Greatest Game Ever?

Wow. That is about all you can say after watching one of the most exciting, enjoyable, intense college football games that I have ever seen. Here are my key takeaways from the game. Please click on the comment link at the bottom to agree/disagree or make a separate point.

• I have to begin with a pat on my own back. If you read the posting from 1/4/06 titled "Orange To Rose," you will see that I not only missed the final score by just a single point (I predicted Texas 42, SC 38), but I correctly outlined the flow of the game more or less. What is the saying they have about "even a squirrel gets a nut sometimes?"
• Overall, this was an incredibly exciting game. Tons of offense, a few bonehead plays (Reggie Bush's lateral comes to mind), about six lead changes, and just an amazing performance by the Heisman Trophy Runner-Up all highlighted one game that was worth staying up until 1:00 in the morning to watch.
• Mack Brown has taken a lot of flack over the years, and much of it deserved. He has always been an exceptional recruiter, but has at times fallen short in the "big game", especially against Oklahoma. But Mack did a great job having his team ready to play and play hard for a full 60 minutes agaiinst USC. Nothing derailed them. Getting behind 7-0 right away after a turnover did not cost them their focus, and they never panicked when USC went up by 12 with under seven minutes to play in the game. They just kept pluggnig away, stuck together, and rode the back of their superstar to the win...
• Speaking of their Superstar, can anyone name a better college football performance than what Vince Young displayed in this game? Some may say you only have to look back a few weeks at Reggie Bush's performance against Fresno St. I would argue that this is the single best performance that I have ever seen. From the quarterback position, Young had 267 yards passing and another 200 on the ground, IN A CHAMPIONSHIP GAME AGAINST A TEAM THAT HAD WON 34 IN A ROW. He made big plays all over the place, completed 75% of his passes, and showed off-the-charts leadership by staying focused and leading his team back from 12 down, with an assist from his defense, who rose up for one giant fourth down play. He may take a year or two to hone his skills, but in my opinion, when you analyze Young's running ability, poise, leadership, surprising accuracy, and arm strength, he will have a hands-down better pro career than his counterpart, Matt Leinart.
• Speaking of Leinart's future, he reminds me exactly of Chad Pennington: great accuracy, good poise, smart, lacks great arm strength. He can be a very good but not great QB at the next level (like Pennington, before he shattered his shoulder twice).
• Pete Carroll is getting a ton of heat for the decision to go for it on 4th and 2 and not pin Texas deep in their own territory. In my opinion, this is the only decision Carroll could have made and should not even be debated. There is no way, based on how good Vince Young is and how fantastically he was playing, that you volunteer to give the ball back to Texas and hope you can stop them. Vnice Young could have gone 55 yards, 85 yards, or 500 yards if he had to, he was not giong to be denied if he got the ball back with a chance to win. In addition, Lendale White had been gashing the Longhorn defense all night. This was the right decision and the right play call. Yes, Reggie Bush could have been in as a decoy, but White had been more effective all night and was their short yardage guy, so Bush should have been nothing more than a decoy. Pete Caroll won 34 games in a row before last night, and made I feel the 100% right call, so people should lay off him.
• Speaking of Pete Carroll bashers, the Sports Guy has an entertaining running diary of the game last night in which he of course blasts Pete Carroll. Whether you agree with me or Sports Guy, you will like his article, which you can access at this link: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/060105
• Nobody mentions this, but imagine if Texas wuold have turned the ball over on their two point conversion after they scored and USC returned it all the way for their own two points to win the gme by a point. That would have gone down as the greatest sports moment of all time.

Congratulations to the Longhorns and their fans. I can tell you from experience when Duke won their first Championship in 1991 that it is an amazing feeling, so I know Texas fans are elated at winning their first title in a real sport (i.e., football or basketball, sorry, but CWS titles do not cut it) in 36 years.