During the BCS national championship game on Monday night, ESPN cameras showed Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron's girlfriend Katherine Webb, the winner of 2012 Miss Alabama.
Webb immediately started generating a lot of interest on Twitter, as well as from ESPN broadcaster Brent Musburger, who commented, "you quarterbacks, you get all the good-looking women. What a beautiful woman. Wow!"
The 73-year-old's comments immediately were picked up online during the game and throughout Tuesday, which prompted ESPN to apologize for the remarks.
"We always try to capture interesting storylines and the relationship between an Auburn grad who is Miss Alabama and the current Alabama quarterback certainly met that test," ESPN spokesman Mike Soltys tweeted. "However, we apologize that the commentary in this instance went too far and Brent understands that."
USA Today contacted ESPN's Mike Soltys, who also said, "Brent declines to comment."
Webb's national profile and her online one skyrocketed during the game. After she appeared on television with five minutes left in the first quarter, she immediately started gathering Twitter followers, jumping from 2,000 to over 104,000 after the game. As of Tuesday night she had nearly 200,000 followers.
"It's been actually kind of fun," the 23-year-old model and Miss Alabama USA 2012 told The Associated Press.
She even received follows from famous names like LeBron James and Arizona Cardinals defensive linemen Darnell Docket. Webb now has more followers than her boyfriend who just won the national championship. Donald Trump, who is the owner of the Miss USA Pageant, tweeted that Webb was going to be asked to judge the next event.
Webb was born in Montgomery, Ala., and as Musburger and ESPN highlighted, is a graduate of Auburn University. Her name continued to trend on the Internet through Tuesday and the story was mentioned on the news and on nearly all online news websites.
"I just couldn't believe it," said Webb, who, according to her pageant biography, graduated with a business degree from Alabama rival Auburn University in 2011. "I was just in complete surprise."
McCarron played one of the best games of his career in front of his girlfriend and his family. He became the first quarterback to win back-to-back BCS championships and threw for 264 yards and four touchdowns on 20-of-28 passes on Monday night in the 42-14 win for the Crimson Tide over Notre Dame.
"I'm truly blessed. I believe the man above always has a plan for you," McCarron said to ESPN.com. "He kind of lays down the grounds, and you can live it how you want [and] at the same time, make choices. It's great to do all this, but glorify in his name at the same time."
During the game, McCarron passed John Parker Wilson for the all-time record for touchdown passes at Alabama with 49. Over the past two championship games, McCarron has completed 43 of his 62 passes with four touchdowns and zero interceptions in wins over LSU and Notre Dame.
McCarron is returning to Alabama for his senior season and has the chance to become one of the only college quarterbacks to win three national titles. Despite persistent rumors, head coach Nick Saban has said that he has no plans to leave Alabama for the NFL and has the chance to win a fifth career title next season.
"How many times do you think I've been asked to put it to rest?" Saban said on Monday to ESPN.com. "And I've put it to rest, and you continue to ask it. So I'm going to say it today, that -- you know, I think somewhere along the line you've got to choose. You learn a lot from the experiences of what you've done in the past.
The Crimson Tide will be returning numerous starters on both sides of the ball, including All-American linebacker C.J. Mosley and wide receiver Amari Cooper. Alabama will head into next season as the top team in the country after finishing in the Associated Press poll at number one on Tuesday.
