The college football world has had years now to become acquainted with Alabama senior quarterback AJ McCarron, game manager.
A new version showed himself Saturday in the wake of Alabama’s 45-10 victory over Tennessee — AJ McCarron, agent of vengeance.
This edgy guy was rather interesting.
Seems that McCarron was stewing all last week after he heard the news that the Volunteers, in an effort to demystify the two-time defending national champions, refused to refer to Alabama by name. This opponent the Vols merely called, “the Red Team.”
The quarterback of the Red Team was a little red and inflamed himself.
“I never really say anything about the other team, but I kind of took this personal,” McCarron said after the decisive victory.
“I felt disrespected. For them to say we don’t deserve the respect to be called Alabama … to call us the red team … and for their head coach to come out and say they can play against anybody … I don’t think we’re just anybody. We won two national championships in a row. And we’re undefeated now. So, we’re not just anybody.”
McCarron, who despite leading the nation’s top-ranked team and despite a career marked by almost machine-tooled proficiency, is well down all the Heisman watch lists. Behind flashier quarterbacks such as Oregon’s Marcus Mariota, FSU’s Jameis Winston and Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel.
His performance Saturday was typically, and brutally, efficient. As his offensive line kept him clean and sack-free for the fourth consecutive game, McCarron finished 19-of-27 for 275 yards, with two touchdowns and no interceptions.
His first pass of the day that counted was a flanker screen that broke loose for a 54-yard touchdown. But he also threw vertically as well as horizontally, completing passes of 40 yards to Amari Cooper and 34 yards to Kevin Norwood, a brilliant back-shoulder catch.
All McCarron is now is 33-2 as a starter. Alabama has won seven consecutive games against Tennessee, the past five of those in the presence of McCarron, a fifth-year senior.
“It’s a good win, for my class especially, to come here and be 5-0 against these guys. That’s a great accomplishment for us as a class,” he said.
His team seems to be coalescing for a run at a third title, but in emphasizing that, McCarron couldn’t resist taking another little dig at Tennessee. “It feels like we are playing better week to week. We showed that today. The only time they stopped us when we stopped ourselves,” he said. Indeed, the Crimson Tide rolled up 35 points and nearly 300 yards of offense in the first half.
After an off-week, the Crimson Tide face LSU, a traditionally thorny test. McCarron didn’t even want to think about that coming challenge Saturday, preferring to inhale a most satisfying conquest, like the smoke of a good cigar.
“I took (the Red Team stuff) personal, I really did,” he repeated. “I wanted to come out and score as many points as possible on ’em. I didn’t want to come out of the game either. There was a lot of trash talk, and that’s not how we are.
“We go out and let our play do the talking, and I felt we did that today.”
The fiery side of Alabama’s cool leadership showed itself Saturday. A word of advice: Don’t get the game manager angry.
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