Dear Saint Cad,
This is your official notification that texas won the Rose Bowl.
Score was 41 - 38.
Sorry.
Got any more predictions for us?
Sincerely:
3½¢
Thak you for the correction (I was remembering Oregon getting screwed by the BCS a few years ago). Oh and Trunk, I’m in Los Angeles but am a Washington Huskies fan from my days at UW
Just what I love, an unbiased analysis
I could sour grapes the horrible officiating, namely that lateral from the knee and the catch/fumble that magically turned into an incomplete pass (that would have won the game for USC), and blow to the head on a USC receiver that was never called.
But honestly, USC blew the game. They didn’t play up on the receivers allowing way to many 8-12 yard completions, they didn’t put Young under any pressure, my 6 year-old could have drawn up a better play for that last USC fourth and one, and what was that last time out for? If every call had been made perfectly, USC probably would have won - but USC tried everything they could to lose that game and succeeded admirably. Champions simply don’t choke the way that the Trojans did.
But Mack Brown is still an Assclown for that shit he pulled last year.
Of course to do so would require that you also bemoan the bad calls that went the other way, such as the interception of Leinart that became an incomplete pass, which would have resulted in a change of possession, as opposed to the lateral from the knee (which should indeed have been called back), which would have simply given Texas the ball on USC’s 13 or so with a 1st down, and momentum. There were bad calls made, but I don’t believe it leaned more one way than the other, and I’m not a Texas fan.
Yes, Texas had nothing at all to do with the win. USC decided that 34 was enough and decided to let Texas have one.
As anyone who has seen Young play before could tell you, if USC had put pressure on him, it would have affected him for about five plays, then he would have eaten them alive with his mobility. USC and Texas both played to about the same level, and made about the same number of mental mistakes, and the game could have gone either way. The majority of the credit for the win goes to Young, who appeared about as unstoppable as a player has been in recent memory, and just seemed to want it more than anyone else in the end.
I only partially watched the game last night, mostly at the end, and didn’t really care too much until reading this thread. Too bad about the outcome, I suppose.
My comments:
I was wondering why Texas wasn’t penalized/more heavily penalized for some thuggish behaviour. That top of helmet on chin shot early on was just pure dangerous and could have seriously injured either of the two players involved. I put stuff like that down to coaching and it reflects poorly on the Texas staff. Did the USC fullback continue in the game?
When the ball came out from the Texas receiver at the end of one play the clock was stopped for a review. I’m not that familiar with the college game, but shouldn’t the clock have been restarted as soon as they had determined there was no fumble? Instead they added time back on AND then the clock never restarted until the snap, even though it was a completed pass, no fumble, no penalty and no one out of bounds. IME Texas picked up between 15-30 seconds on that.
Reggie Bush has an incredible burst of speed to the outside. That 26 yard TD run he made was amazing. The other USC back, Leavell(?) looks like he has a bright pro future. I didn’t get enough of a feel for Linart, seemed like he occasionally made some bad decisions and may be a bit undersized for the pros.
Vince Young was incredible. He probably earned several million dollars last night and may have vaulted himself up to the overall number one draft spot. He’s big, fast, and accurate, like Michael Vick and Daunte Culpepper with a dash of Peyton Manning all rolled into one. I can’t wait to see him playing on Sundays, just hope that the Saints don’t get to draft him.
USC really screwed up on their final few plays. Particularly number 90 on the Trojan defense took an inside stunt on the last play that left no one to impede Young’s progress to the end zone. You have to contain on that. Inexcusable. Ditto the soft coverage after corner blitzes early on the last Texas series. Should have kept the pressure on. On the final play from scrimmage they should have thrown 15 yard out and quick out of bounds. Or just get the ball in Bush’s hands and see what he could do. He might have gained a lot more on the penultimate play but chose to go out of bounds. Probably a wise decision, but on the last play I think you want him with the ball if no else is open.
Overall I wish I’d watched the whole thing. It’s good to see a championship actually work out to be exciting. The spectacle part was a bit over the top, though, and putting these damned things midweek is annoying as hell.
I heard that ESPN Classic is going to replay all four 2006 BCS Bowl games on Saturday beginning at 10:00 EST. ESPN U is replaying the 2006 Rose Bowl at some point early this afternoon EST, IIRC, as part of an all day USC-fest.
These replays tend to cut out a lot of the lulls in action and the halftime show, so you can watch the Orange Bowl in about 3-3:30, rather than the week and a half it took to originally play it.
Call your local cable company…
Thanks, Trunk, you said it better than I did.
Look, SaintCad, it wasn’t his finest moment for sure. But the fact is the system that determines who gets in which bowl in the BCS is just a fucking popularity contest. The way the BCS is organized, it’s in the best interest of every coach to make sure their team is portrayed in the best possible light in the media. Brown’s only crime is that he probably alienated more poll voters than he won over, so the whole strategy worked against him. But he still had a valid reason for trying.
If the BCS had a real playoff system, then coaches wouldn’t need to sell their cases to the media.
Oh, and one last thing …
Woooo! Longhorns!!! YEA!
Now I think you’re being too hard on USC. They played a great game. The fact is that both teams played well and kept the game close right up until the end.
A great team can make another great team look sloppy. I think that’s really what went on here.
Texas put up 41 points. That is “something at all” to do with the win.
Not a fan of sarcasm?
Just unable to recognize it before my second cup of coffee, I guess. I’ll now pretend I was just agreeing with him.
The only assclown I saw last night was Super Ego Leinhert in the ESPN post game interview. When asked the (admittedly stupid itself) question, “Did you guys lose the game or did they win?” He goes on a long ramble about Young being a “freakish” player who carried his team but that they lost rather than it being that Texas actually beat them because it was that one freakish player that they couldn’t defend.
Aside from wanting to slit the throat of the reporter who made up that question, I felt that exchange made Leinhart look like a whiney pussy.
Whoever was running the clock must have been drunk. There were screwups that went both ways. One blatant mistake was in Texas’s second to last drive, when a short pass to the outside was completed, the receiver was forced OOB (the clock should have stopped), and the clock ran. They didn’t have the play clock shown, and Texas was in a no-huddle offense, but there was 15-20 seconds ran off the clock that shouldn’t have. This was when Texas needed the time (being down 2 scores with about 5 minutes to go in the game).
Do you mean when Leinhert said something like “they won, but we’re still the better team”? Sounds like Matt beleived the hype from USCN, I mean ESPN.
He’s 6’5" and 225 lbs. What pros are you talking about?
Sumo.
Dude, it’s football. Who gives a shit anyway?
Me
That was a real shame. For some of us it’s one of the few times we’ve ever heard him speak and it left me sorely disappointed. Matt WhineArt immediately came to mind.
Not to say that I was all that impressed with Young’s postgame either, but at least he did all the talking necessary on the field. Now for Reggie Bush? Completely different story. Articulate and classy even during what was likely one of the most disappointing times in his life. Gotta love him.
This game will of course cause some confusion as to which way the Texans should draft, not excluding the fact Young’s a hometown Houston product. It’ll be interesting to see how things play out.
I would just like to say:
Hook 'em Horns!!!