The University of Texas Longhorns, National Champions!
It’s taken me until 9 a.m. the morning after the game just to recover enough to pass along my thoughts.
In short, the game was hugely entertaining, if not particularly well-played in all respects. The first quarter was just kind of an all-around mess, Texas owned the second quarter, the third quarter turned into a fist fight between two heavyweights who could not defend themselves, and then Vince Young simply picked up his Texas team in the last six minutes of the fourth quarter and refused to let them lose.
It was truly a game for the ages and a perfect example of the reason that I prefer college football to the NFL.
By the way, don’t miss the Austin American-Statesman’s photo gallery containing a measly 143 photos from the Rose Bowl game.
Houston's Clear Thinkers
Longtime Houston attorney Tom Kirkendall's observations on developments in law, business, medicine, culture, sports, and other matters of general interest to the Houston business, professional, and academic communities.
Big T –
Surely you are not a bandwagon-jumper-oner, too, are you?
Congrats to Texas for a well played game, and a great season.
Now, when you ‘Sips have played in three of these things in the next 5 years, then you can come talk to us in Norman…..
jrb
Texas 41, USC 38; Sandra Day–Priceless
What a game! All hail ‘Horns.
I’ll defer to Tom Kirkendall and his 4 am post for a link with details.
My favorite memory: Rose Parade Grand Marshall and retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, carefully, deliberately…
Great win for the ‘Horns and a great effort by USC.
Two things: would you, Tom, as USC coach, punted the ball away at midfield with 2:30 to play, or would you have gone for it on fourth down as Carroll did? I was surprised by the call, even though the ‘Horns were moving the ball on a tired USC defense. But it still would have been more difficult to mount the winning drive from inside the 20 yard line (assuming the punter does his job)than from midfield.
And, why no replay in the second quarter when Young’s knee touched the turf before the lateral? I was surprised no review came, since this crew was obviously NOT the same bunch that worked the Outback Bowl..:)
Al, I don’t think going for it on 4th down at that point was a bad call. I just think the play call was horrible. USC should have run that little pass option play to the TE that UT never stopped all night.
On the the failure to replay the TD where Young’s knee was down, the only thing I can figure is that there was a technical malfunction with the replay equipment. However, Carroll should have burned a timeout at that stage of the game to give the officials an opportunity to review it.
Here’s a link about what happened on the lack of a review on the lateral TD by Selvin Young:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/2006-01-04-missed-review_x.htm
Going for it on 4th down was the only way that USC could assure itself that Vince didn’t lead the Horns to another TD. They’d been running between the tackles at will the entire second half, and I don’t think that they had any other choice.
The two biggest mistakes, I felt, were Bush being on the sidelines for the 4th-and-2 play and calling your last timeout on a 2-pt conversion play with 19 seconds left. Those were inexcusable.
Congrats to U.T.!! Congrats to Vince Young!
The best moment of the game for me came when Reggie Bush had a fumble early on, and my wife said “Look! He is already playing like he’s been drafted by the Texans!!”