Texas “Future” Almost Came Early

Before a blind side blitz by Alabama’s Eryk Anders caused a game-changing fumble late in the fourth quarter of Thursday’s national championship game, Texas’ true freshman quarterback Garrett Gilbert was on his way to writing one of the most improbable chapters in the history of college football.

How storybook would this have been? An 18-year-old kid coming off the bench against the best defense in the nation to claim a national title?

It’s the sort of drama screenwriters dream of …

With only twenty-six career pass attempts under his belt, Gilbert was thrust into the limelight after Heisman Trophy runner-up Colt McCoy injured his shoulder early in the first quarter.  McCoy – the all time NCAA leader in career wins (45) – was knocked out of the game on a huge hit by Alabama defensive lineman Marcell Dareus, who also returned an interception for a touchdown in the first half.

The night started horribly for Gilbert, a blue chip recruit from Austin who broke former Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell’s season and career passing yard records while in high school.

Texas’ “Quarterback of the Future” looked positively atrocious during his first few series against the fast, ferocious Alabama defense, completing just one pass for minus-4 yards in the first half and giving up two interceptions (including the bizarre, botched shovel pass that Dareus picked off and returned 28 yards for a score).

With Alabama up 24-6 at halftime – and Texas announcing that McCoy was out for the game – it seemed pointless to even play the second half. In fact, for most of the third quarter, it was pointless.

Gilbert continued his struggle to find any sort of rhythm against the confounding assortment of blitzes and coverage schemes the Alabama defense was throwing at him, while on the other side of the ball the Alabama offense tried to take as much time off of the clock as possible with its bruising ground game.

Toward the end of the third quarter, however, the “Future” finally showed up … finding All-American wide receiver Jordan Shipley on a 44-yard touchdown strike that cut the lead to 24-13. Two drives later, Gilbert found Shipley again for a 28-yard touchdown, and then hit Dan Buckner on the ensuing two-point conversion play, bringing Texas within a field goal of the Crimson Tide.

After another big defensive stop by the Longhorns’ defense, Texas took possession of the football with three minutes remaining on the clock – a history-making upset, storybook ending and fifth national championship literally within its grasp.

But that’s when the football Gods stopped smiling on Gilbert.

After Anders’ big hit and Alabama’s fumble recovery led to the Tide’s first score of the half, Gilbert was picked off on the next possession, leading to a mop-up 2-yard touchdown run by Trent Richardson.

Gilbert’s final stats?

He completed 15 of 40 passes for 186 yards with 2 touchdowns and 4 interceptions.

But those stats don’t tell the story of what might have been – and what for a moment almost was.

Garrett Gilbert didn’t make history on Thursday night, but the “Future” for the Texas football program is looking a lot brighter because he tried.

UPDATE: Gilbert is the son of former NFL quarterback Gale Gilbert, who was the starting quarterback for California in its famous 1980 game against Stanford.

Pic: Getty