College Football In a Parallel Universe

Umbrellas, Taxis, Airplanes and Harry Potter have one major thing in common. Every single one of them changed the world. And each one of these was originally rejected. Life is weird. College football is weird. We’re so accustomed to Alabama always winning and Notre Dame losing. Anyone remember when it was the other way around? The entire landscape of college football could be drastically different if a few things did happen and a few didn’t. Of course this is beating a dead horse. It happened years ago. But what if it didn’t? Is this the matrix? How many licks to the center of a tootsie pop? Lots of questions. Even fewer answers. Remember this though. The biggest word in the english language is if. If may be two letters but it carries much more.

2009 BCS National Title: Alabama 37, Texas 21

Alabama truly started their dominance in 2009. They dominated the Texas Longhorns for the last 55 minutes of the game. But a lot of people forget why. Colt McCoy went down on the first drive of the game. They were going to score. The first 5 minutes of the game were dominated by the Longhorns. Bama had a 4th and 23 fake punt intercepted by Texas. McCoy and his Longhorns were driving down the field when McCoy went down for the rest of the game. Had that not happened it was looking as if Texas might runaway with it. A pick turned right around into a touchdown. They started hot. The momentum probably would’ve stayed with them all night giving them the win. Nick Saban doesn’t win his first championship with the Tide.

2011 BCS National Title: Alabama 21, LSU 0

Alabama had as much business in that game as Paterno at St. Jude Children’s Research. Oklahoma St. deserved to be in that game. Alabama didn’t even play in the SEC Championship. LSU killed Georgia. Bama was the second team to ever win the national title and not play in their conference championship. Minnesota is the other. The BCS loved Alabama more than the CFP likes Ohio State. LSU beat Alabama IN Tuscaloosa earlier that season in the game to end all games. It was supposed to be the game of the century. LSU won 9-6. They were the better team. The caused turnovers and blocked field goals. They won on a 25 yard field in OT. Simply put they were in range to score the ball. Oklahoma St. may have had a loss in the season but so did Bama. Oklahoma St. led the nation in almost every offensive stat. LSU led in almost every defensive one. Oklahoma State’s offense against LSU’s defense was going to be a national championship to remember. Then Alabama jumped two spots and got in. They easily took care of LSU routing them 21-0. But if there’s a shread of justice Oklahoma St. goes instead of Alabama. Nick Saban doesn’t even get the chance to win his second natty.

2012 BCS National Title: Alabama 42, Notre Dame 14

Ohio State had to go and ruin this one. Anyone remember the postseason ban when Urban Meyer was first getting there? I do. It was fantastic. No matter how good Ohio State did they weren’t allowed a postseason game until 2014. In Urban’s first season they went 12-0. Now I’m about to spit some info real quick. Alabama was 11-1 that season. They lost to Johnny Football and Texas A&M. Notre Dame finsihed the season 12-0. They had one heisman finalist. And he had an awesome pretend girlfriend for a long time. That was a peak moment in the NCAA. Had Ohio State never had the ban they would’ve been the number one or two team in the nation per BCS rules. Any undefeated team took presidence in rankings, especially Power 5 teams like OSU. If Ohio State doesn’t have the ban then they compete (and probably win) another national title. Nick Saban never has the chance to compete for his third crystal ball.

Alabama has four national titles in the past eight years. That’s almost as impressive as the world hotdog eating record. If any or all of these things i just mentioned then they have one maybe two. But of course none it will. But it’s fun to talk about. The NCAA landscape would be extremely different than we know today. Nick Saban would probably be somewhere like Texas or USC. But this entire thing is built on if. And if isn’t enough. But congrats to Bama. They had a mix of being great along with being in the right place at the right time. It kind of payed off for them.