AJ McCarron's girlfriend gains fans

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Alabama's routing of Notre Dame for its second straight national championship has been overshadowed in part by a new breakout star - Katherine Webb, girlfriend of quarterback AJ McCarron and Miss Alabama USA 2012.

Webb gained tens of thousands of Twitter followers during and after Monday night's game, when ESPN cameras visited and revisited Webb in the stands, and announcer Brent Musburger piled on the compliments.

As of 4 p.m. Tuesday, she had topped 163,000 followers, trumping McCarron's 110,000. Before the game, Webb - who graduated with a business degree from longtime Alabama rival Auburn University in 2011, according to her pageant biography - had only a few hundred.

"Wow, I'm telling you quarterbacks: You get all the good-looking women," Musburger said as the camera focused on Webb, sitting with McCarron's mother. "What a beautiful woman. Wow!"

Some found the remarks from Musburger, 73, out of line. On Tuesday, ESPN released this statement: "We always try to capture interesting story lines, and the relationship between an Auburn grad who is Miss Alabama and the current Alabama quarterback certainly met that test. However, we apologize that the commentary in this instance went too far, and Brent understands that."

Webb, a 23-year-old model, told the Associated Press on Tuesday that Musburger's comments didn't bother her.

"It was kind of nice," she said. "I didn't look at it as creepy at all. For a woman to be called beautiful, I don't see how that's an issue."

Webb said that during the game, her iPhone was dead, but several friends seated nearby showed her what was happening on Twitter and pointed out that pictures of her were being shown on TV.

"I just couldn't believe it," she said. "I was just in complete surprise."