Cosmic BCS title game thoughts

In many ways, last night’s BCS National Championship Game came down to poor quarterback play. Just not the quarterback you’re thinking of.

No, poor Garrett GIlbert’s struggles played a big role last night, but no quarterback’s struggles had a bigger effect than Daunte Culpepper’s.

Four years ago, Nick Saban had a choice between two damaged-goods quarterbacks: Culpepper and Drew Brees, to be his new signal-caller for the Dolphins.

Saban chose Culpepper, who as it turned out had become one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL, while Brees went on to superduperstardom with the Saints.

A few short months later, Saban was on a plane to Tuscaloosa and here we are today.

There’s little question both college football and the NFL would be vastly different today if Saban had chosen Brees instead.

He’d still be with the Dolphins, the Wildcat might not have made it to the NFL, the Saints might not be in New Orleans anymore, Tommy Tuberville and Phillip Fulmer might still be employed, LSU fans wouldn’t care quite as much that Les Miles is totally incompetent, Alabama football may have completely died, etc. etc. etc.

Lots riding on that right there, eh?

But regardless, it’s pretty remarkable what Saban has done with the Crimson Tide in just three short years. I’ll have more on that in Tuesday’s season wrap column.

A few other quick thoughts:

It’s a shame that Colt McCoy hurt himself so early. We’ll never quite know how this would’ve played out with both teams at full strength.

Mark Ingram and Trent RIchardson are so good. They should be even tougher to handle next year.

Jordan Shipley is a lot better than I gave him credit for. he is almost impossible to handle out of the slot.

And let’s give Gilbert some props. The kid came in thinking he’d be signalling in to McCoy and could relax, then got thrown in against one of the better defenses of the decade in a national championship game? I might have wet myself. He struggled mightily in the first half, but for a little while there it looked like he was going to lead the Longhorns to victory.

IIHAV coming in a bit, and maybe a special NERDS post.