Dec. 29 will likely be the last football game for Oklahoma's Kyler Murray

I almost fell out of my recliner Saturday night when Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray was awarded the Heisman Trophy over Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa.

On the surface, for anyone who has watched Tua play, it seems preposterous that they’d give the Heisman to anyone else this season. Tua, despite nagging injuries, has put up big numbers this season and has rarely been on the field during the fourth quarter. He also made it look easy, playing with a confidence rarely seen out of a 20-year-old.

Murray also put up big numbers this season, but that’s been my biggest hang-up with him. Unlike Tua, who had to run the gauntlet of one SEC defense after another, Murray ran up his stats against a host of lackluster Big 12 defenses that would have a hard time stopping a bunch of pee wees. No doubt Murray is a good player, but Tua is a great player and deserved to win the Heisman Trophy.

Oklahoma might end up wishing that Tua had won the Heisman because the snub has fired up Tua’s teammates. Alabama and Oklahoma will play in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 29, and Oklahoma better strap it on because it’s shaping up to be a classic beatdown with the winner to advance to the National Championship Game. My feeling is that Alabama is going to inflict a skull-dragging on the Sooners that they will not soon forget.

In the event that Alabama does win that game, it will likely be the last organized football game for Murray, who also stars on Oklahoma’s baseball team. Murray was the ninth overall selection in the Major League Baseball Draft earlier this year, and he’s set to report to training camp next spring with the Oakland A’s. I may be wrong, but I predict that Murray will disappear into obscurity at that point, but he’ll always have that Heisman to hang his hat on.

I do follow Murray on Twitter, and he seems to be an OK guy. He’s got about 94,000 followers and seems to be a decent kid. When you think about it, he didn’t cast all those votes that got him the Heisman, and he probably wanted to win it as bad as the other two finalists.

Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins was the third Heisman finalist, and, like Tua, he’s just a sophomore, so both of them stand a good chance of winning the Heisman on down the road. The only thing that really concerns me about Tua is how he seems to have been bitten by the injury bug as this season has gone along. If he can stay healthy, Tua might end up being the greatest player in Alabama history.

With that said, Alabama fans have all of that to look forward to. And, let’s not forget, this season isn’t over yet. Just as firmly as I felt that Tua would win the Heisman, I feel just as sure that Alabama is destined to win the national title again this season. What are the odds that I will be wrong about both?