Colt McCoy discusses 2009 championship game injury, how he handles 'what-if' questions

The 2009 BCS national championship game is a red-letter date in college football history. It marked Nick Saban’s first title at Alabama, defeating rival Texas at the Rose Bowl to start one of the most impressive runs of all-time.

But for former Longhorn Colt McCoy — and Texas fans — it had a different impact.

A first-quarter hit caused a pinched nerve in McCoy’s throwing shoulder and knocked him out of the game. It was a huge blow for the Longhorns, who saw their starting quarterback and Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year head to the sidelines for the remainder of their 37-21 loss.

More than 12 years later, McCoy still remembers the feeling that went through his body on that opening drive.

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“I remember everything just shutting off, basically my ear, my neck and my right arm, it was just gone.” McCoy told ESPN’s Ryan McGee for a feature. “At the moment that it happened I didn’t think this was the end. I was going to come back, I’m going to shake this. I don’t know what this feeling is. I’ve never had it, but it’s got to come back.”

From that moment on, fans were left wondering how that game would’ve gone if McCoy hadn’t gotten hurt. After all, he threw for 3,521 yards and 27 touchdowns that year. As Alabama and Texas get ready for their first matchup since that fateful game, McCoy said he still hears about that career-altering play.

“There’s very little places I go where people don’t talk about it,” McCoy said. “This game sort of started the trajectory of Coach Saban and Alabama and all the success that they’ve had. And I think it’s just Texas has taken a gut punch from that game.”

McCoy: I remember thinking ‘What just happened?’

After Marcell Dareus leveled the hit on McCoy on the opening drive of the championship game, McCoy went back to the locker room. When he got there, he saw the looks on the doctors’ faces and started to realize how serious the injury might be.

“I kind of look around and one of the doctors is like, ‘We should go get an x-ray,'” McCoy said.” And then I can see they’re starting to get teary eyed. I remember sitting there in the locker room, thinking, ‘What just happened?’ I’ve hardly missed a game in college.

“I used to always tell myself I’m never coming off the field unless you’ve got to carry me off the field. Broken bone … I would play through anything. There was nothing I could do. That was just a very helpless feeling.”

From there, it created one of the notable “what-ifs” in college football in recent memory. But Mack Brown, now the head coach at North Carolina, doesn’t like thinking about the road not taken. Even 12-plus years later, he wants to talk about the facts.

“I don’t go with what-ifs,” Brown said. “I go with facts, and that’s not near as much fun, but it’s real and it’s truthful. The truth is they knocked our quarterback out. That’s part of football. They won the game. They won it fair and square.”

However, wound up answering McGee’s most important question. Would Texas have won that game if McCoy didn’t get hurt?

“I think absolutely,” he said.

Colt McCoy’s NFL journey: From Cleveland to Washington to Arizona

After the title game, the Cleveland Browns selected Colt McCoy as the No. 85 overall pick in the third round of the 2010 NFL Draft. He became a journeyman of sorts, suiting up for the New York Giants, Washington Commanders and New York Giants ever since. His longest stint with one team came with Washington from 2014-19.

Now, McCoy is in Arizona, backing up Kyler Murray and starting the year on the injured reserve. Even people around the league ask him about that game in 2010. But he tries to avoid thinking about “what-if” unless others bring it up.

Well, that chatter is heating up with Texas preparing to join the SEC.

“My NFL teammates now, who are getting drafted, they come into the locker room and are like, ‘Bro, I remember that national championship game. I was a huge fan. You just crushed me.'” McCoy said. “It’s talked about all the time. I certainly used to ask that question a lot, ‘What if?’ But now I don’t until someone brings it up.

“Problem is, they bring it up all the time, especially with Alabama and Saban coming to town and us joining the SEC.”

The questions will also be part of the discussion on Sept. 10 when Alabama and Texas square off for the first time since that game in January 2010.