Week 4 college football can be summed up in two words: True Colors. And for the best examples, we need to turn to the teams in last year’s BCS National Championship game: Texas and Alabama.

Yes, the No. 7 Texas Longhorns were upset and many saw it coming… just not this soon.

This season, the Longhorns were like a Jenga tower; sooner or later they were going to tumble.

Instead of a tight knit structure like most people envisioned, the Longhorns were more like a team with a lot of missing pieces and it was only a matter of time before the Horns completely fell apart. Unfortunately for them it happened this weekend against the unranked UCLA Bruins and it was ugly.

With nothing clicking on offense or defense, the top ten Horns were slaughtered by the Bruins 34-12 in their home state of Texas, shocked at home for the first time since 2007.

Coming into the game, Texas was the top ranked rush defense in the FBS, allowing only 44 yards per game. Against the Bruins, the Longhorns gave up 264 with UCLA running the football right down Texas’ throat for the entire game. 

By the time the final whistle blew, the Bruins had given Mack Brown his worst loss in Texas history and showed the world how over ranked the Longhorns really were. You can be sure the voters won’t make that mistake again.

On that note, don’t expect the voters to forget how close No. 1 Alabama came to losing on Saturday to the No. 10 Arkansas Razorbacks.

Against the number one team in the land, the Razorbacks put up a pay-per-view worthy fight, but were unable to complete the upset due to costly mistakes late in the game by Heisman candidate quarterback Ryan Mallett.

With the game on the line and a winning drive taking shape, Mallett dropped back and placed the ball right into the arms of the Alabama secondary. Although Mallet finished with 357 passing yards in the game it was his final interception that will really be remembered and just like that, the upset was gone.

Unfortunately, Mallett’s performance outshines the impressive showing that his team displayed this weekend.

The fans and media will focus on the final score, but let’s not forget that the Razorbacks went toe-to-toe with the Crimson Tide for four quarters and were able to do what no other team has done this year: rattle Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy.

In the first half, McElroy looked less like the most effective passer in the nation and more like an out-of-rhythm redshirt freshman. He finished the day with two interceptions and his high-powered offense was only able to muster up 7 points in the first two quarters of the ballgame.

Despite McElroy’s mediocre showing, the Crimson Tide were able to do what all good teams do: win the game. It might not have been pretty, but the Tide walked away with a 24-20 victory while keeping their No.1 ranking intact.

All in all, we learned two very important things from this weekend:

1) Good teams find ways to win.

2) You can’t hide behind your name and legacy; you actually have to play the game.

Used with permission of the author.

Logan Rhoades is a Los Angeles-based writer and contributor to Sports Climax. With an extensive knowledge of ESPN topics and celebrity gossip, he is known for mixing sports and pop culture to entertain his readers. Check out his blog and Follow him on Twitter @loganrhoades.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

PASADENA, CA. – The No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide defense knocked Texas Longhorns quarterback Colt McCoy out of the BCS title game early Thursday night, then made a big play to save the win late, going on to a 37-21 victory for their first national title since 1992.

McCoy injured his throwing shoulder on the Longhorns fifth play and watched most of the loss from the sideline. “I would have given anything to be out there,” said McCoy. “Because it would have been different.”

Garrett Gilbert, a highly recruited freshman who is the Longhorns’ quarterback of the future, had only thrown 26 college passes coming into the game and was thrown into a pressure-packed situation, stepping in for McCoy in the national spotlight. He responded well, throwing two touchdown passes to All-American Jordan Shipley to trim the deficit to 24-21 with 6:15 left.

After an Alabama punt, Gilbert and his Longhorns had the ball at the 7-yard line, 93 yards away from one of the most incredible comeback stories in the history of the game. But that changed when Tide linebacker Eryk Anders forced a fumble on a blindside sack of Gilbert with 3:02 to play and the ball was recovered by the ‘Bama defense.

Three plays later, Ingram, the offensive MVP, took it in from the one yard line for a 10-point ‘Bama lead. A few minutes later, after Gilbert threw his third interception of the night, Richardson scored another to make it 37-21, making a close game look like a blowout on the scoreboard.

Ingram finished with 116 yards rushing and two touchdowns, and Richardson had 109 yards and two scores, earning the fourth straight national title for the SEC.

“I don’t think anybody in the country worked harder than us,” Ingram said. “We played a great game today.”

Texas (13-1) went into the game ranked No. 2 and got there due to the play of McCoy. After the injury, McCoy was asking to go back in to finish his last college game but Texas coach Mack Brown decided to err on the side of caution, and McCoy spent the second half wearing a headset on the sideline while Gilbert took the snaps.

“It’s a hard learning curve but [Gilbert] learned fast,” Brown said. “At one point, I thought he was going to win the ballgame.”

Alabama coach Nick Saban became the first coach since the polls began in 1936 to win national titles with two schools. He won the 2003 BCS championship with LSU.

“Everybody has made a great team and that’s why this team is good,” Saban said. “It’s not just because of me. I’m proud of the team and proud of the way they played today and I’m really proud of the state of Alabama.”

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