Notre Dame quarterback Everett Golson, right, dives into the end zone in front of Pittsburgh linebacker Joe Trebitz for a two-point conversion to tie the score late in the fourth quarter. Notre Dame defeated Pittsburgh 29-26 in triple overtime.In last season’s BCS championship game, Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron shed his label as simply a game manager by throwing for 234 yards and earning MVP honors in the Crimson Tide’s 21-0 rout of LSU.
McCarron is quietly preparing for another BCS title game against Notre Dame on Jan. 7, with the microscope now falling on Irish counterpart Everett Golson.
A 6-foot, 185-pound redshirt freshman from Myrtle Beach, S.C., Golson does not produce outlandish statistics, but he has been at his best in the biggest games. The Irish were given little chance at Oklahoma in late October but stomped the Sooners 30-13, and a trip to a talented but underachieving Southern California resulted in a 22-13 triumph that capped a 12-0 regular season.
“This season has been the definition of a growing process,” Golson said. “To come in inexperienced and having to go through the trials and that adversity — at the end of the day, if you’re tried like that, that’s what makes great players great. You have to be tried.”
Golson has completed 166 of 282 passes (58.9 percent) for 2,135 yards with 11 touchdowns and five interceptions. He threw for more than 200 yards in each of his last four games, with seven touchdowns and only two interceptions.