Rolando McClain (Patrick Jacks photo)
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What if Alabama was the undefeated team on the outside looking in?
Texas coach Mack Brown was asked this week what he would think of a Texas-TCU matchup in the BCS national championship game. Brown said he thought it would be great. Instead, the undefeated Horned Frogs have been sent to Tempe, Ariz., to take on another left out unbeaten – Boise State.
“That’s the fallacy of the BCS,” Brown said. “Cincinnati and Boise State, I’m sure, are saying the same thing as TCU. And it’s the same thing for Utah last year and Auburn in 2004. What I’d like to see is for the BCS to take that next step. I’d like to see some teams play it off in the end. At least the good thing for TCU is that this is the first time it’s played in a game like (the Fiesta Bowl) since 1939.”
Fact of the matter is, though, Texas won’t be playing TCU in Pasadena and there will be no teams playing it off after the BCS games are complete. Texas has one game remaining, and it will be against the team from Tuscaloosa.
“I’ve got to worry about what’s real – and that’s Alabama,” Brown said.
One of Brown’s biggest concerns about facing the top-ranked Crimson Tide is having to face the Tide’s big, bad defense. The Longhorns are still licking their wounds from their encounter with Nebraska’s stout defense in the Big 12 Championship Game.
“They have very similar defenses,” Brown said of Alabama and Nebraska. “Nebraska has four good guys up front, and Suh was a great player. But Alabama has players just like Nebraska. Rolando McClain is 6-foot-4, 260 pounds and runs like a deer, and they can cover. What concerns me is that we didn’t have a good game against Nebraska. But hopefully that will wake us up for this game.”
Alabama and Texas will meet Jan. 7 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena for the BCS national championship.