Texas 41 USC 38

Last night was an incredible game to cap off an unforgettable season for the Texas Longhorns. I don’t think any team, program, or fans deserved a National Championship more than the Longhorns. The fans are passionate, the players this year were poised and gracious, and the coaches instilled professionalism on the team while allowing the players to be kids and enjoy themselves. That balance allowed the team to stay poised under adversity and have two huge comeback wins at Ohio State and in the Rose Bowl last night. As, for the fans, it has been 35 years and they have never wavered in their hardcore support of the Longhorns. And of course there was the coach and the quarterback; the “Never can win the Big Game” Mack Brown (now known as “Championship Coach” Mack Brown), and “Second in the Heisman by the largest margin” Vince Young (now known as “Should have won the Heisman” Vince Young).

And finally there was me. 29 years and only one of my teams had ever won an outright championship (1995 Atlanta Braves). It was about time for another! (Ironically I was in Austin for the Braves and in Atlanta for the Longhorn Championship)

I gathered friends and family to Jocks and Jills where the Texas Exes watch the games. The place was packed full of fans in burnt orange. Todd and I got there 2 hours early to secure a position, immediately got a Shiner Bock, and starting booing Reggie Bush on the tv. Finally the others arrived and the game got underway.

The first possession was fantastic with our defense stopping the heralded USC offense 3 and out. Aaron Ross looked for the punt return poised to get Texas in great field position. Then disaster struck as Ross fumbled, USC recovered, and marched in for the TD. While I was not happy, I knew it was a long game that would see a lot of points and that the Horns could weather the initial storm.

Then Texas turned it over on downs and USC got the ball back. Seemingly going for the jugular they went for it on 4th down at the Texas 17, passing on an opportunity for 3 points. Those would turn out to be an important three points! The stop was huge, saving us from going down two scores.

Then at the beginning of the 2nd Quarter with USC looking like they were going to go up 14, Reggie Bush put himself in the running for Todd Grandominico’s “Bonehead Move of the Year Award 2006” when at the Texas 18 he tried to lateral to his teammate. It didn’t work, Texas got the ball, marched down and got a 46 yard field goal. 7-3 USC. We’re on the board!

Again USC began marching, seemingly unstoppable, until Michael Griffin intercepted the Leinhart pass in the endzone. But wait, the referees called it an incompletion! This, needless to say, got me slightly fired up. The play was reviewed and was obviously an interception. During the review I fired off many expletives toward the tv and the referees. This tirade actually relaxed me for the rest of the game, just letting out some stress.

After the interception, Young passed to Thomas, Sweed, and rushed to the 7 himself, flipped it to Selvin who scored the touchdown. Vince’s knee was down, so we rushed the point after before it was reviewed. Missed it, but hell, after a scary start which we easily could have been down a couple of touchdowns we were winning!! A sense of relief that we got by the initial pressure. Texas 9 USC 7

We stopped USC got the ball back and Ramonce Taylor rushed 30 yards for a TD! UP 16 – 7! Huge momentum shift. USC would score a field goal and Texas would go to the half up 16 – 10. All in all I was feeling pretty good and confident about the game, although I did tell Mac, my friend in Austin, I was concerned our defense wasn’t stopping their offense.

2nd Half
The 3rd quarter started with them stopping us, and then scoring a quick TD. All of a sudden our lead was gone. I was so hoping we could come out and get a touchdown to get some breathing room. But it was not to be, and I realized this was going to be tight until the end. We come back and Vince scores a TD on a dazzling 14 yard rush. We take the lead, but I know it is not a safe one.

Sure enough, USC marches and scores a touchdown, Lendale White. He was really, really good last night. We couldn’t seem to stop him. Worry starts to set in, we’ve got to start stopping their offense! USC 24 Texas 23.

Now I thought, ok, just match them TD for TD and we’ll be fine. Eventually our defense will stop them before they could stop us. Young rushes for 45 yards and it seems we are just going to walk into the endzone. Then Ramonce fumbles the ball, we recover, but on the 26. Now we are in trouble. Field goal time. No problem, we’ll get the lead back at least. End of 3rd quarter.

31 yard field goal---MISSED! Now I started to get concerned, and when I get concerned I get intense. Intensity was definitely setting in…then all of a sudden a Bush sighting. He sprinted for a 26 yard touchdown. Now USC had a touchdown + lead 31 to 23.

We get a field goal afterwards, but we need TDs!

Now is the time our defense needs to step up, if USC scores another TD we’ll need a miracle. Leinhart throws a 22 yard strike to Jarrett (who was on fire in the 2nd half) for a touchdown, leaving Tarrell Brown and Michael Griffin lying injured on the turf. It was an awful scene, USC taking a 38 to 26 lead and two of our defenders rolling around in pain.

Dejection sets in now. Before the season began I truly believed that Texas was going to win the national championship. And while during the Ohio State game there were times I was EXTREMELY worried, I never really thought we were going to lose. Always a “more likely than not” we will win. Now, for the first time all season, I had to say it was “more likely than not” we were going to lose. Given that I have had such few opportunities at glory as a sports spectator, I was nowhere near giving up. As Marshall left I said to him “Hope for a miracle”, and that miracle’s name was “Vince Young”!!!!

6:42 and down 12. Vince time! This drive Vince throws it to many receivers, Thomas, Sweed, and Cosby, before an amazing TD run. But now only 3:58 remains and we’re giving USC the ball back down 5.

Now the defense has to stop them. Sam Schwalb turns to me and says “If you don’t stop them here, you don’t deserve the national championship”. I knew he was right, but we hadn’t stopped them from scoring since the 2nd quarter, heck we couldn’t keep them out of the endzone the entire second half! This was it! Boom…Jarrett catches an 11 yard pass. Oh no, here we go again! Then on 2nd and 7, remarkable, an incomplete pass. JUST HOLD THEM ON THIS DOWN! Lendale White rushes the ball and it looks as though his momentum is going to take him past the first down sticks, but a he fumbles and it is recovered by USC two yards short. Carroll decides to go for it. Here we go…White rushes and Huff stops him. SHORT! (Note: Huff was not supposed to be blitzing on the play, but made a last second decision to do so).

Here we go, back to “more likely than not” we are going to win. Vince Young, 2:09, 56 yards, here we come National Championship! Young passed twice to Carter and once to Sweed. Then on 4th and 5 did the most fitting thing possible…rushed in for the championship winning TD. We went ballistic, scored the 2 point conversion, finished off the last 0:19 seconds, and enjoyed the postgame celebration (which included some fine cigars.)

HOOK ‘EM!