BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - I wasn’t kidding.

Or drinking.

Or doing my best to validate brain freeze as an actual medical condition.

The more I watched AJ McCarron carve up Mississippi State on Saturday night, the more I saw Tom Brady.

Not the Super Bowl-winning, supermodel-marrying, Hall of Famer-in-waiting Tom Brady. The Alabama quarterback’s a long way from there no matter how many lovestruck schoolgirls ask him for a retweet on their birthdays.

As an underappreciated, drop-back, tall-in-the-pocket college quarterback, though, McCarron has more than a few things in common with Brady during his career as a Michigan man.

On paper, on the field and at the tale of the tape.

Did you know that Brady wore No. 10 with the Wolverines? McCarron, of course, wears No. 10 for the Crimson Tide.

Are you aware that, as a senior, Brady was listed at 6-foot-5 and 211 pounds? Alabama puts the fourth-year junior McCarron at 6-4, 210.

Brady spent two years as a backup to Brian Griese before he became the starter the year after Michigan won a share of the 1997 national championship. Even as a two-year starter, Brady had to share time with the alleged phenom Drew Henson.

McCarron spent two years as the backup to Greg McElroy before he became the starter two years after Alabama won the 2009 BCS championship.

Griese is now a TV analyst. McElroy has a future there, too, when he tires of carrying a clipboard, unless he follows his dad’s path and takes his talents into an NFL front office.

In Brady’s two years as the Michigan starting quarterback, the Wolverines went 20-5, won a Big Ten title and added two bowl victories, one of them over Alabama in the 2000 Orange Bowl in his final college game.

McCarron is 20-1 in his second year as the Alabama starter under center. He’s already won one national championship and, after an 8-0 start, has led the Crimson Tide to a No. 1 BCS ranking and pole position toward another trip to the BCS Championship Game.

He’ll be the best quarterback on the field by a mile Saturday night in Baton Rouge against LSU, but that’s no revelation. He’s been the best quarterback on the field for pretty much every one of his career starts.

Disagree? Who’s been better? Tyler Bray this year? Tyler Wilson last year? Please. Compare how they played against the best defense they faced - the Alabama defense - to McCarron’s performance against LSU in the BCS Championship Game.

It’s no contest. For a real comparison, check McCarron’s numbers this year against Brady’s as a Michigan senior.

Brady completed 214 of 341 passes (62.8 percent) for 2,586 yards, 20 touchdowns and six interceptions in 12 games in 1999.

Through eight games this year, McCarron has completed 122 of 177 throws (68.9 percent) for 1,684 yards, 18 touchdowns and no picks.

Brady has a slight advantage in yards per game (215.5 to 210.5). McCarron has the edge in touchdown-to-interception ratio, yards per attempt (9.5 to 7.6) and yards per completion (13.8 to 12.1).

Now look at their numbers as first-year college starters. It's like looking into a mirror.

Brady went 214 of 350 (61.1 percent) for 2,636 yards, 15 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in 1998 as Michigan finished 10-3. Last season, McCarron was 219 of 328 (66.8 percent) for 2,634 yards, 16 touchdowns and five interceptions for Alabama's 12-1 BCS champs.

Still think it’s crazy to put McCarron in the same sentence as Brady? Still believe No. 10 in crimson pales next to No. 10 in maize and blue?

The numbers say otherwise. So do throws like the deep ball to Kenny Bell and the corner route to Christion Jones that McCarron put on the money Saturday night.

To be clear, no one here is suggesting McCarron is going to turn pro, whether this year or next, and have a rookie season better than those of Cam Newton and Robert Griffin III. No one is even hinting that he’ll continue the Brady parallel by getting drafted in the sixth round and making a lot of NFL coaches and GMs look foolish by putting together a Hall of Fame career.

Apples to apples, though, at a similar stage in his career, as the second-year starter for a traditional power, McCarron has a lot of Brady in him.

Not to mention, like Brady in the NFL, McCarron at Alabama is a long way from done.

Drop a civil comment below. Write Kevin at scarbinsky@gmail.com. Follow him at www.Twitter.com/KevinScarbinsky. Listen to him weekdays from 6-10 a.m. on the Smashmouth Radio Network on ESPN 973 The Zone.