, particularly Ndamukong Suh, it became clear that Texas' offensive is in need of some major refurbishing.

However, this is a trap that people continually fall into. Texas has been a powerhouse for a reason. Although concerns about their offensive line and lack of a running game are valid, there appears to be some overreaction.  Remember just a week prior to the Florida game, Alabama almost lost to a very average Auburn team. Mark Ingram was ineffective and nursing an injury. The point is that College teams play to their competition and in the case of Alabama they were looking ahead to Florida. As for Texas, I think they underestimated Nebraska and in the process not only did they almost cost themselves a birth in this Championship game but Colt McCoy a Heisman Trophy award.

While Nick Saban is the best coach in college football, he is facing a former protege in Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp. Muschamp is the next "it" guy in college coaching and has been rumored to be at the top of the list for several head coaching jobs. With close to a month to prepare for this game, expect Texas' defense to limit Alabama's ability to dictate the pace of the game with their dominating ground game. Texas has a defense loaded with talent and they should be able to stuff the box and force Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy to beat them against man to man coverage.

Colt McCoy. As bad as he looked against Nebraska this is one of the most prolific college quarterbacks in recent memory. Knowing that his performance, in addition to weak offensive line play cost him a Heisman is something that will further motivate McCoy come tomorrow night. As we have seen throughout the years, McCoy makes plays via the big pass and with his feet. Conversely, as great as McElroy played against Florida, is it fair to expect a similar performance on this big a stage?

Intangibles. After getting slighted last year and missing an opportunity to play Florida for the National Championship I expect to see a much different Texas team than we saw against Nebraska. Furthermore, even though Alabama has said all the right things leading up to this game, I cannot believe that for one second they expect this to be a battle. After all Alabama is the best defensive team in the country and have to be salivating after watching game tape from the Big 12 Championship game.

Prediction: With the majority of people outside of Austin, Texas writing them off, I am picking the Texas Longhorns over the Alabama Crimson Tide. There is no doubt in my mind that Alabama played  the tougher schedule and looked much better in their last game. That being said, Texas will make the necessary adjustments and I fervently believe their defense plays big tomorrow night. Expect a lower scoring affair that comes down to Colt McCoy being the difference in the game. Furthermore, Mack Brown has assembled and excellent coaching staff and has a National Championship under his belt. As good as Saban is, this Texas staff should be able to make the necessary adjustments going into tomorrow's game.