- January 4th, 2006. USC leads Texas by five
points in the Rose Bowl. The Trojans are 26 seconds away from winning back-to-back
BCS National Championships. All they have to do is stop the Longhorns and Vince Young on fourth down. Granted, it isn't that simple. But we're here in the closing seconds about to witness the climax of arguably the greatest college
football game every played. No matter what happens next, so much of what got us to this point is about to be immediately overshadowed. To remember how we got here, let's rewind. (dramatic music) This game has lived up to the hype. But how did we get to these two teams, playing for it all in Pasadena? For USC, they came into 2005
riding a 22 game win streak. 2004's Heisman Trophy
winner, Matt Leinart, had returned for another season instead of being a potential top five pick in the NFL draft. With head coach Pete
Carol call the defense and first year offensive
coordinator, Lane Kiffin unleashing the thunder and lightning, Reggie Bush, LenDale White combo, the Trojans didn't miss a beat. Aside from some theatrics needed to get past Notre Dame, USC's quest for
back-to-back outright titles saw them stretch their win streak to 34. Becoming part of the conversation for greatest college
football team of all time. As for Texas, they were riding the 19 game win streak of their own. After finishing the previous
season with just one loss. 2004 was capped off by
a victory over Michigan, also at the Rose Bowl
where Vince Young delivered an MVP performance then
put college football on notice after the game. - Yes sir, we'll be back! - The Longhorns dodged a close call during a trip to Columbus, thanks to Cedric Griffin and
Young's late game heroics. But after that, Texas cruised. They didn't just win out, they demolished their remaining schedule. Winning by an average
of 37 and a half points. Which included a 70 to
three romp over Colorado to secure Mack Brown's first
ever conference championship. By December, no one debated which two team deserved to play for the national title. Not only had they combined
for 53 straight wins but they were also the
only undefeated teams in the nation. This was a far cry from
the two previous years which gave us Co-National
Champions in 2003 and then in 2004, USC
rolled through Oklahoma in the National Championship. Leaving us with eight months to wonder, which of the three
other undefeated schools should of been there
instead of the Sooners. So we've got a championship
between the only teams ranked one and two all season. But how we got to the other
numbers on the scoreboard, isn't as straight forward. Back in the second quarter, three momentum changing,
yet questionable plays stole the show. The first came with USC up
seven, nothing and driving. Reggie Bush looked to do
what he'd done all season, taking a screen pass 35
yards and into the red zone. As he was getting tackled,
he tried to lateral the ball to teammate Brad Walker. Walker and most everyone
else did not expect this. Texas jumped on the
fumble and six plays later hit a 46 yard field goal
to get on the board. Replays shows there was
at least a chance of this being a forward pass instead of a lateral, which would mean a penalty on USC and they'd retain possession. But, there was no review. Jumping ahead to their next drive, and once again USC was moving the ball. Longhorn safety, Michael Griffin, flew in to prevent a Leinart
to Steve Smith touchdown. The ruling on the field
was an incomplete pass but thanks to the lobbying
of some Texas defenders, the officials reviewed
and changed that call. Making it Texas ball at the 20. Six plays later, the
Longhorns found themselves with a first down at the USC 22. Now, this is worth a
trigger warning for USC fans but as we'd find out later in the game, there was more to this next play than we realized at the time. Vince Young kept it on the option and as he got wrapped up near the 10, lateraled the ball to Selvin Young, who's zagged his way into the end zone. - [Stadium Announcer] Pitched
it out, he pitched it out! - [Will] Replays clearly showed
Vince's knee hit the turf before the ball left his hand which should of killed the play there giving the USC defense
another chance to make a stop. However, just like the
Reggie Bush lateral, this play wasn't given an official review. The touchdown counted and
Texas was up nine to seven while everyone watching was show replays of his knee hitting the ground. - [Stadium Announcer] He was on the ground before he pitched the ball. - The thing is, officials were in fact trying to review the play. Unfortunately for USC
human error got in the way. Despite a crew of specialist brought in to oversee the use of replay for the first time ever in
a National Championship, not all of the correct camera sources had been fed into the system. The replay booth was
left rewinding via TiVo, while watching a second
monitor of the live broadcast, hoping they'd show a new angle. As officials scrambled for proof, Texas snapped the ball
for the extra point. The booth finally saw a camera angle that clearly showed Young's knee was down before he pitched the ball but it was too late. This also could of been why Bush's lateral didn't get reviewed as a
potential forward pass. Either way, Texas caught some breaks. But they're still down
five, facing a fourth down. All eyes are on Vince Young who can thank his kicker
for being in this situation, but not in a good way. Entering the game, analysts agreed that Texas had the edge when
it came to special teams. Kicker David Peno didn't
get that memo though. And after hitting all 10 extra points in their previous game,
he missed the attempt following Texas' first touchdown. You could argue he was
rushing to beat a review that wouldn't come but he
also opened the fourth quarter by missing a 31 yard field goal. Had he hit those make able kicks, Texas would be down just
one in these closing seconds and rather than warming up
without purpose on the sideline, Peno would actually be on the field. Instead up five points,
USC's defense has the chance to stop Texas on fourth
down and go home victorious. With the way this game has gone, it's all too perfect that
it comes down to this. Because tonight already has a long history of fourth down attempts. Going back to Texas' very first drive, Running back Selvin Young was
stopped deep in the backfield by a juiced up USC
defense on fourth and one. On the ensuing possession,
the Trojan's drove down inside the Texas 20. Facing a fourth and one of their own, Pete Carol chose not to
attempt a 34 yard field goal and as Leinart too the
snap, left of center, his foot slipped and
Texas defenders piled up to stop him short. For whatever reason, Bush
was motioned out wide, giving Leinart no support in the backfield to give him a potential boost. - [Stadium Announcer] You
gotta have Bush in there for the push, don't ya? - It wasn't all bad though. LenDale White's third
touchdown of the night came on a fourth and one, so the next time they looked to convert it was clear who was getting the ball. 2:13 left in the game,
USC faced a fourth and two from the Texas 45 with LenDale White waiting in the backfield. White was the 235 pound thunder to Reggie Bush's lightning. Ironically, this thunder
averaged 6.7 yards per carry on the season and tonight,
already had 123 yards on 19 carries. Originally from Colorado, White
committed to USC over Texas, claiming the Trojan career rushing record earlier this season and most importantly, became friends with Snoop
Dogg during his USC tenure. He was the only player on either side to convert a fourth down attempt tonight and found himself just two yards away from getting his team
into victory formation. He was also the reason USC
was facing a fourth and two instead of a fourth and inches. White got the ball on third down but Texas jarred it loose
before the line to gain. USC was able to fall on top of it but lost a yard in the process putting them in a less
than ideal situation. White took the fourth
down handoff left side into a mass of bodies, gaining over a yard but failed to get the full two. Texas ball, 2:09 remaining. And nine plays later, we're here. With so many possibilities
of what's to come, there is one certainty, Vince
Young will touch the ball and so far, when that's
happened, he's been pretty good. He's already completed 75%
of his passes for 267 yards to go along with 192 yards
rushing on 18 attempts. But this isn't just a one game thing, in 2005, he became the first college QB to pass for 3,000 yards and
rush for 1,000 in one season. This was his team on and off the field. In the smartest move
that Mack Brown had made was to simply let Vince be Vince. Brown, who many believed did
his best coaching in February had removed the reins and
his quarterback rewarded him with not only his first conference title, but also a chance in the
National Championship. That year, sandwiched
between Leinart and Bush, Young fell just short
of winning the Heisman. This left the kid from
Houston and his coach looking to prove the doubters wrong and here's their chance. It's a moment built on
massive winning streaks for both teams. Countless plays that easily
could of gone the other way and collegiate stars looking to leave their final marks on the sport. USC has the chance to close their argument as the greatest college football team ever while Texas aims for
their first national title since 1970. So now, on fourth down with
26 seconds left, it's time. Welcome to a moment in history. (crowd cheering) - [Stadium Announcer]
He's going for the corner, he's got it! Vince Young scores! (light clicking off)
Sb nation looking to get sued by the Longhorn network for stealing their business model.
I'll always upvote a rose bowl post
"He's going for the corner, he's got it!"
I've watched it so many times and yet the last couple minutes still makes me nervous. I watched the '02 Texas @ Kansas State game last night on LHN. It was like watching a different kind of football. I forgot how many big-time names were on that defense: Derrick Johnson, Rodrique Wright, Cory Redding, Rod Babers, Ced Griffin, Michael Huff, Nathan Vasher. There's something to be said about a defense with swagger and boy they had it.
This guy is clearly a USC fan...
This never gets old
I long for the day when we aren't so consumed with reliving this one past glory.
I love this YouTube series awesome that they did a video on the greatest CFB game of all time.
At 6 minutes remaining, down by 12, my son started crying. I literally said “no need to cry, 2 minutes VY will take us down and score, 2 minutes back and our Defense will stop them, then 2 minutes back down and VY will score again to win the game.” VY was so predictable. Ha!
So many plays were swing plays in that game. I still equate the Reggie Bush move on the next to final play and the Crabtree move with 8 seconds left of the 2008 Texas Tech game. All players should see that as a lesson in never giving up.
On the Reggie Bush Play our Defensive Back felt like he was being held and he threw his hands in the air trying to get a call, and magically Bush runs out of bounds because, in his mind, we had already defeated him and he had given up even though he had a path where he could have run farther down the sideline. Bad decision Bush.
In a similar manner we had 2 defensive backs that could have easily pushed Crabtree out of bounds in 2008 but they either assumed the other guy would do it or assumed Crabtree would run out of bounds and Tech would play for the field goal. They, in effect gave up, or heard a fake whistle.
One play never determines a game, but these should be lessons in never giving up.