I am not a University of Texas college football fan, but I do have a special place in my heart for them, and I enjoy seeing them atop the college football world (for now). Please read this small piece on why.
Throughout my childhood, I had been completely uninterested in college football. No one in my family attended college, and no universities near me had division-one college football programs. (technically, there were division-one college football programs, but they weren’t very good). It was also a great time for professional sports. Mark Mcguire and Sammy Sosa were dominating the MLB, Brett Favre and John Elway were battling it out in the NFL, and my favorite basketball player, John Stockton, was trying to conquer the impossible task of beating Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. Who needed college sports?
Fast forward to my high school years, college football was becoming harder to ignore. The sport was seeing larger growth because the BCS was shifting to a more resolute competition, and college programs were becoming more like NFL franchises. No team represented this shift more than the USC Trojans.
Pete Caroll created an unstoppable football program that was built like an NFL team. Matt Leinart was the equivalent of a franchise quarterback. He had a cannon for an arm, was poised before the snap, and had a chiseled jaw that even a straight man couldn’t ignore. Reggie Bush was the big-time running back who had it all: finesse, speed, and power. Both were Heisman Trophy winners, and both had led USC to two national titles.
In the 2005 college football season, the USC Trojans would go on to an undefeated season and extend their overall unbeaten streak to 34 straight games. It was inevitable that they would win the national title game, but another team aimed to change the narrative: The University of Texas Longhorns.
Like the Trojans, the Longhorns were a dominant force in 2005. Their quarterback, Vince Young, could throw the ball well but was unstoppable when he ran with the football. He dipped and dazzled down the sidelines all the way to a 19-0 record.
Despite all the noise that Texas and USC were making that year, I still hadn’t grown attached to college football. Don’t get me wrong, I paid attention to both teams and the Heisman Trophy race, but I didn’t keep up with watching the games. However, when it became official that the two dominant, undefeated titans would face off for the national title, I knew I couldn’t miss it.
USC were the seven-point favorite, and Texas came second to them in every category. USC also had the experience of winning two national titles and had two Heisman Trophy winners on their team. One of those Heisman winners, Reggie Bush, beat out Vince Young for the trophy that year. Regardless, no one was counting out the Longhorns, and the game would ultimately be billed as the college game of the century.
When the game began, it looked like USC might prove too much for the Longhorns by scoring the first touchdown, but Texas showed their resilience by holding the Trojans to only a seven-point lead going into the second quarter. From there, Texas would take the lead by as many as eleven points. Could an upset have been on the horizon?
