By JENNIFER FLOYD-ENGEL
jfloyd@star-telegram.com
If I am remembering correctly, a year ago, we had four little Colt McCoys swing by on Halloween. They were all burnt orange-y and adorable-y, their Texas ex parents smiling proudly from the sidewalk.
My personal favorite was our neighbor, a girl, sporting authentic No. 12 right down to the eye black. She comes by her Longhorn love naturally. Her daddy is diehard "Hook ’em."
I mention this mainly as a public-service announcement: Careful kids, that costume may be dangerous to your health this Halloween. Walk up to the wrong door and you may find someone screaming about "Your numbers have plummeted. What is wrong with you? What are you doing asking for candy when we’re down seven at the half in Stillwater?"
If this happens, kids, step back and walk away slowly.
You have probably stumbled upon a Heisman voter, and he is easily distracted by whatever is new and shiny.
Strange days when the quarterback of an undefeated, top 10-ranked major college football team needs defending, but these are the times we live in, and we have a couple around here this season.
McCoy has been bludgeoned by comparisons to himself. And TCU’s Andy Dalton has been mostly ignored by everybody.
Let’s start with Dalton, mainly because nobody ever starts with Dalton.
Big-time, national spotlight finally is on TCU, all abuzz about Jerry Hughes, Gary Patterson, the defense, Jeremy Kerley and mostly the defense. Dalton is an afterthought, if mentioned at all, kind of along the lines of "Oh yeah, TCU does have a QB; you know that one kid who isn’t awful or anything."
It is the danger of playing for a program with a nasty defense. It also ignores reality. The defense, as good as it was, was never quite enough to put the Frogs where they are now, undefeated and flirting with a BcS bowl. You have to be able to score points, which is exactly what Dalton did against BYU. So it is time to give him his due, as a real-deal QB.
Which brings us to Colt. The assault on him has been stranger, in large part because he was welcomed as the real deal a long time ago. He was the darling of the college football scribes only a year ago, invited to New York along with Tim Tebow and Sam Bradford for Heisman festivities. And when Colt decided to come back for his senior season, his name jumped right back on that list with them.
His Longhorns are undefeated. They handled Texas Tech and Oklahoma. The offense, from what I can tell, has not been a fall-down embarrassment.
Still, at least once a week, I read what Colt has not done and somebody sends me an e-mail wondering what is wrong with him. This week it was under the guise of disagreeing with my TCU column. The e-mailer said he could not see Texas losing to TCU "even with Colt having a down year."
Say what? In what Bizarro World is Colt having a down year?
I am pretty sure it is written in the football rulebook somewhere that your QB cannot be having a bad year if his team is undefeated in the Big 12. Or have we forgotten how hard it is to survive a college football season unscathed?
Go ahead and rip the ’Horns’ "soft" schedule, and it is hard to argue that the Big 12 is relatively down this year, but it is not exactly easy to go into Stillwater and win. This is a good Oklahoma State team and it would be even better if not for the over-reactionary idiocy of the NCAA to suspend stud receiver Dez Bryant for the remainder of the seasons for lying about not violating NCAA rules.
Who said this organization can’t screw the same thing up twice?
If the ’Horns exit Stillwater with a "W," they will do so in large part because Colt handled the pressure. It may not be pretty. The numbers may not be gaudy. But this is not a beauty contest, and the best way to judge a quarterback is still the scoreboard.
It is almost impossible to be on every week and even harder to find a way to win when you aren’t. And this is exactly what Colt has done for going on two seasons now.
The numbers aren’t as pretty as a year ago. The results are.
So go ahead and wear those Colt McCoy costumes with pride, kids. If anybody gives you a hard time, tell them to keep the Heisman. You are all about the ring, and the candy.
Jennifer Floyd Engel 817-390-7760
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